I think tailgating could be improved especially green lot. They should block off an area for tailgating. That would improve the sense of community. What I see is a car here and a car there. In between are folks parking and going in right away.
4 Likes
I would like UH to review the parking situation for football and basketball. The traffic tieups can be miserable. In and out of the garage can be very time consuming. I have heard complaints about the surface lots around the stadium. Charter buses parking on the street in front of the garage, limiting traffic to one lane going East or West.
If any solutions exist, they would be much appreciated.
The Astros have a Share-to-Care 50/50 raffle, during each game. UH Cougar Pride should have a 50/50 raffle, 50% going to Cougar Pride, 50% going to the winner of the raffle. Have this for every football and basketball game.
Hey UH, you are leaving money on the table at these games.
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I would argue that this does need to be a priority. I often can’t get wifi or cell data at games.
The other item I miss is the Cougar Pride tailgate tent.
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One thing the home games seem to lack is energy. Sometimes the alumni can be quiet until the game is on the line. To start out with energy, who has the energy? The students. Let them on the field pre game, make a tunnel or run in with the team, make it fun, let them lead Womp, Womp, get the crowd going. The Frontiersmen would but they are soaking wet in the leather.
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Sir, that’s a different kind of energy. 
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We don’t need to steal Baylor’s tradiiton.
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Rice allows students on the field to form a line from the locker room to the sideline. All 12 of them.
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That’s just the culture of this fan base and town. It’s a calm crowd that occasionally gets loud.
Long time listener, first time caller here. On one hand, I give the Athletic department credit for exploring all avenues in gathering feedback. On the other hand, I question the approach. Why do they need to work through a third party for information? Many alumni and fans have reached out directly and indirectly (through this message board) with suggestions, ideas, and feedback. There is a plethora of information contained in the pages of this message board and within the administration’s emails that can be acted on. But I digress.
- Pregame is embarrasing in every possible way. I have been to every SEC, Big 12, and many Big 10 and ACC stadiums and our pregame is easily one of the worst I have ever experienced. You want people in the stands early? Give them something to look forward to. Something to be excited to experience. Don’t have a tradition to showcase? Create one. Pregame is predicated on the fact that the people in the stands are experiencing a feeling that you can only get in stadiums. There is minimal, if any, crowd engagement worked into pregame. The rinky dink fireworks are underwhelming - either go big or go home. The band’s pregame video makes me feel like I am watching the “In Memoriam” video at someone’s funeral. The whole thing is just…sad.
- The actual gameday atmosphere during the game, outside of live play, is lackluster. The TCU game changes were welcome and creative, even if all of them didn’t land. I personally appreciated the fact that something new was attempted, just needed to iron out the kinks.
- Who is in charge of the decision to have the Cougar photo on the jumbotron during peak moments of the game? That decision alone let’s me know the University’s marketing and gameday team is unserious.
- The University needs to decide if they are going to mimic a professional sports team atmosphere or a collegiate one and go all in. I recognize that NIL and sponsorships play a huge role here in what ads, activations are rolled out on gamedays, but the University is toe-ing the line between collegiate and professional, which makes for a confusing, muddled and missing POV in how they execute on gamedays. The boring sponsor videos between quarters and during timeouts absolutely kill the mood each and every time. If you have to have them for the money and contractual agreements, then give the fans something that is entertaining (and also if you need money that bad, ask yourself why you let the Big 12 sell their soul to Monster Energy for $1,000,000…I digress). The Lewis Jewelers dig for the diamond was honestly one of the most engaging activations I have seen at any sporting event. More of this, if required.
- Many people on this board have much stronger feelings about halftime formations and the music that the band chooses to play than I do, so I will leave that to them, but seeing the Dolls performing again with the band was a welcome change. In fact, I thought the Dolls looked remarkably better this year, as did many of my seatmates. Appreciated the variety of their performances throughout the season. Kudos to whoever is responsible for that.
- Why does the jumbotron’s live camera quality look like it is being recorded with a potato?
- The activities after a touchdown seem disjointed. The helmet car, the bells, the pushups. It’s too much. Make it simple and easy to follow for new and old fans.
- I think parking is a low hanging fruit that fans continue to complain about, but I actually don’t find it to be that big of a problem. Thousands of people are trying to leave one centralized location at the same exact time, at a University that has limited egress options. Minus building new roads, there are only incremental changes that can realistically be made here. Pack some patience.
- Pretty sure they are not University employees, but I always have great interactions with the concession staff and security. Very friendly.
- At a time when so many people are cutting discretionary spending and re-evaluating what they are spending money on within their personal budget, the choice to spend often comes down to “am I getting my money’s worth at XYZ.” “Is the in-stadium experience that much more exciting, engaging, and entertaining than heading down to my local bar and catching the game there for cheaper?” “Do I have FOMO (do the kids still say that), when I see the game on TV and I am not there?” If I answered these questions truthfully, I would say no, but I still go and maintain my season tickets because I do believe there is room to grow and compete. I want to support the often unsung students who put in so much time practicing and representing the University. They didn’t make these gameday decisions.
- Lastly, I went to all home games and 3 away games last year. At each of our home games, the visiting teams spirit squads (cheer and dance) were there. We sent none of our spirit squads to any of the away games minus Baylor. How can the University continue to expect us to invest and buy in, when they don’t practice what they preach? If it is not important to the University to invest and send spirit squads as an extension of the University, then it is just another data point in a list of reasons of why they will continue to be at the bottom of the Big 12.
You want to play with the big boys, the Texas Techs, the SEC, the Big 10, you have to invest in the whole mission, not just random a la carte items, and praying that it will be good “enough.” Stop trying to be good enough. Focus on working to be the best in all aspects. Build good habits, stop trying to take the shortcut – it always catches up to you tenfold.
18 Likes
Have to admit, I am curious. What stadiums have people been to for a game where it was easy to leave when parked close to the stadium?
I have not been to any easy access close parking. Though none were as bad as NASCAR. About 2.5-3 hours to get out of the lot.
1 Like
I think one of the biggest areas of improvement is the pregame atmosphere. The introductions of the starters are typically done well before anybody is in the stadium. There is no pre-game hype at all. Is there any way we can replicate what we do before basketball games for football?
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When the hell has Texas Tech ever been concidered a big boy? Besides that, i gotta say you nailed it.
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First time poster been holding back a lot. Lol.
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JD
I will let all the others post about the gameday experience, but I want to highlight a HUGE MISSED OPPORTUNITY to engage more fans in Houston.
Many major programs (including several Big 12 schools) have a weekly DOCUSERIES that starts in training camp and goes thru the season. Some are on sports networks like ESPN and FS1, however several schools simply have theirs on their YouTube channel.
A weekly 30 minute docuseries on YouTube engages fans with player stories and builds fan loyalty as they follow the storylines throughout the season.
Unfortunately UH will ALWAYS have a challenge gaining pro town fans, so they need to use EVERY OPPORTUNITY to engage casual fans that need a reason to follow their Hometown Team.
Don’t let this LOW HANGING FRUIT opportunity be missed!
Please produce a weekly docuseries on the UH Athletic YouTube channel so Coogfans and Houston hometown fans can follow the SPECIAL STORY going on on Cullen Blvd.
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Or they should sell beer funnels at the stadium…
@JosephDuarte PLEASE BRING BACK THE TAILGATE GAZEBOS AND AREAS RIGHT BY THE STADIUM AND DITCH THE PAY TO PLAY TAILGATE AREA!!!
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One thing that worked was the tailgate village that existed at Robertson Stadium
The RV village at the foot of the stadium was a major pregame loss.
Make an effort to incentivize students from the tailgating off Cullen to get into the gates.
We do a poor job of utilizing the spaces we have around the stadium for concessions. For instance, the concessions on the south side is a ghost town at times when the west and north sides are packed. There needs to be a way we can balance our lines with more signage of what we can get and where, or even fan meters that will track the wait times around the stadium. I like that we added a food service to the backside upper west end zone but most fans still don’t realize it exists. And goodness sakes open up those restrooms for the upper deck. They are being wasted by just allowing the few sitting in the new deck to use them. All in all we need to do a better job of maximizing the spaces we have inside the stadium and on the concourses, so people are more willing to spend money and be back in their seats for the game.
I would go more into the food but it has been very clear we don’t see the value in food service at any of our venues. We lack creativity and quality with food services. It is embarrassing when we have run out of food options and sometimes by the half! It is embarrassing when there is a lack of training and/or hustle from those taking orders and serving behind the counters. These are all part of customer services that penny pinching damages the event far more than cost to staff more and provide more.
To restate another issue, FIX THE WIFI issues. This is very important in the days that people are used to being able to follow and watch any game in the country. Most of the time that option is taken away. The less access people have to the outside world the more that will stay home.
Too many fans have no idea where to go on campus to park. Adding apps, instructions and game day signage so fans know where to park. Say they can look at the app and see we have garages ABCD available or surface lots ABCD. Going to the Texans games I can use WAZE. to take me directly to the Red or Blue parking lots.
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I don’t think they are, BUT we seem to compare everything to Tech these days. I think Tech would be a bottom feeder in the Big10 or SEC. But this seems to the north star for so many Houston fans.
Don’t confuse “comparing” with “making fun of”…
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Yes and build a new Engineering Pavillion as promised by Madam Khator as our original one was being torn down. This is the only thing I have ever faulted the Chancellor for. Her words to the Engineers when we complained about the impending loss was “well you want a new one don’t you?”. So where is the new one,Madam?
1 Like