University Of Houston

Cougar Football
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Where the cool go to school ! I am a very proud Alumnus !

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This might not be popular, im not an alum, if the alumni can’t fill the stadium. marketing needs to reach out to the public to help fill the stadium. Can they get a section in the stadium and give tickets to random school districts throughout the yr?

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There is no “marketing.”

I listened to the Baylor broadcast of Baylor/Okie State and on the radio they announced FREE tickets to both the men’s and women’s basketball games last night! FREE to anyone to watch the #4 and #5 teams in the country. How about that??

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I’ve always said that in a city as big as Houston, limiting yourself to reaching out only to alumni is a mistake. There needs to be a push to go for the casual Houston sports fan that is tired of the Texans, or college football fans that even if they root for a different team can make in UH a strong #2 as a local alternative.

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I think it might behoove us to survey the area and see what their reasons are for not coming to UH games.

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We will get turnout when we win at a high level consistently. It is a “build it and they will come” situation.

Houstonians are not going to drive to Third Ward to watch an 8-5 team.

If we are going to consistently produce these results, then we will need to resort to free tickets for students, UHAA Life Members, teachers, TDECU members, and other gimmicks.

This 11-2 season is a good start, but we better do it the next two years and be playing the AAC title game at home. Honestly that is the bare minimum. Otherwise you are going to draw 22k - 27k fans a game at home.

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I invited 2 families from my school to a game. Both dads graduated from UH. Derek has visited my school twice, so these particular kids know him well, always watch him on game days. They came to the SMU game. We all ran on to the field after the game, they were high fiving and hugging every player they could find
 Found Derek and took a ton of pictures. These 4 boys (all of my former students) didn’t stop talking about their experience for a week. Get them to a game and let the atmosphere speak for itself.

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There are billboards, radio ads (assume some tv), business partnerships, and other things that are being done to market to non alums. What else are we expecting? Cold calls? Door to door marketing? More tv ad buys could be done but I doubt you get a return on investment there. Maybe with the Big 12 money we spend more in each category. The best advertising is winning games, big time opponents, and all that free press that comes with those first two.

The only thing I think is an easy one to add is having a couple more student interns who are making calls to alums and previous ticket purchasers. No real cost added and its direct instead of those emails people ignore.

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We are heading in the right direction but UH is still a bit of an office park university.

The Third Ward lost population for 3 straight decades. Growth is coming but we need UH grads to want to LIVE near UH. We need real Greek housing. We need retail. We need bars and restaurants in the area. It’ll eventually happen but I wish UH would become an active participant in development.

Imagine instead of a Turkey Leg hut concession stand there was an actual Turkey Leg Hut with patio bar on Scott next door to a BB’s and whatever else our “young” alums have created? It’s a win-win. School gets to highlight HRM/Bauer grads and it creates a sense of place. I’ve pitched this idea so many times.

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Well said TMom!
Go Coogs !

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UHAA Life Members are already buying season tickets

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12

I know I am and have been since 1976 when I was still a student; wanted tickets with my wife in the mezzanine of the Dome.

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yep, season tickets in the Dome, at Robertson and now TDECU. Been going since 1972.

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Me too


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I have wondered the same thing about the school districts. Better to have someone in the seats paying for parking and buying concessions than nothing. Plus brings exposure to the school

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As a retired 6A high school administrator, I’ve made this suggestion several times including to the athletic office. No response.
Image all area HSs receiving a group(s) of tickets once or twice a year for distribution to top HS students in all areas. Area HS bands should receive photos of former students in the band at UH to display in the band room. The same for other arts programs. And, free tickets for distribution to games as well as to athletes. The same with all top arts, academic and sports events. Rotate the tickets around the schools. Include a few tickets to all of our fine arts events, top academic events etc. “We are ‘Houston’s University’ act like it!” Encourage our students to make contact and visits back to their HS to help recruit the best of the area’s students. Former students can be our greatest recruitment agents.
Arrange UH tours through the Alumni and recruitment office from local high schools. Many local elementary schools do this but we need to focus our resources to local freshman, soph, and junior students. So much we could do as we move forward.

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This is it. My dad didn’t go to UH, but he goes to the games with me often. He’s always commenting about how great it is to have quality D1 football in our own backyard. He just likes college football. There may not be a ton of alumni in Houston that are as engaged as they might be, but there must be at least 40-50k people around the city that just enjoy good college football every week.

UH football is one of many entertainment options in the city and I think if they market accordingly, we would see much better crowds. See the Herman years. H-Town Takeover and all that. It felt like there were a ton of casual fans not necessarily connected with UH that came out.

Gotta back it up with a good product obviously but one budget that should definitely be increased with new B12 money is marketing/community outreach.

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