I understand that history is a thing, and everyone enjoys playing teams they have an investment with, but it seems kind of like saying "because that's what we've always done", which is just about the weakest justification for anything. As for the atmosphere, etc, if OU vs UH is any indicator (70K tickets sold, 2/3rd of which belong to UH) UT vs. Houston in TDECU would be pretty damned wild. TDECU will be expanded to 60K the moment a Big 12 invite is issued. I think UH offers a school with comparable academics, a richer athletic history, and quite frankly an overall higher ceiling and more upward trajectory. Plus Houston as a city offers a hell of a lot more to students and alums than Lubbock.
Do you believe that you can compare UT/A&M/LSU to NFL games? UH has a large alumni here, the pride has been on the uptick lately. The question was not whether they can compete with the Texans, the question was whether or not they can fill the stadium if theyre in a P5 due to the more premiere opponents and higher brand of football. There's enough interest in Houston to satisfy both stadiums.
They averaged 35,000 fans last year. With a stadium expansion to 60k, do you think they could average an additional 25,000 fans a year? That's easy to say when your team changes conferences every 10 years. Plus, you are making the wrong argument about college football. There is no sport or division that values tradition more than college football. Maybe. If you don't sell out your stadium now then I don't think you can just expect to sell it out when you increase the capacity by %50. The UH-OU game should be pretty good. They just need to fill their stadium for the rest of the year. I mean, just show it all this year. I don't really care about UH's academic ceiling vs. Tech. It's better but we aren't talking about Rice or some nerd school. It's still not going to be one of the higher profiles in the conference. It really doesn't matter though. I totally agree about the alum point. I would love to be able to see an extra game in Houston because I am not flying to Lubbock. It's just not worth what I feel like we would lose.
Guys, you are not going to win any of these speculation arguments. The fact is that UH averaged 34,000 fans in games last year and was called out by the coach at one point. They didn't even fill the conference championship that was hosted at their own stadium. There are 4 million people in that city. It can't be that hard to fill 40,000 seats 5 times a year. HOWEVER, hype takes some time to spread and maybe the whole city is on board this year. The point is you have to wait and show it. I'm not saying that I know they won't fill anything up. I'm saying that no one knows.
UT vs Houston will likely be similar to a UT home game. At the least, there will be plenty of Longhorns in the building and it certainly won't feel like a road game. As a college kid, going on the road into hostile territory can be fun. For "adults", sure. For college kids, not really. They are looking for more of a college atmosphere to hang out at. Houston doesn't really have that. The city is spread out and there are multiple places to go. You won't have a huge glut of kids all in one spot to hang postgame. I haven't been to Lubbock in a while but from what I remember they have one bar scene, one Greek circle, etc. Think of what you needed for fun when you were in college. Drinks (likely at a bar or some house), women and music. All the extra stuff Houston has as a city really wouldn't matter. Houston has a lot more to offer than Austin too, as a city. But I doubt many college kids would say it's more fun than Austin.
I'm thinking you mean lots of places that have cheap drinks in one area like Sixth Street. Haven't been down there in a long time. Rainey Street feels more chill but the drinks aren't that cheap. There are a lot of bars in Houston now. It just most places are getting pricey. $8 beers and $14 cocktails. Getting close to Vegas prices.
On seating, also keep in mind that UH attendance is punished by the fact that visiting teams to their games don't tend to be teams that are going to buy up seats either. The idea that Tech games are sold out to Tech fans is ridiculous. They are notorious for being hostile to opposing teams fans and you can definitely hear loud sections when Texas, Oklahoma, etc. do well in their stadium. It's a lot easier to sell season tickets to your own fans when your opponents will be Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, heck even Baylor and West Virginia which are known to be fun schools to watch. UH has to sell fans on games against teams that most non-hardcore College football fans won't ever see on television. Tough sell. Top it off that those Big 12 fanbases are buying up any tickets they can on the road and the UH opponents aren't doing the same.
It's like the people who were bashing UH for not having more high rated games when a lot of them weren't even televised.
Not significantly better. Almost identical, really. Currently I believe UH has a slight edge in average SAT score, admittance rate, as well as a few other things sprinkled in here or there (like nationally ranked programs, etc). Meanwhile Tech has an overall larger expenditure in graduate research I believe, a larger endowment, a higher USNWR ranking, and so on. Although 15 years ago there was a noticeable gap between the two schools, so it's worth noting the trajectories at play.
Texas Tech always struck me as the East Carolina of the Big 12. A medium sized 3rd-wheel state university in the middle of absolutely nowhere. 40,000 people are almost guaranteed to show up just because it's either watch them play Tulsa or go kick rocks.
Lot's of places is the problem. You need a few general spots to catch everyone. The bolded matters to college kids. But for adults, Houston all the way.
Don't adults make up the vast majority of visiting fans in CFB? Especially in urban areas (where suburban families are in abundance). It's not like Houston has a very diverse bar scene, either. After the game you either go to like 1 of 3 drinking neighborhoods in the entire inner loop. I guess I don't remember Lubbock being known for its amazing nightlife, or gameday atmosphere, when I was in college.
My answer was only explaining why a college kid would probably prefer Tech. On your last sentence, you aren't going to find a place here where you will catch almost all the college kids after a game. Houston is not a city geared towards college kids and that's ok.
The same could probably be said for a lot of schools around the nation. But like Tech, they have a lot of diehard fans who come out, regardless of how good or bad they are. Not having anything else to do shouldn't be a knock against them. UH's lack of attendance in the past wasn't because students had a bunch of other things they could do, it was because they chose to do those other things instead of going out and rooting for their school.
If we're judging how dedicated/passionate fanbases are, then naturally someone that chooses to attend a game vs. no-name-directional-school in a city surrounded by entertainment options could/should be seen as weighing heavier on the scale than someone who chooses to attend a game vs. top 25 ranked in-state team in a town with nothing to do but tip cows. It makes you wonder how many people would choose to go tip cows if the schedule suddenly changed and it was a parade of Tulanes and Southern Misses coming in the door.
Since going to watch football is more fun than tipping cows I'm assuming they would still go to the game, especially if the team was doing well. Their first game last year was against Sam Houston, and 60,073 were in attendance. http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400763406 In 2014 they got 60,778 to come watch them play Central Arkansas. http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400547838 In 2013 they got 60,997 to come watch them play Texas State. http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=332642641 In 2012 they got 50,237 to come watch them play Northwestern State. http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=322452641 In 2012 they got 58,955 to come watch them play New Mexico. http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=322592641 ESPN stopped showing the attendance once I got to 2011.
UH keeps winning they'll put more butts in the seats. Those people eventually become diehard fans. I'm assuming that's why a lot of the UH men's basketball games are made up of older people who remember the Phi Slama Jama years. Look at the what happened after the Rockets won in the 90s, a lot of people became fans then and continued to be fans through the Moochie Norris years. Same as the Killer B Astros, they got to the World Series and crapped the bed but that helped people hold on through the Lastros years. People who didn't grow up in Houston might not see it but the city as a whole has changed a lot and so has its university. This isn't the 80s where people flocked to Houston only because of oil jobs and then ended up having to stay here after the crash (even though the same thing is happening again). Its been 30 something years and those families have grown roots in the city. And the kids now realize they need to take pride in their school to elevate it.
Almost every CFB team brings in a couple of patsies in the first few weeks to smash on and plenty of people show up. The argument is what happens when those patsies are the main course and not the appetizer.
Not trying to judge at all really but just seems like you're knocking on schools in the middle of nowhere and wanting to place an asterisk on their attendance. To say one weighs more than the other is pretty speculative and reaching IMO. But there are plenty of schools in the middle of nowhere, who play the likes of Tulanes and Southern Misses, and still show out game after game. I wouldn't question their dedication or passion at all. I can't believe I'm gonna say this but would you argue that Rocket fans are more dedicated/passionate than Spurs fans? Same logic right? Now I'm gonna go punch myself in face for the Spurs reference.
