HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
There's no way around it, overcoming this obstacle is still a big concern for Houston
Sep 6, 2022, 12:17 pm
Joining the Big 12 doesn't guarantee a spike in ticket sales. Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images
Last week Texas Monthly ran an interesting and perplexing article: Can (University of) Houston Football Figure Out a Way to Fill Seats?
The article was written by my friend and former radio partner Richard Justice. But let’s not hold that against the article. Richie did a terrific job here.
Justice offers many reasons why the Cougars, despite recent on-field success, well paid and respected coaching staff, generous funding, excellent facilities, Top 25 ranking, and bowl game appearances, have trouble packing their comparatively small 40,000-capacity TDECU Stadium.
Most times, UH crowds are around 25,000. The last time they drew 30,000 fans was in 2018. Last time UH played in front of 40,000 fans at home was in 2016.
Meanwhile, the University of Texas and Texas A&M routinely draw crowds in excess of 100,000 fans. Of course, the main reason for UH’s drawing woes is because the Coogs play in the American Athletic Conference, a non-Power 5 conference. So big name, ticket-selling opponents, whose fan base travels to road games, rarely visit TDECU Stadium. UH’s football schedule is dominated by conference rivals like East Carolina, Memphis, South Florida, Temple, Tulane, Tulsa and others.
UT will host No. 1 Alabama this Saturday. Good luck finding a ticket for 100,000 capacity-plus Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium. Other teams on UT’s schedule include No. 9 Oklahoma, No. 8 Oklahoma State, and No. 9 Baylor.
No. 6 Texas A&M will play No. 16 Miami, No. 15 Florida, No. 18 Arkansas, No. 1 Alabama, No. 22 Mississippi, plus traditional bowl-bound LSU and Auburn.
There isn’t a single Top 25 team on UH’s remaining schedule.
Next year, UH is moving to the Big 12 Conference which should boost interest and attendance for the Cougars. However, the Big 12’s most glamorous members, UT and Oklahoma, are following Texas A&M’s exodus to the mighty Southeastern Conference.
Justice points out that UH is largely a commuter school. Only 8,000 students of its 40,000 enrollment live on campus.
I’d like to add two more reasons why UH football doesn’t draw huge crowds that its players and coaches deserve. And there’s nothing that UH can do to fix these reasons.
UH plays in a city where there’s an NFL team. And UH plays in a city where fall is the prettiest season of the year.
College teams that play in NFL cities typically have trouble drawing fans. It’s just the way it is. Here’s a headline from last week’s college football roundup: “USC Embarrassingly Couldn’t Fill Stadium During Debut of Lincoln Riley and Caleb Williams.”
If USC, playing in a Power 5 conference, in America’s second-largest city, with a new celebrity head coach and Heisman candidate quarterback, had huge sections empty at its first game this season, what hope does UH have selling out its home opener against Kansas on Sept. 17?
While there are a few college teams that thrive in NFL cities, the majority of powerhouse college teams play in non-major markets, where the colleges have their city and local headlines to themselves.
This was the preseason college Top 10 for 2022: Alabama (Tuscaloosa), Ohio State (Columbus), Georgia (Athens), Clemson (Clemson), Notre Dame (South Bend), Texas A&M (College Station), Utah (Salt Lake City), Michigan (Ann Arbor), Oklahoma (Norman) and Baylor (Waco).
Let’s look at the biggest college football stadiums: Michigan Stadium (Ann Arbor, capacity 107,601), Beaver Stadium (State College, 106,572), Ohio Stadium (Columbus, 104,944), Kyle Field (College Station, 102,733), Neyland Stadium (Knoxville, 102,455), Tiger Stadium (Baton Rouge, 102,421), Bryant-Denny Stadium (Tuscaloosa, 101,821), Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium (Austin, 100,119), Sanford Stadium (Athens, 92,746), Rose Bowl (Pasadena, 90,888).
They’re all miles and worlds apart from the big city lights of the NFL.
Let’s not forget that Houston (the city) has a lot more to offer than football on Saturdays. Fall is perhaps the nicest, most outdoorsy season in Houston. We have 57 golf courses, boating, swimming, tennis, outdoor dining, Washington Avenue and festivals.
Or you can buy a ticket to watch Temple, a commuter college in downtown Philadelphia, where the NFL Eagles own the city, play UH at TDECU Stadium on Nov. 12.
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Astros keep doing this, and it’s getting hard to ignore
Jun 25, 2025, 10:01 pm
While the rolling Astros have a week of possible World Series preview matchups against the Phillies and Cubs, it’s the Rockets who made the biggest local sports headline with their acquisition of Kevin Durant. What a move! Of course there is risk involved in trading for a guy soon to turn 37 years old and who carries an injury history, but balancing risk vs. reward is a part of the game. This is a fabulous move for the Rockets. It’s understood that there are dissenters to this view. Everyone is entitled to an opinion, including people with the wrong opinion! Let’s dig in.
The Rockets had a wonderful season in winning 52 games before their disappointing first-round playoff loss to the Warriors, but like everyone else in the Western Conference, they were nowhere close to Oklahoma City’s caliber. While they finished second in the West, the Rockets only finished four games ahead of the play-in. That letting the stew simmer with further growth among their young players would yield true championship contention was no given for 2025-26 or beyond.
Kevin Durant is one of the 10 greatest offensive players the NBA has ever seen. Among his current contemporaries only Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic make that list. For instance, Durant offensively has clearly been better than the late and legendary Kobe Bryant. To view it from a Houston perspective, Durant has been an indisputably greater offensive force than the amazing Hakeem Olajuwon. But this is not a nostalgia trip in which the Rockets are trading for a guy based on what he used to be. While Durant could hit the wall at any point, living in fear that it’s about to happen is no way to live because KD, approaching his 18th NBA season, is still an elite offensive player.
As to the durability concern, Durant played more games (62) this past season than did Fred VanVleet, Jabari Smith, and Tari Eason. The season before he played more games (75) than did VanVleet, Dillon Brooks, and Alperen Sengun. In each of the last two seasons Durant averaged more minutes per game (36.9) than any Rocket. That was stupid and/or desperate of the Suns, the Rockets will be smarter. Not that the workload eroded Durant’s production or efficiency. Over the two seasons he averaged almost 27 points per game while shooting 52 percent from the floor, 42 percent from behind the three-point line, and 85 percent from the free throw line. Awesomeness. The Rockets made the leap to being a very good team despite a frankly crummy half-court offense. The Rockets ranked 21st among the 30 NBA teams in three-point percentage, and dead last in free throw percentage. Amen Thompson has an array of skills and looks poised to be a unique star. Alas, Thompson has no credible jump shot. VanVleet is not a creator, Smith has limited handle. Adding Durant directly addresses the Rockets’ most glaring weakness.
The price the Rockets paid was in the big picture, minimal, unless you think Jalen Green is going to become a bonafide star. Green is still just 23 years old and spectacular athletically, but nothing he has done over four pro seasons suggests he’s on the cusp of greatness. In no season has Green even shot the league average from the floor or from three. His defense has never been as good as it should be given his athleticism. Compared to some other two-guards who made the NBA move one year removed from high school, four seasons into his career Green is waaaaaay behind where Shae Gilgeous-Alexander, Anthony Edwards, and Devin Booker were four seasons in, and now well behind his draft classmate Cade Cunningham. Dillon Brooks was a solid pro in two seasons here and shot a career-best from three in 2024-2025, but he’s being replaced by Kevin Durant! In terms of the draft pick capital sent to Phoenix, five second round picks are essentially meaningless. The Rockets have multiple extra first round picks in the coming years. As for the sole first-rounder dealt away, whichever player the Rockets would have taken 10th Wednesday night would have been rather unlikely to crack the playing rotation.
VanVleet signs extension
Re-signing Fred VanVleet to a two-year, 50 million dollar guarantee is sensible. In a vacuum, VanVleet was substantially overpaid at the over 40 mil he made per season the last two. He’s a middle-of-the-pack starting point guard. But his professionalism and headiness brought major value to the Rockets’ kiddie corps while their payroll was otherwise very low. Ideally, Reed Sheppard makes a leap to look like an NBA lead guard in his second season, after a pretty much zippo of a rookie campaign. Sheppard is supposed to be a lights-out shooter. For the Rockets to max out, they need two sharpshooters on the court to balance Thompson’s presence.
For Astro-centric conversation, join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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