University of Houston Athletics
Ask the AD - December, 2015
12/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | General
Ask the AD â€" December, 2015
Houston Vice President for Athletics Hunter Yurachek will answer the questions of Houston fans at the beginnning of each month on UHCougars.com's Ask the AD. Click on the graphic above to submit your question to Hunter. You can also follow the Houston AD on twitter at @HunterYurachek.
Charles
Many believe (myself included) that we should play Rice in every sport every year. College rivalries are what makes college sports special. Rice is that for Houston. So far we do not play Rice in men's basketball, volleyball or soccer in the current or upcoming seasons. Can we bring back our traditional rival games with Rice? Also can there be more of push to get better out of conference games in football and basketball like Illinois, Arkansas, Colorado, Missouri, etc.
Charles, thank you for the email. As you 've probably seen, we've added football non-conference games with Rice in 2017 and 2018. When it comes to scheduling non-conference games, don't forget that scheduling is a two-way street across all sports. We continue to remain in discussions with a number of non-conference opponents, including local opponents, across all of our sports.
Michael
I am a season ticket holder. Are there any plans to use UH's highly rated entrepreneurship/business college to help increase fan attendance at games? I find it amazing that in a football rich state like Texas, that a school the size of UH cannot consistently fill a 40,000 seat stadium. I know it takes time to build traditions but it seems like the fan base was larger 40 years ago when I went to games as a young boy. Anyway, best of luck and go Coogs!
We have been in conversations with the Bauer School of Business and incorporating current students in our sales program. We do have a fundraising program with multiple colleges so that Bauer faculty, staff and alumni can sell tickets and the money goes back to Bauer. Full info can be found here: UHCougars.com/collegefundraiser.
Jeff Robinson
Have you considered having tailgate competition among UH alumni and alumni of other schools? Theme could be SEC or Big 12 vs. Coogs or other Houston teams?
The youth cheer groups or flag groups for half time could also fill upper level seats that I saw empty the first game.
I have heard from UH students that they would go to football/basketball games but they have classes that meet during the games. If UH doesn't create students who have experienced the fan culture of sports we will continue to see Alums who do not have any interest in supporting athletics when they have the jobs with expendable income. Thanks for listening.
Jeff, appreciate your idea. We have not yet had a chance to look at a tailgate competition with alums from other schools as we are currently focusing on University of Houston alumni returning to campus for games throughout the year. I can tell you from spending time in the TDECU Stadium parking lots prior to our home games, I'd take our alumni in a tailgating completion.
We do have groups performing during the game seated in the upper level seats they have purchased at our group rates and encourage all of them to stay for the entirety of the game.
We acknowledge that our student section has been one of the best in the nation this season and cannot thank our students enough for the energy they bring to TDECU Stadium each game. As far as class schedules, I am unable to control when the classes are scheduled in relation to our games, but know our students value their education as much as they value their football team.
Parker Binion
Hi. We are playing the OU game at NRG next year, and then returning a game at Norman.
I understand the NRG game will be part of our season ticket package.
My question: will the NRG game count as a UH home game for attendance totals even though it is a "neutral site" game?
Parker, the game will not count in home game attendance as it is a neutral site game, just as last year's Advocare Kickoff Classic featuring Arizona State and Texas A&M was a neutral site game for both teams.
You are correct with the game being included in the season ticket package as we were able to negotiate with the game's organizers for an added bonus for our valuable season ticket members.
Rusty
I have heard that the Wi-Fi this season was upgraded. Last season I could never get on and this season the same thing. Is this for only suites or for all fans and if so are you working on a fix to this?
Rusty, Boingo has been on site throughout the season to ensure the free Wi-Fi is fully capable in the areas it has been installed in to this point (gates, concourses & premium seating areas as a benefit to our fans who have purchased seats in these areas). As we move forward and are able to accommodate financially, we will look to expand the Wi-Fi capability to the entire stadium, although the cost of expansion is expected to be very high.
Michael Clardy
What is happening with the Pavilion? Is remodeling going to put us somewhere else for the 2015-2016 season? Even with a larger, better stadium, how does UH Athletics plan on bringing people to the games?
Michael, I hope you saw the news on the Basketball Arena Project approved by our Board of Regents. We have received approval to proceed on a project of up to $60 million to renovate the arena. You can find full information on the project here.
Charles
Has there been any thought to using famous alumni from the university for video shout outs periodically during the games in football and basketball? Hakeem, Clyde, Fred Couples and so on. It can even extend to non-sports related famous alums with either local or national recognition like Mark Berman, various congressman like Elizabeth Warren, etc.
Charles, we have engaged a number of our famous alumni for video projects throughout the year, both on the video board and on our digital media platforms. Stay tuned for more!
Barry Honeycutt
I was fortunate enough to be at the UH season opener vs. Tennessee Tech. Although the crowd was big, we still didn't fill the stadium. I was especially impressed with the student section and the support they showed. I'm wondering if any students were turned away from the game because of lack of seats? If so, wouldn't it make sense to open up more seats for students, allowing more to attend and placing more fans in the stadium to support our team? I understand there are factors involved with this idea ( more non-revenue tickets, current seats already sold, etc. ), but more seats filled equals more support equals better camera shots on TV equals UH being a more attractive team equals more money from other sources ( licensing, TV revenue, concessions ). Go Coogs.
Barry, I am proud of the fact that in two years we have have yet to turn away any University of Houston student from a single game at TDECU Stadium. We will continue to bring in our students in free of charge with a valid ID and have allowed student overflow to move into our 200 level end zone general admission seats.
Frank Rodriguez
We have been season ticket holders for a few years now and have always had a great experience watching our Coogs through thick and thin. However, now that season ticket holders can "purchase" these red seats for the season, the experience has been less than desirable in the stands. Our tickets are on the end of the row so this has drastically reduced our space to sit. We are thin adults so we have fit into the allotted space before. When these red seats are added and then you add wider than normal people, that leaves only room for half a person at the end of the bleacher. If an entire row of these plastic seats were to be added, could you guarantee that all of the seats would fit on a bleacher? What can be done to remedy this situation this season?
Frank, all of our seats in TDECU Stadium measure out to 18 inches as established by the stadium architects. We also did research on what provider we would use for our seat back providers to ensure the seat backs did not exceed the 18 inches assigned to each seat, as we did not want to impede on other ticketed patrons. If you believe a seat has been installed incorrectly, please call our Fan Experience Headquarters at 713-462-6647 and it will be checked on.
Russell Schoppe
You need to revisit the no backpacks. My wife was made to throw her backpack away or miss the first quarter of the game to walk back to the car. For 16 years we have brought a small backpack as her purse.
Russell, unfortunately due to security precautions and recent events around the world, we cannot allow backpacks in the stadium for safety of everyone attending the game. We encourage all fans to visit our game day guide (click here) for information on attending games at TDECU Stadium.
Leonard Pizalate
Are there plans to extend ribbon lighting completely around stadium. This is where they flash information & it also enhances the ambiance of the stadium? Are there any more upgrades to the stadium in the very near future?
Leonard, yes there are plans in the future to extend the ribbon boards across the entire length of the stadium decks. Estimates have been received and we continue to evaluate our budget to find the appropriate time to install.
Justin
At this point in my career, I do not have a lot to give. I am a season ticket holder for Football/Baseball and will add Basketball to the list this year. I keep seeing news about the need/want of the indoor football practice facility. I would be willing to give a 4/5 figure donation if I knew it was going towards the build of this facility and I know of other UH fans at the same point in their career would do the same (have discussed with multiple people).
Justin, first off, thank you for being a season ticket holder and supporting our student-athletes. We appreciate your planned support of our football program and a future indoor facility. If you would please call our Cougar Pride office at 713-743-4684, they will be able to provide more information on how you can contribute to future capital campaign projects.
Richard Hartfield
My brothers (Reno) and I have watched UH football for years. And for years we have not been able to find a program. My brother Reno did what we usually do last Saturday. He got up and walked to the other side of the stadium and found someone sitting at a table with programs on it. This is during the game. I know we could sell many times more programs. It seems that there is only one location where programs are sold. I want a program every game. Please help. Go Coogs.
Richard, there is one main home base for the program sellers at Game Day Central at Gate 1, but there are also about 15 mobile sellers walking stadium concourses including at all gates. You can't walk far without running into someone selling programs, although program sellers do stop selling at halftime.
Paul Morgan
My friends and I almost always take advantage of the concessions at TDECU stadium and eat before the game.
The problem is that there are no places to either stand and/or sit your food and drink down without taking it to your seat (not very convenient).
Why is it not possible to have the vendors sit up some stand up tables or just bracketed shelves along the walls to accommodate people like us?
We are not the only ones complaining of this as people actually sit on the concrete floor because of this. There are some tables in the "club" area on the South side where our seats are (upper deck), but they are for other people.
I cannot believe this would be a large budget item.
Paul, we will take your idea into consideration although we encourage our fans to enjoy their food and drink at their seats to consistently have a full seating bowl fans taking in the game and cheering on our student-athletes. Unfortunately due to safety restrictions that come with a building with a capacity of over 40,000, we aren't able to add tables to the open concourses at this point.
Patricia Chandler
When will 2016 football tickets go on sale?
Patricia, current season ticket holders will receive renewal information in December with 2016 season tickets going on sale for available seats at the same time. Keep an eye on UHCougars.com for information regarding 2016 season tickets.
Jeff Robison
I wanted to know what kind of data/survey information that your office has regarding the alumni that do not attend football games.
Jeff, we have conducted surveys with our season ticket holders and continue to receive information and data on our alums from the University of Houston Office of Advancement.
Phil Gorsie
I made my annual pilgrimage to Houston and was able to be at the Vanderbilt and Cincinnati games. Sloppy wet but I would not have missed them for the world. Thank you, the coaching staff, and the entire team for an inspiring and exciting experience.
At age 71 I will continue to make the trip from Virginia to Houston for as long as I can.
Fill EVERY seat, EVERY game and GO COOGS!
Thank you so much for making the trip from Virginia for a home game as a proud alum! You are a shining example for our alums that we encourage to return to TDECU Stadium for each home game!
Kerry Davidson
Hunter, lots of things going great on Cullen Blvd but can we focus on some of the smaller things that would enhance the customer experience? Need this to attract and bring back the casual fan. A sellout crowd overwhelms the support staff (e.g. Memphis game). Lines for food concessions too long, cause fan to miss too much of game. I heard they also ran out of some foods in the first half. That's lost revenue. Took us 1 hour to get out of parking garage after game. Those are some of your most important customers. Can you address these and similar problems?
Kerry, as we do after every game, our staff has reconvened on what went right and what went wrong in terms of event management and fan experience. Those items will be addressed with our concessionaire and traffic management as we continually seek to offer the best possible fan experience around.
Bob G.
When will you be able to announce some more future P5 teams on our football schedule especially at home?
Bob, we are working on some future non-conference series with FBS teams as we speak. There is no set date on when to finalize scheduling agreements and announce to the public. Once we complete an agreement, we will announce on UHCougars.com. A reminder, you can find all of our scheduled and announced future non-conference games here.
Paul Morgan
While the actual BB game was great and Sampson and the team performed extremely well, the same cannot be said about the conditions at Hofeinz.
No concessions, no ticket sales at both windows. The place was filthy, the RR were dirty and stunk. Security was a joke and clearly do not know what they are doing.
Paul, thank you for making it out for the first game of what should be an exciting season for Coach Sampson and our Men's Basketball program. As we do after every game, our staff has reconvened on what went right and what went wrong in terms of our event management and fan experience. Those items will be addressed and corrected for future home games. We hope to see you at all of our home games this year, the full schedule can be found here.
