Shortly after UH President Renu Khator introduced Mack Rhoades as UH’s newest athletics director, Rhoades said his first and hardest task will be selling tickets.
Here’s where students and staff come in. We cannot point out any individual group for the low attendance at UH sporting events, but it’s not a secret that Cougars don’t play in front of enough people.
UH’s football attendance ranks last in Conference USA. The women’s basketball team rarely plays in front of more than 300 people. The announced attendance at most games is laughable, even when compared to other schools in C-USA.
A successful athletic program is built on fan support. As Khator noted, a flagship university needs a flagship athletics department. UH lags behind Texas A&M and Texas in athletics because it doesn’t have enough support. Alumni, students and staff may not like sports, but supporting your school’s teams is a big part of the fundraising process.
A public university with more than 30,000 students needs a lot of money to fund all of the projects that will propel it into a flagship campus. One way to draw in money is attracting more people to games.
Students can get in free with their IDs, but there is a benefit if they go to the games and spend money on sportswear, food and drinks. Plus, a better environment can draw the surrounding community to the University.
Rhoades, like former AD Dave Maggard, cannot sell tickets by himself. Expect to see numerous marketing campaigns fail if alumni, students and staff continue to carry a nonchalant attitude toward our student athletes.
We all have busy lives. Some people have multiple jobs, while others have one or more kids. Combine this with keeping up with courses, and free time is limited. But when students and staff have the chance, they should go to a game.
