Sellout Or Not, University of Houston’s Football Game With Colorado Must Become More Than a One-Off — The Plan To Make the Excitement Last
Prime Time Against Coach Prime Cannot Be The Final Destination For Willie Fritz's Program
BY Chris Baldwin //
University of Houston's student section could set attendance records against Colorado on Friday night as the school pushes for a sellout. (Photo by F. Carter Smith)
Whether University of Houston’s Friday night prime time football game with Colorado and Deion Sanders ends up being an official sellout or not, UH athletic director Eddie Nuñez is determined to make sure the night is something to build on. Something that sets up future sellouts and big game happenings rather than just becoming a one-off event like the University of Texas game sellout in Dana Holgorsen’s last season.
“We’re trending right now for anywhere from 35,000 to 37,000 on a good day,” Nuñez tells PaperCity of UH’s current Friday night game crowd projections. “We’re going to continue to sell.
“We know we’re going to have game day sales. We know that we’re going to get more students. So the numbers may go up. A lot of it is dependent on people continuing to understand what we’re doing.”
While the difference in game day atmosphere between having 37,000 fans in UH’s on-campus football stadium and an official sellout of 40,000 or more is negligible, the public relations benefit of being able to declare it a sellout is real. Nuñez tells PaperCity that UH is already at 7,000 student tickets claimed (as of Thursday afternoon) and it could set an record in student tickets for this 6:30 pm ESPN tilt at TDECU. For UH’s season opening Thursday night home game, 8,500 student tickets got claimed with a significant percentage of those happening in the final 24 hours before kickoff.
If it’s just a one-game burst — official sellout or not — it will not lift Willie Fritz’s program though. Not in a significant way.
“For me, sure it’s a game on national television,” Nuñez says. “That for us was important. We want to be on national television. . . I know that our fans will tune in and watch. I know our fans will show up. I think it’s going to be great. But is it more or better — look we’ve got to take care of the opportunity that’s in front of us.
“Because if we take care of business and do what needs to be done, that next game — Oregon State, Texas Tech (at home October 4), the next one and the next one will be just as much. I think basketball’s a great example of that.”
To that end, as much as his staff is focused on selling more tickets, Nuñez is obsessed with making sure that the people who do go to this Colorado game have the kind of low-hassle experience that makes them want to come back. Just getting people there can no longer be enough.
“We’re putting a huge emphasis right now on parking and traffic,” the athletic director notes. “UH PD is working with METRO and trying to work with the light rail, police, with everybody to help alleviate the entrance and exiting of the campus. So we’re putting all the efforts in the right places.
“It’s still Friday, It’s still traffic hour for the most part.”
“We’re trending right now for anywhere from 35,000 to 37,000 on a good day. We’re going to continue to sell. We know we’re going to have game day sales. We know that we’re going to get more students. So the numbers may go up. A lot of it is dependent on people continuing to understand what we’re doing.” — UH athletic director Eddie Nuñez
Nuñez is confident the interest in UH is strong, going beyond ticket numbers. In the two games Willie Fritz’s team appeared on a national broadcast last season, it was the most watched Big 12 game of the week. And that team finished 4-8 with a historically bad offense. This one is 2-0 heading into the Colorado showdown, pushing for more.
The big game excitement is here. It’s another step for Willie Fritz’s program. For the Houston players, it’s much more than a mile marker though.
“I definitely can sense it,” veteran receiver Stephon Johnson says of the excitement around Friday night. “It means a lot to me. Just to be able to have a showing like this for the city, for the fans, just for this university. Something that they can be proud of. . .
“It’s just amazing for me to have an opportunity like this in front of me, for my last season. I’m just thankful for it.”
