HOUSTON — Saturday, thousands of students and fans tailgated for University of Houston football.
The school and its alumni groups are changing the game day experience to start this new era.
It’s a time to embrace change and honor tradition.
“We’re here to get loud, here to let them know who we are, we’re ready to enter the Big 12 with a bang,” UH student Dylan Escobedo said.
Current students are just as excited as alumni for the first Big 12 football game.
“It’s a very big deal for a very big school,” UH alum Charlene Johnson said.
“Houston fans have been waiting for 30 years being part of a power five conference,” said Garrett Klassy, deputy athletics director and chief revenue officer for UH.
He said the school has tried to enhance the fan experience for this season.
Amid the Texas heat, the school has ways to keep fans hydrated.
“We have water monsters on Cullen Boulevard where fans can fill up their water bottles and water jugs. Once you get inside the stadium, same thing if you bring an unsealed bottle of water, we have refillable water stations in the stadium as well,” Klassy said.
He said the university also encourages fans to enter directions to the campus on the Waze app to get directly to their assigned parking lot.
For the first 45 minutes after kickoff, Klassy said there is a happy hour for certain concessions, which can now be found throughout the stadium.
“You’re going to see a lot of unique things inside the stadium, we went from 101 points of sales with concessions to 189, so 88 new points of sale - especially in the upper deck which, never existed in the past, Klassy said.
Although the temperatures are turned up—these fans still wanted a ticket to the hottest football game in town.
“It’s ridiculously hot but not hot enough to stop us from supporting the Coogs,” Escobedo said.