I’ve been seeing Landry Locker, Cody Stoots, and now even CJ Stroud calling out Houston for low attendance at Texans games. Are we ever going to actually acknowledge that NRG plays a huge role in this?
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Location. The stadium is not in the heart of the city (Minute Maid, Toyota Center) to make it convenient for downtown residents, and it’s way too far away for most of the growing pockets of middle class Houston families (Katy, The Woodlands, etc).
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Infrastructure: This ties in to location, but there is no rail access or viable public transit to get people to games. This is a Texas-wide problem. The Stadium is also only accessible for most Houstonians via a terrible highway with traffic. With most Texan games starting at 12pm, families would need to leave their house HOURS early to make kickoff with no tailgating. Not exactly a relaxing day.
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Age: They broke ground on NRG about 25 years ago, and it shows! It’s an old ass stadium with no cool amenities. There’s no history there to redeem it (Lambeau/Soldier field), no cool state of the art design (Bank of America/ Mercedes Benz/ SoFi), and it even lacks relative to other lackluster stadiums of a similar age. At least Nissan Stadium in Nashville had a great view of the city, Cumberland River, and a walking bridge to downtown Nashville. NRG is a faraway concrete bowl with an unused (probably broken) retractable roof that hasn’t been a marvel of technology for 15+ years.
I’m a born and raised Houstonian. I’ve been a Texans fan since they became a team, but I’ve also moved. Since leaving and living in 6 different states, I’m amazed at how lackluster it is to go back and see my favorite team. We’re in the absolute bottom tier of stadiums, and in need of a new one to represent the New Era of the organization.
It’s cheaper to watch at home, tbh.
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Cheaper food whether you make it at home or order out.
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No lines at the restroom.
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No traffic to deal with while in the comfort of your own home.
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And flip to other games easily if it gets ugly.
Best thing you could say while at the game is “you were there”. Just my two cents.
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I say those who complain about empty seats should buy tickets for all of us.
(hint: they won’t either)
Nothing wrong with NRG, outside of traffic which will be a shit show regardless of a new stadium or not. That also has no impact on the lack of fans from the start of the season. I’m guessing it’s going to be packed from here on out.
It’s more likely not packed because of ticket prices than anything else. People are struggling to pay bills and going to football games of a team that couldn’t do anything the last few years is asking a lot. Stroud will have the stadium packed eventually, just give it time.
Just can’t afford it