Did Texas Southern Pick the Wrong Team For its NRG Stadium Game?

Texas Southern’s scheduling conflicts with Houston Dynamo FC have been one of the more eye-opening stories of the offseason. It may have taken until late July, but the program found a way to make it work.

While the program will play multiple games at a local high school stadium, the Tigers will return to NRG Stadium for the first time since the 2014 Labor Day Classic. Texas Southern will host Southern on October 24. Moving this game makes sense given the Jaguars’ proximity to Houston and notoriety. Nevertheless, it may not have been the right choice.

This year’s game marks the sixth time since 2017 that Texas Southern and Southern will play at a neutral site. The two schools played in the Dallas-Fort Worth area from 2017 to 2019 and after the pandemic in 2021 and 2022. Unfortunately, their classic never gained momentum, as the attendance data shows below.

Sure, Southern fans should travel better to Houston than to Dallas or Arlington. However, Texas Southern faces an uphill battle in getting Jaguars fans to travel to NRG Stadium. Southern fans probably already have plans to travel to Legion Field for the first time since 2004 for their Week Zero clash against Alabama State, which went 10-2 last season.

While the stage is grander for this clash with the Tigers, it may be a difficult sell to get Southern fans to travel in droves to play a 6-5 school that they have already played at neutral sites on multiple occasions. In fact, there’s evidence that a game between Southern and Texas Southern at NRG may not draw well.

In 2008, only 8,164 fans showed up to see the Jaguars beat the Tigers 56-7 at then-Reliant Stadium. Of course, Texas Southern’s futility may have played a role in this figure, but Southern did not do much to offset this.

While there’s reason to believe that the attendance will not drop to the four-figure mark, the possibility is still plausible. The 2018 and 2008 neutral site games offer two worst-case scenarios. The unpredictability of attendance makes the Texas Southern administration’s estimate of $450,000 in ticket revenue a lofty and possibly unrealistic goal.

Instead, Texas Southern should have taken an open-minded approach. Their season opener against North Carolina Central on August 29th is one of the marquee games of the HBCU non-conference slate. The Eagles are one of the most consistent programs in the MEAC and, more importantly, have never played at NRG Stadium.

Furthermore, this is one of just five regular-season games between the MEAC and SWAC and one of three featuring a SWAC school that has never played in the MEAC. While North Carolina Central is far from Houston, the special occasion could have encouraged both fan bases to show up to NRG Stadium.

Moving this game would have made it a more formidable competitor to the MEAC-SWAC Challenge. Instead, two sleepers for the Black College Football crown will play in a high school stadium.

The whole stadium situation for Texas Southern is unfortunate and should encourage the program to find a path to building an on-campus stadium or renovating the Alexander Durley Complex. Nonetheless, some good came out of the situation, with the Tigers’ return to NRG Stadium.

However, picking Southern for this game feels like a safe choice that may not even pay off. The program had an opportunity to create a grand one-off occasion for its fans, but instead chose to ignore recent history.

After years of underwhelming attendance in Dallas, a move closer to home could be the spark that Texas Southern administrators have long hoped for with the Southern “rivalry”. Otherwise, it could be a missed opportunity.