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Sunday, August 24, 1997

Now Oilers are gone, will other sports benefit?

By MICHAEL A. LUTZ / AP Sports Writer

HOUSTON (AP) - Now that the Houston Oilers are gone, taking their big bite on the Houston sports entertainment dollar with them, attendance at Rice and University of Houston football games will get giant boosts, right?

Not necessarily. Pardon the skepticism, but they'll have to show me the fans.

When the Los Angeles Rams departed the Left Coast, attendance at Southern California and UCLA didn't rise or fall dramatically from 1994 to 1995. Southern Cal's attendance actually dropped.

The Rice and Houston programs aren't on par with Southern Cal and UCLA and besides, it's been eons since fans here have clamored to attend a college game just to see the home team.

Texas and Texas A&M come with their own fans but even those games have dwindled in popularity in recent years.

All that hasn't kept the good ticket counters at Rice and Houston from getting their hopes revved up and gunning for those disgruntled Oilers fans looking for a new cause.

And, it may appear that a big swing from pro football back to the colleges has taken place after the two schools open their home schedules on Sept. 6

Both schools have mounted big marketing campaigns to get their home seasons off the ground and each anticipates crowds possibly exceeding 50,000, which would be a feat for both institutions.

Rice opens against the Air Force. The Owls haven't had a 50,000-plus crowd since they drew 56,047 against Texas on Oct. 6, 1984 and lost 38-13. That was almost half of the Owls attendance for the entire year (114,256).

Houston will host California in its home opener in the Astrodome. The Cougars haven't surpassed 50,000 since 52,589 attended the Texas game in the Astrodome Nov. 7, 1981.

The Cougars, defending Conference USA champions hired a promotional firm to market its home opener. The campaign is called "Sellout '97" and includes radio spots featuring former Oilers coach Bum Phillips, also a former assistant coach for the Cougars.

"I used to say Luv Ya Blue. Now I see red," Phillips drawls in one spot.

The Astrodome will seat 60,000 for football but Houston assistant athletic director Gary Sobba doesn't want to put a figure on anticipated attendance.

"I think success would be 40,000-plus but it could be 50,000 or 60,000," Sobba said. "We're just doing this for one game and hopefully we'll get some residual leads on future ticket sales. We've cultivated a number of prospects and we've done it in a short time."

The Oilers' departure didn't spawn the Cougars' drive.

"We planned on the Oilers being here," Sobba said. "We signed up with this company to put this on for us."

Increased interest has not been lost on the Cougars team.

"I don't think we're to the point where the kid think they invented football," Houston coach Kim Helton said. "They still have their heads on straight and going about their business.

"If you beat Alabama, it's going to be hard to ignore us."

Houston opens on the road against the Crimson Tide. Their home schedule includes some good teams but none with marquee power. Two of their games will be played in 21,000-seat Robertson Stadium.

The Owls have a better chance at reaching their goal of averaging 38,000 for the season (something they haven't done since 1972) because they also host Texas and Brigham Young.

Their promotion is an in-house drive called "Operation Sellout" headed by assistant athletic director Mike Pede.

"We're trying to get the folks out early and show them some game-day atmosphere," Pede said. "There is a segment of the population that doesn't even know where we are."

As of early in the week, about 52,000 tickets had been sold with a goal of 62,000, the largest crowd since the Owls hosted Oklahoma in 1979.

An Air Force parachute team will drop in during pregame ceremonies, giving

Rice coach Ken Hatfield an idea but Air Force coach Fisher DeBerry wouldn't cooperate.

"I tried to get Fisher to parachute in with the ball but so far, he's turned down the offer," Hatfield said. Send a Letter to the Editor about This Story | Start or Join A Discussion about This Story
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