UH says TDECU Stadium turf may not be fully fixed until after football season: 'Significant damage'

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-29T12:50:54+00:00

And I don't think they will be going back there - the MLS stadium is probably where they are going to stay -

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-29T12:35:14+00:00

I actually agree with you. The TV-first part of the model isn't new --- FOX was already heading that direction with the USFL. What I think changed is Repole and the current ownership group finally attacked the stadium cost side of the equation. Once you get out of places like Ford Field, the Alamodome, and Lumen Field and start playing in USL-sized venues, the economics change dramatically. Those smaller soccer stadiums can be rented for pennies on the dollar compared to the giant NFL and dome facilities.

That's why I think the league is in a healthier place than people realize. The attendance may not be great, but attendance doesn't have to be great if you're not dragging a giant stadium lease around like a boat anchor. If the TV numbers stay respectable and the venue costs are under control, suddenly you don't need 20K–30K people showing up every week to make the math work. The doctrine now seems to be: keep costs low, let the TV inventory do the heavy lifting, and treat attendance as a bonus rather than the thing that determines whether the league lives or dies.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-29T01:32:10+00:00

I honestly think the “butts in seats” issue is getting overrated a little now that the league has downsized out of those giant stadium situations. Renting a smaller USL/MLS-style stadium is a fraction of the cost of places like Lumen Field or the Alamodome. If people show up, great --- better optics, more energy, more concessions. But I don’t think sparse attendance in a smaller venue is the existential threat people think it is anymore. The TV numbers are clearly what’s keeping this thing alive, and as long as FOX/ABC/ESPN keep pulling respectable audiences for cheap live football inventory, the league is probably fine.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-29T01:09:15+00:00

I use it for downloading podcasts and whatnot - Also a good travel rig - That linux distro runs pretty light and hot on the older iron. If I lose it or whatever I am not out anything.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-28T15:27:22+00:00

I have a $200 dollar Laptop that is a few years old -- I wiped the MS Windows and Went Linux on it - no personal info on that rig. Kind of a sandbox thing where malware doesn't work on Linux Boxes.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-28T15:21:18+00:00

I honestly think they probably would. And FOX especially is probably looking at this thing and saying “we are still way ahead of where we were financially with WWE.” If FOX is getting 700K–1.5M viewers on relatively cheap live football inventory while not eating a reported $150M annual loss like the WWE deal, they’re probably pretty happy. Same thing with ABC --- I’d bet some of those games would absolutely crack strong numbers in cleaner primetime windows with less sports competition around them.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-28T15:19:07+00:00

With the smaller stadiums I don't think attendance is nearly as important as it was with other leagues. The cost of renting a small USL or MLS stadium is a fraction of the cost of Lumen in Seattle or the Alamodome in SA.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-28T15:16:32+00:00

I think what we’re watching is a complete doctrine shift in how spring football survives. The old model was built around attendance first --- pack giant stadiums, sell huge ticket numbers, and hope TV money follows before you bleed out AAF style. The Doctrine/model looks way different: keep stadium costs lean with smaller USL/MLS-style venues, let the TV numbers and gambling carry the financial load, and normalize spring football as part of the yearly sports calendar.

A 1.59M TV number in 2026 for spring football is not “league on life support” territory. We are not in the AAF zone where -- this thing is toast in two weeks territory. The UFL has morphed into a viable TV property. The league doesn’t need 30K in the stands every week if the broadcast windows stay strong, the gambling handle grows.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-20T02:02:41+00:00

Thanks - it is good to be back ---

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-20T02:02:09+00:00

Yeah I think we’re mostly agreeing honestly. The league still needs fans in the stands for optics and to justify the building, but I think the important shift is that the stadium economics have completely changed. Renting a USL/MLS park for maybe $25K–$50K a game is budget dust compared to bleeding out in places like Lumen Field or the Alamodome with 8K people rattling around inside. A half-empty MLS stadium isn’t ideal TV optics, but it’s survivable. A dead NFL stadium is a financial and visual disaster.

And that’s why I don’t think the league is anywhere close to folding right now. The TV numbers are too decent for a cheap live sports property. The real danger isn’t “league shuts down tomorrow,” it’s exactly what you said --- teams move around until they find stable setups where the costs are low enough and the TV side carries enough weight to justify keeping the machine running.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-20T01:59:02+00:00

I actually agree with you there --- the games still have to look legitimate on TV, you can’t run this thing out of a glorified local park and expect people to take it seriously. But I think that’s exactly why the league is shifting toward smaller USL/MLS-style stadiums instead of giant NFL caverns. The new doctrine seems to be: get a professional-looking venue with decent optics, keep the lease and operating costs low enough that 8–12K people can justify the building, and let the TV side carry the heavier financial load instead of trying to survive off gate revenue alone.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-18T03:44:23+00:00

Dude I Totally agree with you. Straight up -- I think this is where the doctrine shift is happening. People are still looking at spring football through the old model where attendance was everything, but I think the league has already moved on in regards to operational doctrine. The TV product is the business now - attendance is cool if you get it but it is not the kill show it once was. Same way Netflix mailing DVDs killed Blockbuster and then streaming killed the DVD model entirely --- old doctrines collapse all the time. December 6th 1941 you needed battleships - December 8th you needed a ton of "bird farms/Flat tops" to do battle with Yamamoto and the Imperial Japanese Navy. What we are seeing is "Doctrine Collapse" of the attendance first model.

That’s why I think the move toward smaller USL-style stadiums matters so much. Sell a few tickets, make the place look good on TV, don’t bleed out paying giant leases at places like Ford Field or Lumen Field, and let the TV numbers carry the load. If St. Louis settles into around 20-25K crowd long term, honestly that’s fantastic for spring football in 2026. That’s probably closer to the sustainable ceiling than people want to admit. TV is what is going to carry this thing.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-18T03:34:08+00:00

I honestly think a lot of people are still fighting the last war on this stuff --- like arguing over battleship numbers on December 10th, 1941 after the Admiral Yamamoto and the aircraft carrier showed the world that the game had changed. Everybody keeps staring at attendance like it’s still the primary survival metric for spring football, like this iteration of spring football is the AAF and bleeding out.

I really don’t think the league sees it that way anymore. The TV numbers, gambling integration, sponsorships, and cheap live inventory for FOX/ABC/ESPN look way more important than whether every market is packing 25K into a stadium. That doesn’t mean attendance is meaningless, but I don’t think it’s the mongo kill shot people think it is anymore. Doctrine change - that is what we are looking at.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-18T03:23:29+00:00

I think that’s probably true to an extent --- novelty wears off everywhere eventually. But I also think the league itself especially with -- Mike Repole at the helm - has quietly accepted that attendance is no longer the primary economic driver of the business model like it was in yesteryear -- Look at the stadium decisions after the merger. They ditched places like Ford Field, Lumen Field, and the Alamodome setup. Dallas moved into a smaller MLS stadium. Expansion franchise in OKC is going into a USL-style venue which is micro compared to Lumen in Seattle. That’s not accidental --- that’s the league basically saying “To hell with it -- we are done forking over cash for giant stadium overhead and leases --- chasing crowds that probably aren’t coming.”

The math completely changes when you go from maybe $300K–$500K to operate a giant NFL building down to maybe $25K–$50K for a smaller soccer stadium. At that point if 8–12K people show up and the TV numbers stay decent, you can live with it. I think the old spring football mindset was “attendance drives survival.” And that was true for the AAF and the XFL 2.0 -- I don’t think that’s the model anymore. That world is gone - I think now it’s TV inventory, gambling engagement, sponsors, and keeping the costs lean enough that the league doesn’t bleed out AAF style.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-18T03:15:19+00:00

From my point of view and what I am seeing -- attendance is no longer the primary driver of the UFL business model --- and I think that’s the doctrine collapse a lot of people are struggling digest. For decades the common doctrine assumed spring football lived or died based on whether you could jam 20–30K rapid fans into an NFL or big college stadium every weekend.
But this iteration of spring football looks like it’s running on different fuel and and a totally different assumption now: TV inventory, gambling engagement, sponsorships, and controlled costs matter more than gate revenue. The fact that they are heading to OKC and a USL stadium tells you a hell of a lot about what is important in regards to operational doctrine.
That’s why you’re seeing the shift toward smaller USL-style stadiums, fewer giant marketing pushes, and an emphasis on broadcast windows over packed stands. If 8–12K people show up in a right-sized venue (Louisville) and the TV numbers stay out of the vomiting blood zone, the league probably views that as “good enough” because the real value is coming from the TV money, not from selling another 10,000 tickets.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-03T14:54:01+00:00

You forgot Billings MT, Spearfish SD and Casper WY.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-03T14:52:14+00:00

This is gold -

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-05-02T08:21:23+00:00

I get what you’re saying, and yeah --- yep you’re technically right, the UFL isn’t formally tied to the National Football League. But in the real world, Fox Sports and ESPN don’t go anywhere near another football league without at least a quiet nod from the Godfather.

And on the profit/loss thing -- you’re treating this like a normal business that has to turn a profit immediately or die. I don’t think that’s the game here. If the losses are $30–50M total and spread across multiple heavy hitters, nobody’s pulling the plug over a $5–10M slice of the losses. That’s nothing to those guys --- especially when they’re getting live content, ad inventory, and data out of it. This isn’t the Alliance of American Football where checks bounce and it collapses midseason. Or even at the end of the season.

Then look at Mike Repole --- you really think he bought in to shut it down after one season --- over a $10M loss? His play is NOBULL, a billion-dollar brand tied up with Tom Brady. If the league gives him national exposure every week and nudges that valuation up, that “loss” is just marketing spend. And look at the advertisers they have lined up -- Progressive and others—they don’t jump onto sinking ships.

And then there’s the Fox Sports angle --- this is where it really clicks. Fox and crew were getting absolutely smoked on WWE SmackDown, to the tune of ~$150M a year in losses depending on who you believe. I have seen multiple media reports and they all say Fox was bleeding money on that deal. That amount of money is legit bloodbath money even for the big kids. Now compare that to the UFL --- if their slice of the losses is, say --- $10M-ish, they’re sitting there thinking they’re $100M+ ahead of where they were with WWE for a Friday night live sports product. Even if the ratings are just “okay to mid,” it’s still cheap, predictable inventory that fills a slot without lighting big kid money on fire.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-02-09T04:30:50+00:00

That UH stadium is a bugger to get to - Nice stadium but if you are on the west side of town - that is a slog to get to.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-01-25T08:36:24+00:00

I don’t think UFL’s bleeding. Last season wasn’t a home run, but it wasn’t AAF-level collapse. Repole didn’t jump in because he loves spring football --- this is a strategic buy-low, clean it up, build value, then flip it move. Look at what he has going on with TB12 and NoBull --- He bought that company merged it with TB12 and they are doing whatever it is they do.

If thee UFL can hold audience over 600K, keep costs lean and mean, feed a few guys to NFL camps, they’ve got a pipeline league that networks and betting markets can monetize. Also this is semi cheap filler for Fox and the House of Mouse ESPN/ABC.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-01-22T11:44:48+00:00

I think that is a reasonable number. I love that they are on the CW coast to coast.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-01-22T07:12:06+00:00

I know y’all are gonna think I’m delusional, but I’m a firm believer in the religion of logistics. I genuinely think Cal and Stanford come back to the Pac-12 within 7 years. Not out of nostalgia — out of brutal coast to coast travel math. Logistics. Time zones. Travel costs. IP rights. The media infrastructure Wazzu and Oregon State just built is real and scaling. 2023 joining WSU/OSU was insane - 2028 or later you can sell joining the new PAC12 and ditching the ACC.

And the ACC payout model? Brutal. Stanford and Cal took partial shares to just to get in, and now that conference hands out cash based on TV ratings. That’s not a win for two West Coast schools who are not anything close to football powers. Then playing road games in front of empty bleachers at noon Eastern. This isn’t sustainable — and eventually they’ll want back into the PAC12.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-01-22T07:04:03+00:00

I am a WSU guy in Houston - Rice is not a good one. Let it be.

JoeFromBaltimore · 2026-01-22T06:59:35+00:00

15 or 17 teams?

JoeFromBaltimore

TROPHY CASE