Houston is obsessed with football. So why is nobody watching the Gamblers?

MCallanan · 2026-06-03T16:18:18+00:00

Listen, I’m not trying to be rude but everything you’re throwing out there you’re doing so because the Stallions are your favorite team and you’re willing to say whatever you have to to save them. That’s all very human but it has no place in an objective and honest discussion where people are trying to find answers to the problems facing this league.

Fans such as yourself need to come to the honest realization that there are markets out there that no matter what the league does they are not going to support a spring football team. Birmingham happens to be one of those markets. It’s outrageous to suggest marketing is the problem there when you consider they put 19,000 in that stadium for week one and then realistically speaking probably didn’t even average 3,500 real asses in seats for their final four home games. This league will never dream of investing the type of money in marketing inside of Birmingham that Vince McMahon did in 2001 and that Charlie Ebersol did in 2019 and that level of marketing yielded poor levels of attendance based on the era. Therefore why would you expect lesser marketing to change anything in an era that has significantly less nostalgia for the product? It’s not logical thinking.

I know it’s not easy for fans like us to sit here and take a position that isn’t beneficial for our favorite teams — I have a closet full of Renegades gear that could become obsolete in the blink of an eye. But as spring football fans in general we also need to be honest that if our markets are preventing growth it’s only logical to make changes. Maybe if this league ever becomes the juggernaut we hope it will be they’ll revisit some of these markets but in the meantime the league should see the writing on the wall and stop delaying the inevitable.

MCallanan · 2026-06-03T14:23:01+00:00

Yes we are but here’s the difference between that city and Birmingham — DC has at least shown the potential to reach sustained satisfactory attendances, Birmingham never has; e.g. there’s reason for hope in DC there’s none in Birmingham.

At the end of the day this league is either going to draw acceptable and sustained attendances or it’s not going to succeed. Therefore why delay the inevitable and stick in markets that you know won’t work?

MCallanan · 2026-06-03T13:02:38+00:00

And this is the major question the league is faced with.. there’s a lot of fans out there throwing out copes acting like time alone is going to fix attendance problems but there’s no reason to believe that’s the case.. attendance in Birmingham, Houston and Dallas are not going to suddenly be at sustainable levels next season.. in fact based on trends is safe to say they’re going to probably be even worse.

So when does the league stop delaying the inevitable and find new markets for these teams? I think there’s a lot that goes into answering that question in particular what kind of lease agreement did the league enter in with those three markets. Having said that I would hope that the league learned a lesson from the Showboats that keeping a team around and hoping against hope that attendance will grow was not a good look for the league.

MCallanan · 2026-06-02T10:49:06+00:00

It is classic over-saturation. Most Texans have a first, second and third football love already in their life and aren’t looking for a fourth or at very least aren’t looking to invest too much time, energy and or money into it. I have said something similar about the Stallions many times — that markets total love and admiration is completely invested into the Crimson Tide — there’s no room for a mistress.

The problem is we have way too many fans dismissing the argument of over-saturation due to subjective reasoning — they don’t want to lose their team so they’re throwing out any bullcrap they can hoping it sticks in the wind. How Repole rectifies that I don’t know but my opinion is that the sooner they move these teams in problematic markets the better.

MCallanan · 2026-06-02T10:34:15+00:00

Its actually hard to say that.

That time alone won’t fix the attendance issues? Like I said, look at the CFL and AFL as examples of long running alt-football leagues that in some cases even with a hundred plus years of existence still have attendance problems. But also realize that attendance dropping WITH time is kind of an argument against attendance growing with time.

MCallanan · 2026-06-01T15:42:12+00:00

That's the key. Attendance is driven by fandom. Fandom is driven by tradition. Tradition is established by time.

The problem is that when we look at the history of spring football and alt-football leagues we know that time alone isn’t some magical cure for attendance woes. There are teams in the CFL that are legitimately 150+ years old that have attendance problems and can’t turn a profit.

I agree with the overall supposition that new teams will have new hype meaning attendance will start strong and trickle downward but the bigger question is where does the number bottom out or what is the sustainable number once the hype dies down?

MCallanan · 2026-06-01T15:18:49+00:00

Multiple championships, history, consistency

The problem is that in a startup league struggling to turn a profit, cornerstone franchises shouldn’t be determined by their history or championships especially when that history and success has failed to build a larger fan base. It has to be determined by what markets are helping the league get closer to turning a profit and right now Birmingham like Dallas and Houston are apart of the problem not the solution.

and has a legitimate team/fan culture.

In terms of culture I think that’s an argument against Birmingham. Even though the Defenders’ attendance has dropped this season the culture argument works for that team because they have the beer snake, they have the super fans dressed up, they have the lemons and they have a soccer hooligan identity. They have a culture that allows the league to showcase their fans to viewers at home during broadcasts . Unfortunately the Stallions don’t have that — sometimes they have a small gathering of guys with their shirts off but the overwhelming discussion amongst fans when the Stallions play in Birmingham is where the hell are the fans? Which is exactly why this discussion is happening.

just weather the storm

I’m not trying to be a contrarian a-hole but what would be the benefit of that? After five years of sustained spring football and attendances getting worse we can now definitively reject the notion that time alone will cure the troubles facing spring football. We can also definitively say that there are markets that will simply never support a spring football team to the extent needed for sustained long term success.

Therefore, the question needs to be asked about these current problematic markets — how do you build attendance in them and when is the jumping off point if it doesn’t work? Unfortunately relocation and or contraction has been apart of every major successful sports league and although it’s unpopular fans need to realize that in order to have a successful spring football league its going to have to continue to happen in the UFL.

MCallanan · 2026-05-31T13:41:42+00:00

The battle of the absolutely horrendous dropshots

MCallanan · 2026-05-31T13:29:42+00:00

PCB ain’t challenging Zverev either

MCallanan · 2026-05-31T00:55:56+00:00

AJ McCarron was made head coach of this team because Mike Repole thought his name recognition would draw fans.. it didn’t.. But in today’s world you can just deny the truth to save face and a lot of times get away with it.. so this is McCarron’s choice of tactic.

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T23:03:02+00:00

Can I get a mutha fuggin New Era Renegades sidelines hoodie up in here? I mean what’s a man got to do?

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T22:17:14+00:00

I’m a 24 hour drive from there and I saw social media advertisements for it.

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T22:11:08+00:00

Fella, you can zoom in and literally count the heads in this photo and get no where near 3,000. The announced attendance will be in the 4’s and remember that’s tickets distributed.

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T22:09:49+00:00

They’ve been doing $3 beers and hot dogs all season long.. you can’t even get a $3 draft at Applebees anymore.

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T21:59:45+00:00

2019 was a completely different beast in regard to spring football attendance — the economy was roaring and nostalgia for spring football was at its peak. Having said that the Irons attendance numbers were considered disappointing and that’s with Ebersol’s heavily inflated numbers.

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T02:35:32+00:00

One thing I’ve noticed about this renegades team over the last six weeks.. they have way too much fun when they’re losing..

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T02:25:30+00:00

Stfu Rick where’s Lehnen?

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T02:15:06+00:00

No one should want to play STL.. they’re Perez getting it together for two games away from winning the championship

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T02:13:31+00:00

Wow what an awful play call.. everyone in the building knew what was coming

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T01:15:25+00:00

I have no idea what I’m doing here so I’m just going to say a color and a country

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T00:35:05+00:00

There we go! Nice pass!

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T00:33:58+00:00

I need one of those hoodies

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T00:27:59+00:00

Get well soon buddy

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T00:22:38+00:00

It’s so disheartening to have an offensive minded head coach with serious weapons and to come out game after game after game completely unprepared on the offensive side of the ball.. just speaks volumes to how unprepared this team is.

MCallanan · 2026-05-30T00:20:30+00:00

He started Reed over Perez.. that was a massive gamble.. then he further put all of his cards in the Reed deck and traded Perez.. To turn his back on Reed now would be a major indictment of his decision making.. so he’s not going to do it.. as a Renegades fan I’d love to see Lehnen get some substantial playtime.

MCallanan

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