By Trey Huguley 

On Thursday the Houston Texans administration made a new rule regarding tailgating on the grounds of Reliant Stadium on Gamedays. Beginning week 5 against the New York Giants, to be allowed onto Reliant grounds tailgaters will be required to either A) have a ticket to the game or B) have one of 2000 tailgating passess that will be issued/sold by the team. The team enacted this rule for a number of reasons, but two that stand out high above the others that are geared toward improving the experience for people who actually spend money to go to the game. One – it should alleviate some of the traffic around the Reliant area and Two – it will open up parking options that would normally have been taken by squaters who weren’t even attending the game. 

This move has created quite a bit of outrage from Texans fans who spend every home game hanging out in the parking lot, eating barbecue, drinking way too much and starting fights; the whole time wishing the whole time they were actually in the stadium. To these fans, I say, “Tough! Deal with it. Why don’t you spend time watching the game from the comfort of your own couch with your family, with friends at a Bar or have a game watching BBQ.”

Why in the world they want to deal with the masses of people to tailgate in front of a stadium for a game that starts at noon will always baffle me. 

Sure, I enjoy going to one or two games a year when I have a chance. And sure, when I do, I certainly wander around the parking lot in search of beer and barbecue, but come game time – I’m in my seat, ready to yell. Then for the other 6 home games a year, I couldn’t be happier with a beer on my couch or out at the local sports bar enjoying the game way more than I would at a tailgate for a game that I didn’t even have tickets.

Personally I see this new rule as a great thing for the Houston Texans organization, their fans and the city of Houston. Not only will this keep out the riff-raff and free up some of the parking for actual patrons, but it will also do quite a few other positive things. For one – it will help the economy of Houston. Sports bars and restaurants all over the city will see much busier Sunday afternoons when the 20,000 plus displaced fans decide they want to go “somewhere” to watch the game. If these establishment run specials and market the heck out of them, they could make Sunday one of their biggest revenue days of the week.

The rule will also keep actual transients as well as transient away fans out of the stadium grounds. In the past, there has been a bit of a problem with fans of other teams showing up just to start trouble.  Gangs, thugs and bums have also found their way out on Sunday’s to beg for food, rob people and start fights. While this wasn’t a common occurance, the new passing will keep these unwanted guests from crashing the party.

Texans fans have been notorious for not being in their seats come kick off time and spending half the game outside tailgating with their buddies that didn’t have tickets rather than cheering on the team. As we saw in the opening day against the Colts, the power of a loud stadium can be the determining factor in the game. Less people around who don’t have tickets means more people will be in their seats for the game. This will obviously result in more wins.

All in all, I applaud the Texans for making this move to expunge the non-true Texans fans who just like to be passive in their fannism treating it as a social event rather than a game. Go watch the game else where or buy a ticket, hippies.

http://www.houstonsportblog.com/