After a year of sparse crowds and little energy at TDECU Stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic, UH football game days will feature a completely different type of energy and atmosphere with the return to 100 percent capacity. | File Photo
Every Houston football game day is a unique experience where the Cougar community sets aside all the stress that results from their daily lives and comes together to puts its pride and support for the red and white on full display for all to see.
Before the game even starts, the walk to TDECU Stadium is met with the sight of thousands of students, alumni and fans sporting the scarlet red and white, socializing and preparing to walk through the gates to watch the Cougars compete.
However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic carrying over into the 2020 football season, the traditional game day experience was noticeably different at TDECU Stadium.
Tailgating was not allowed. The traditional Cougar Walk where fans line up all along the sidewalks outside of TDECU Stadium to cheer on the Cougars as they walk from the team bus to the locker room was absent. And most noticeably the cheers of a 25 percent capacity crowd, socially distanced throughout the stadium, were faint.
“Going to the football games last year felt different from what it was like during my freshman year,” said junior journalism major Lisa El-Amin. “The limited number of fans at the stadium and seeing everyone spread apart and wearing masks, you couldn’t really tell who was at the game. It just felt odd at times, to be honest.”
But gone are the days of limited capacity at TDECU Stadium as the University announced that the 2021 football season would open to 100 percent capacity for all UH home games.
UH students and fans could not be more excited to cheer on their team with thousands of Cougars fans by their sides.
Whether it be the “Whose House?” chant, the fun and energetic “Womp Womp,” or even the traditional fight song, the songs and chants roared by a packed house of 40,000 Cougars fans takes the game day experience to another level.
From arriving outside the stadium and seeing tailgaters and hearing the beating of drums by the Spirit of Houston to sitting in their seats while cheering at the top of their lungs for the Cougars on the field, fans should expect to feel the electric energy back during game days.
The overall experience of going to a UH football game will feel closer to normal this season, as the return of a full capacity crowd, tailgates, festivities and more will encapsulate what makes Cougar football game days a tradition.
“There’s definitely going to be a sense of normalcy back in the stadium for game days,”said junior business major Ryan Rhodes. “Tailgates and fans coming back in full effect is going to make for a great season for the players and the fans. I’m very excited and I know a lot of other fans are too.”
sports@thedailycougar.com
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“This football season will return of electric energy of previous game days” was originally posted on The Cougar