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Univ. of Houston AD Chris Pezman spoke about wide-ranging topics ranging from construction projects at TDECU Stadium, NIL, the early returns of new football coaches and departures of some has "left a cash-strapped budget, the successes of Year 1 in the Big 12 and outlook for the future," according to a Q&A with Joseph Duarte of the HOUSTON CHRONICLE. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: How is construction coming with upgrades to the west side of TDECU Stadium?
Pezman: Our crew is working to get ahead so that -- you can’t ever make up days with weather -- but the project is going really well. Daktronics starts installing the video board in the next couple weeks. We’ll start seeing the video board operational sometime at the beginning of July.
Q: How many suites have been sold?
Pezman: Ten of the 13 suites are already sold, and we have signed contracts. We’ve got three we are holding onto that we have people inquiring about.
Q: When will the project be completed?
Pezman: It will all be ready for fall 2025. The video board (which at 160 feet in width will be the largest in the Big 12) will be up and working during the football season.
Q: How were meetings last week at the Big 12 spring meetings with the additions of the Four Corner schools and departure of Texas and Oklahoma?
Pezman: The difference between where we were is, here, everybody is trying to grow. Not that everybody wasn’t trying to grow before, but everybody’s ambitions maybe weren’t the same. We always had P5 ambitions and maybe somebody else wasn’t, so now you’re in a room and I’m trying to kick your (butt). At the same time there’s a lot of collegial respect.
Q: What’s the biggest challenge right now for the athletic department?
Pezman: Our biggest challenge right now, honestly, is money. We’re trying to catch up to a lot of other schools that have had greater resources for decades. I would tell you right now we’ve got a pretty big hole to fill. If you look at UCF and Cincinnati, we are about $10 million behind them on self-generated revenues.
Q: How do you close that gap?
Pezman: You’ve got to continue to grow the season ticket base. We want to get where we are 33,000 to 35,000 season tickets sooner than later.
Q: With UH not receiving a full media share until 2025-26, where does your total budget currently stand?
Pezman: We’re at the $95-$97 million range for this year. Our goal is to get to the average ($120-$125 million) as soon as we can. We have to figure out ways to do that in a challenging environment with NIL. That’s the challenges (
HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 5/4).
