City: Houston, TX

Category: Spectator Sports

Telephone: (713) 462-6647 (box office)

Description: With 16 intercollegiate teams, the University of Houston (UH) is almost always hosting some sporting event. Although the school’s football and basketball teams have the largest following, events in nearly every sport see big turnouts, thanks to a large alumni base and the school’s winning tradition. The University of Houston Cougars—aka the Cougs—currently play in the NCAA Division I’s Conference USA; in 2013, they’ll join the Big East Conference. UH’s teams have won nearly three dozen conference titles since Conference USA formed in 1995. The Cougars have also won 17 NCAA team titles—16 in golf—and 55 NCAA individual championships and played in 21 bowl games and 5 men’s Final Four games. This success can be attributed at least partly to the caliber of athletes the school recruits and produces. The list of UH alumni includes NBA Hall of Famers (and former Houston Rockets) Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler, track and field star Carl Lewis, former Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, golfer Fred Couples, and Heisman Trophy–winner Andre Ware. The football team plays at Robertson Stadium. The men’s and women’s basketball teams play at Hofheinz Pavilion and the baseball team plays at Cougar Field. All of these facilities are located on the UH campus, about 3 miles southeast of downtown at the intersection of I-45 and Texas Spur 5. Ticket prices vary by sport. Football tickets range from $20 to $80. Men’s basketball and baseball tickets range from $8 to $15; women’s basketball tickets range from $8 to $20. Discounted tickets are available for kids. UH students get in to all regular season sporting events for free. Purchase tickets on the university’s website, by phone, or at the ticket office on the first floor of the Athletics/Alumni Center, next door to Hofheinz Pavilion. Parking is available in $5 and $10 lots around campus.