Not worth the time
Longtime season-ticket holder walks away after decades of attachment
There are pristine Oilers tickets from 1986, 1989 and 1995.
A like-new team yearbook from the Texans’ inaugural 2002 season and a signed commemorative football from the same year.
The memories of truly buying in to Houston’s NFL team for the first time during Earl Campbell’s historic rookie campaign with the Oilers in 1978.
The Texans season tickets and home games, year after year, at Reliant and NRG Stadium, as the quarterbacks, coaches and general managers kept changing.
All of the above, and much more, will never go away for John Work. The 64-year-old Houston resident still plans to follow the rebuilding Texans in 2021 and watch the team’s games on TV from the comfort of a couch.
But being a season-ticket holder? Still buying four seats to every Texans home game and sitting in the 500 level?
That decades-long local attachment finally ended for
Work this year.
“It’s not as much fun as it used to be,” said Work, who canceled his season tickets after the Texans’ 4-12 season in 2020. “I can’t point to one single thing and say, ‘That was the reason.’ I can’t point to Jack Easterby and say, “Oh, I hate that guy. I’m not going to get my tickets because of him.’ It’s more than Jack Easterby.”
The fact that the Texans — led by a first-year head coach, first-year general manager and a veteran quarterback who was supposed to stay on the sideline backing up Deshaun Watson — are widely predicted to be the NFL’s worst team in 2021 didn’t help.
The Texans are still the biggest pro sports franchise in Houston. But that is because the NFL is so big, not because of the Texans’ city-wide popularity.
The franchise’s oncefamous season-ticket wait list has taken a huge hit. Fan and brand loyalty have received major blows.
Work is one of many fans in recent years who have reached out, wondering when the annually disappointing Texans are going to finally get their act together.
He questions the Texans’ ability to field a highly competitive team anytime soon.
“It’s very expensive to know, just walking in the door, ‘Well, we’re going to get drilled today,’ ” Work said.
He questions the franchise’s leadership and overall direction.
“They’ve never had that guy in charge,” Work said. “When I sit back and reflect on the Texans, that’s probably the biggest thing.”
Work held Oilers season tickets from 1978 until the end, when Houston’s first NFL team coldly left Houston behind.
There were two season tickets then. One for Work and another for an older brother.
“The team resonated,” Work said. “The homespun tales of Bum Phillips and Earl Campbell. It was just more of a community feel. It was a joy to go to the game and reminisce. Football back then wasn’t the big business that it is now.
“The thing about it is with the Oilers — and we certainly had our downs; probably more downs than ups — there was always something. It was worth the price of admission to go see Earl Campbell. It was worth the price of admission to see Warren Moon. Dan Pastorini was just like, oh my gosh, the toughest (guy) in the world, the way that he would get out there. High-draft choices and looking forward to that.”
Work eagerly bought into the Texans in 2002, when franchise founder/ former owner Bob McNair brought the NFL back to this big city and an expansion team arrived. For 19 seasons, Work kept renewing his season tickets, watching David Carr, Matt Schaub, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Brian Hoyer, Brock Osweiler and Watson wear the local red and blue.
But the fun began to evaporate in recent years. As Work’s life changed, he found fewer and fewer reasons to buy into Houston’s current NFL team.
“I was still a big fan up until three or four years ago, I guess,” Work said. “It just became clear with Bill O’Brien that we didn’t know how to run a franchise and I don’t know if Mr. McNair, Bob McNair, really knew, but he didn’t make these foolish, foolish decisions.”
Has Work regretted his decision to end his longtime financial relationship with the Texans?
“I’m feeling real good about my decision,” he said.
But Work acknowledged there are things about walking into an NFL stadium, watching your team and seeing many of the same faces, week after week and year after year, that can’t be replicated by watching TV.
“You get to know your friends around you,” Work said. “It’s the same people showing up. Now, some of the seats are corporate seats, and it changes out. But you still run into people every week and you just talk football. It’s kind of a release from life. I’m going to miss that.”
With the Texans days away from officially beginning their 20th season, fan frustration is setting franchise records.
There’s a glaring disconnect between ownership and the fan base.
“I think (Cal McNair is) a really solid individual. Nice guy,” Work said. “But nice guy doesn’t mean you’re going to be a good football executive — or an oil and gas executive.”
Easterby continues to be polarizing, inside and outside NRG Stadium.
And while Nick Caserio theoretically has the makings of a GM who eventually could turn the Texans into contenders, the Texans are 135-169 all-time and have effectively already been eliminated from Super Bowl title contention this season.
Work stuck with the Oilers from 1978 and Campbell’s rookie season until the local end.
He made it through 19 long seasons with the Texans, then decided to give up his tickets and walk away.
“Last year, my reason for going was No. 4 (Watson) and J.J. (Watt), and now they’re both gone. So it’s just no reason to go,” Work said. “I’m so frustrated with the whole Deshaun thing. I’m ecstatic that I’m not paying money — and I’m not saying he’s guilty; he deserves his due process. But I’d be so frustrated paying money to see him standing on the sideline.”