Texas Southern’s Unused Stadium Power: Inside the Tigers’ Scheduling Rights

HOUSTON — Texas Southern University has been criticized and maligned for losing a scheduling fight with the Houston Dynamo this offseason. However, under the initial license agreement that designated downtown Houston as the Tigers’ home, university officials did not lose a fight; they may not have attended meetings to agree on dates during the previous two seasons. This may be a result of the recent changes within TSU administration and athletic department.

HBCU Legends has reviewed the TSU License Agreement between Dynamo Stadium, LLC and Texas Southern University, the document attached to the Board of Regents agenda signed in January 2011 that authorized the university’s 30-year partnership at the venue now known as Shell Energy Stadium. SWAC Commissioner Dr. Charles McClelland was TSU’s athletic director during the initial negotiations and building of the stadium.

The contract shows a different picture from the one frustrated fans have heard this summer. Texas Southern is not just a tenant asking for dates. It is a priority user with specific protections, a rent-free home and enforcement rights that most college programs would want.

“I think they do have more input than they’re willing to take advantage of,” Dr. James Douglas, the former Texas Southern president, said to HBCU Legends. He negotiated the agreement and now serves as a distinguished professor at the Thurgood Marshall School of Law.

The Deal That Built the Stadium

The stadium was built because Texas Southern was part of the deal. When Oliver Luck and the Dynamo looked for a downtown site in the late 2000s, they needed Harris County land in Commissioner El Franco Lee’s precinct and City of Houston infrastructure funding, which was supported by then-council member Sylvia Garcia. Public officials only agreed to support the project if TSU was included.

The university contributed $1.5 million as a one-time payment under Section 7(a). In return, Texas Southern got rent-free use of the stadium for 30 years, kept all its ticket revenue except for certain fees, received four free luxury suites on game days, 100 free parking spaces and a share of concession revenue.

The Harris County land and city infrastructure that TSU’s involvement made possible were each valued at about $10 million, according to sources who took part in the original negotiations.

“The most difficult things I’ve had is getting people at TSU to understand the Dynamos don’t own the stadium,” Douglas said. The facility is county-backed and tied to the Harris County-Houston Sports Authority, and Douglas said county officials told him they would support Texas Southern in negotiations with stadium management. That backing, he said, was never used.

What the Contract Actually Grants

Section 5 of the agreement addresses scheduling and benefits Texas Southern more than most fans realize.

TSU has scheduling priority for up to seven home games each year. This priority yields only a short list of Dynamo Priority Events, which include the Dynamo’s MLS home games, exhibitions, friendlies and up to two major soccer events per season that do not involve the Dynamo.

Each year, Texas Southern can choose up to two Reserved Dates in writing before Jan. 1: the Saturday or Sunday of Labor Day weekend for the Prairie View A&M game, and one Saturday in November. The Licensor cannot schedule a Dynamo Priority Event on these Reserved Dates. Only an MLS Cup at the stadium can override them.

The stadium cannot schedule a Dynamo Priority Event on the Saturday of at least one TSU home weekend in October to protect the traditional homecoming period.

Once TSU’s schedule is set, the Licensor cannot book another event on those dates. Any concert or boxing match on a TSU game day needs the university’s approval.

The agreement requires one thing: participation. This is where the university may have missed an opportunity, raising the question of whether it used the rights it already had.

The contract requires an annual meeting. TSU must quickly identify its home weekends, and the stadium must provide the Dynamo’s priority schedule by either Feb. 1 or 10 business days after MLS releases its schedule, whichever is later. Any date Texas Southern does not claim is released to the stadium “without further notice or action.” These rights are real, but they must be used, or they are lost. This season, the Dynamo and Dash claimed their dates, but TSU did not.

The Meeting That Stopped Happening

Sources familiar with the stadium partnership told HBCU Legends that the athletic department had not participated in the annual scheduling process in recent years. Instead, they worked around the Dynamo’s calendar after it was set. This approach worked while MLS games were mostly in spring and summer, but Douglas said the league’s move to more fall dates eventually revealed the current problem.

As a result, Texas Southern’s 2026 home schedule now includes games at several venues. The opener against North Carolina Central will be at W.W. Thorne Stadium, an Aldine ISD facility. The game against Grambling State hasn’t been set, and only two dates are confirmed at the downtown stadium the university helped build.

“We’re in territory we’ve never been in before. No schedule with the sites of the games, the game times, stadiums being played and no rosters,” Ralph Cooper, the legendary KCOH broadcaster who has covered Texas Southern since 1969 and participated in the stadium’s founding effort, said. “In my opinion, this is the most dysfunctional period of time of Texas Southern operations in regards to administration on the campus.”

Records show the Dynamo have mostly followed the agreement. Last season’s game that was moved to Houston Christian was due to a Dynamo playoff run. Section 5(c)(iv) clearly gives Dynamo playoff games priority on unprotected weekends. The soccer club did not break the deal. Texas Southern’s protection does not cover those dates, and the dates that could have been protected were never chosen.

Douglas is clear about the university’s failure to use parts of the agreement, including event dates that alumni have long believed TSU could use to generate revenue during the stadium’s roughly 340 unused days each year. “That’s on us. That’s not on the Dynamo,” he said.

HBCU Legends inquired to why the TSU administration hasn’t relied on Douglas to provide clarity around the contract: “They refuse to meet with me,” Douglas noted.

The Obligation Running the Other Way

The contract cuts both directions. Under Section 2(a), Texas Southern agreed to play all of its home games at the stadium for the life of the deal, with one exception: a single classic game per season may be relocated with 180 days’ notice if TSU reasonably expects to sell at least 30,000 tickets. Section 32(a) makes abandoning or failing to play required games at the stadium an express event of default.

With the 2026 home schedule spread across Thorne Stadium, possibly NRG (Southern game must be approved by TSU Board of Regents), and Shell Energy Stadium, both sides need to answer an important question: Is Texas Southern playing off-site because of an amendment or waiver, or is the university at risk of breaching the contract and losing scheduling rights?

Neither the university nor stadium management has yet to respond to requests for comment on the terms governing this season’s venues.

The Road Back Runs Through a Meeting Room

Texas Southern’s $1.7 billion campus master plan includes a new stadium on university grounds, expected to be completed around 2030. The current contract offers something sooner: a Jan. 1 deadline to set the 2027 Labor Day Classic and a November Southern date as protected, a February calendar exchange, and county partners ready to support the university.

The Tigers, after their first winning season in 25 years under coach Cris Dishman, have given the administration a team worth scheduling. Now, it is up to Hannah Hall to decide if TSU will use the leverage it already has.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Texas Southern have scheduling rights at Shell Energy Stadium?

Yes. The license agreement grants TSU scheduling priority over other stadium users for up to seven home games per year, subject only to Dynamo Priority Events such as the club’s MLS home games.

Can the Houston Dynamo bump the Labor Day Classic?

Not if Texas Southern designates it. The contract lets TSU reserve the Labor Day weekend date against Prairie View A&M and one November Saturday against Southern before Jan. 1 each year, and only an MLS Cup hosted at the stadium can override a Reserved Date.

Why is Texas Southern playing 2026 home games at Thorne Stadium and other venues?

The university lost several Shell Energy Stadium dates after the annual scheduling process with stadium management broke down. Sources with knowledge of the partnership said TSU had not been engaging in the contract’s required yearly meet-and-confer.

How long does the TSU stadium agreement last?

The agreement runs 30 years from the stadium’s 2012 opening, into 2042, with Texas Southern’s use rent-free after its one-time $1.5 million payment.

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