The good news is that the Texas Southern 2026 football schedule is complete, and it’s official as of Saturday afternoon.
You can’t make this up.
Yeah, the season kicks off in a little over a month, but at least the Tigers now know the stadiums they will call home this year. In normal circumstances, these sorts of things are hashed out years in advance.
But as we have come to understand, normal often turns into nuance when it comes to Texas Southern. This scheduling fallout involving Texas Southern, the Dynamo, and Shell Energy Stadium is a complete fiasco at this point.
The release of the official schedule had been delayed for months due to scheduling conflicts between TSU and the Dynamo. Who was to blame is the tricky question.
On the surface, it looks like the Dynamo threw down the Big Joker on TSU, basically leaving the Tigers to fend for themselves and find a stadium elsewhere on those conflicting dates. But that isn’t entirely the whole story. TSU has rights, but may not have properly followed the guidelines to enforce them
Sources say some of the blame for TSU being left homeless for a few games actually is the result of missed scheduling meetings by TSU, and the constant turnover at the administrative level – particularly in the president and athletic director offices – since the idea of the soccer stadium was hatched in 2010.
So the end result for this season is that the Tigers will play six home games. Five of them at Aldine School District’s W.W. Thorne Stadium. One at Reliant Stadium. And for those keeping count at home, two different home stadiums for this season for an FCS Division I program, and that’s none at Shell Energy Stadium.
Something changed.
How did this happen? What does this mean for the long-term agreement that Harris County Sports Authority brokered for the Dynamo and TSU to share the soccer-first stadium?
Those are great questions that nobody seems to want to discuss. Dynamo Vice President of Communications and Corporate Affairs David Wiese-Carl, speaking on behalf of the organization, deferred comment to an upcoming released statement from TSU.
“We don’t have any additional comments to add. We have a good relationship with our friends at TSU,” Wiese-Carl said.
The Harris County Sports Authority said even less by not responding to interview requests for CEO Ryan Walsh and COO Holly De Beer. Several calls to TSU to speak with officials netted an agreed-upon statement from President J.W. Crawford III that never came on Monday.
But the school finally sent a comment to the Defender on Wednesday, which was short on specifics and unclear on whose office it came from. It didn’t say whether TSU football would play at Shell Energy Stadium, even though the recently released master plan includes an on-campus football stadium.
“Texas Southern University finalized its 2026 football schedule and released the available information to the public on July 18. The release required additional time as the University worked through venue availability and scheduling logistics to ensure the best possible experience for our student-athletes, fans, and supporters.
“While this season will include a different home venue, it also presents an exciting opportunity for us to host our Homecoming game against one of our biggest rivals at Reliant Stadium, the premier sports and entertainment venue in the Houston region.
“At the same time, the University remains focused on the future of Tiger football. As outlined in the campus master plan unveiled earlier this month, we are moving forward with plans for a new on-campus football stadium that will serve as a transformative investment in the student experience, campus life, and the University’s long-term growth. The future stadium reflects our commitment to creating an appropriate venue that generates the energy that is unique to an on-campus football facility while strengthening engagement with students, alumni, and the surrounding community.“
So it feels like there is more that isn’t being said. To get Shell Energy Stadium built for the Dynamo, the Harris County Sports Authority needed TSU to be part of the plan. Period.
Clearly, TSU is not without some blame for how this is playing out, and the silence seems to support that view.
TSU has a 30-year lease agreement to play its home games there each season through 2042 and to throw events there a couple of times a year, if they choose. Now all of that feels in limbo.
It all just underscores the need for TSU to find the money to invest in an on-campus stadium. A new 10,000-seat stadium is a part of the school’s ambitious $1.7 billion master plan that was released last week.
But in the meantime, Texas Southern is in a bit of a quandary. Do the Tigers revert to playing home games at any available high school stadium in the area? Or do they work out a deal with the Dynamo to continue playing home games at Shell Energy Stadium in 2027?
Attendance has been abysmal at TSU football games in the 20,000-seat Shell Energy Stadium since it opened in 2012, even though the stadium is only five miles from campus. Imagine what attendance will be like, given that students will have to travel 25-30 minutes to Thorne Stadium.
If there is a positive in all of this stadium upheaval, it’s that the Tigers will return to NRG Stadium to face Southern in their Homecoming clash on Oct. 24. It will be a showdown of two former NFL players-turned head coaches when Cris Dishman and Marshall Faulk meet for the first time in a game that should have some energy because the Jaguars fans are known to travel.
