EDINBURG — A cheer went up at a packed University Draft House when the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley’s first football team scored its first-ever touchdown in its first-ever home game last month.

The cheers kept coming through the first half, growing louder and louder as the crowd at the bar watched the UTRGV Vaqueros play their way towards a resounding victory.

A band started playing at the Draft House, and sometime after halftime, bar patrons started to lose interest in the rout on TV. With UTRGV ahead by about 50 points, someone quietly clicked off the game. 

“Well, I didn’t think they would turn it off,” one customer muttered disappointedly.

What didn’t stop was the fun. Drinks kept pouring, and patties kept grilling.

Local businesses see sales surge

People wearing orange, who’d obviously been at the sold-out game or the tailgate, trickled in and out of bars and restaurants the rest of the evening.

Those paid tabs are part of an estimated annual $14.5 million boost to the economy tied to football, a prediction that doesn’t include millions the university poured into construction related to the program.

“You look around and see the business that’s being driven into our local restaurants and eateries,” UTRGV Senior Vice President and Director of Athletics Chasse Conque said. “You hear the conversations of folks flying in from out of town, not just players, but parents and other folks who have an interest in watching at least a game.”

Conque says it’ll take some time to accurately understand what the program’s actual economic impact is compared to estimates for it. Some early indicators point toward those estimates being low.

The university anticipated $5.8 million of that $14.5 million being generated by attendee spending, a figure based on a prediction that 10,000 people would attend games and 2,000 would tailgate.

Instead, the university says 12,726 fans watched the first game inside the stadium and 20,000 watched it around the stadium, at 400 official tailgates and elsewhere. At least some businesses managed to turn that crowd into a marketing opportunity. 

Brownsville-based eatery Wing Barn set up a tailgate for the first games, with gift cards and coupon giveaways, and cornhole. 

So far, the restaurant chain says, they’ve seen about 200 of those coupons redeemed and more foot traffic.

Owner and CEO Bobby Saenz says Upper Valley Wing Barn locations have seen a 9% increase in sales since the first game.

“Overall, I think it definitely has impacted us positively,” he said.

Fans flock from across Texas and beyond

UTRGV estimated 10% of game attendees would be travelling to Edinburg from out of the area, a number that includes friends and family of players, along with the opposing team. Conque says he’s not sure exactly how high that number has been at the initial games, though it’s certainly in the hundreds.

One of those out-of-towners, the father of a player from Arizona, met Saenz at one of the games.

“They flew into Harlingen, they were staying at a hotel in Edinburg. We exchanged numbers and he was at the restaurant Sunday. These guys, it sounds like, they’re flying in most games to see their kids play, so that’s a boost to the economy,” Saenz said.

Merchandise and orange gear flying off shelves

Those UTRGV fans also appear — at least anecdotally — to be spending frantically. 

The program’s first three victories haven’t been consistently riveting games to watch. The win streak does seem to have made people pretty proud to wear orange — and happy to spend money to do so.

“If they carry our gear, we’ve heard unbelievable responses,” Conque said. “And that’s evident if you’re even just around the community throughout the week. Folks, like our bookstore here on campus or Vaquero Outfitters, a privately owned retailer across from the university, they truly can’t keep things on their shelves.”

That doesn’t just apply to official UTRGV merchandise. Conque said after his team’s third win, he started hearing about clothing stores and boutiques selling out of orange clothing in general.

Conque anticipates excitement around the program and associated spending increasing as the team moves into conference play and a permanent collegiate football culture takes root in the Valley.

George Rice, co-owner of 5X5 Brewing Co. in Mission, agrees with that assessment.

Rice’s brewery has been capitalizing on the games. 5X5 has been setting up a projection screen to watch games on and has seen an increase in customers on Saturdays.

It’s also seen a rise in sales of its Los Vaqueros flavor beer, reported as number one in draft beer sales at Vackar Stadium for the first two home games, and fulfilled an about 50-keg order for the stadium.

“Which for us is an abundance,” Rice said.

On the whole, though, Rice described the games as more of a cultural happening than a way to make money. Friday night high school football pits Valley towns’ communities against each other, he noted. Collegiate football doesn’t.

“With Saturday night football, it’s the entire community,” Rice said. “It’s everybody together. It’s a pretty cool experience.”