UTPB home football games will be free for everyone this season.
The announcement came at a media event Thursday at the D. Kirk Edwards Family Human Performance Center.
The Falcons are coming off a historic season from 2023 in which UTPB won its first Lone Star Conference title and made its debut in the NCAA Division II playoffs.
UTPB went 10-2 overall, 8-0 in conference, last year.
The season ended with a 10-3 loss to Bemidji State in the first round of the playoffs.
The school is also still celebrating its 50th anniversary.
“We wanted to give back to the community and we understand how important football is to this community and this is our 50th anniversary year,” UTPB president Sandra Woodley said. “We’re coming off a lone star conference title so we’re really hoping that this energizes our entire community and see what Falcon football is about.”
UTPB will have five home games this season with only one taking place at Ratliff Stadium while the others will be at Astound Broadband Stadium in Midland.
All of UTPB’s home games will kickoff at 6 p.m.
The Falcons’ first home contest will be against Western New Mexico on Aug. 31 at Ratliff Stadium.
UTPB’s other home games will be against Adams State on Sept. 14, Texas A&M-Kingsville on Sept. 21, Angelo State on Oct. 5, and Western Oregon on Oct. 19.
The Falcon football program is entering its ninth season in existence.
Head coach Kris McCullough enters his second season in charge of the program after taking over for Justin Carrigan who stepped down after the 2022 season.
“It’s come a long way in such a short period of time,” Woodley said. “There’s a big kudos for Kris McCullough for coming in and really galvanizing the brotherhood of the team. It’s such a great way to build our first conference championship. We owe a lot to his leadership.”
McCullough talked about what this means for the community.
“In today’s times, we need to bring everyone to a football game,” McCullough said. “There’s nobody else in the country that has free football. Doing this in the Permian basin, where football is everything, is special for our community. They’ve done so much for us that this is our token of appreciation.”
