If you win, they will pay more . . .

After the first playoff season in Houston Texans history, the franchise is raising ticket prices almost across the board for the 2012 season. Only the lowest-priced seats in Reliant Stadium — the $30 Gridiron Terrace sections — will not see a price increase. Prices will rise an average of 8.5 percent.

The team made the announcement on Friday evening of Super Bowl week, a time when media attention is light and typically focused elsewhere.

Still, it's hard to imagine much of an uproar or any great exodus of season ticket holders. The Texans are a team packed with young stars like tailback Arian Foster and defensive end J.J. Watt, one that appears poised for a sustained run as a serious contender.

Even New York's taken to noticing the Texans after that gutsy loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the second round of the playoffs, and the team figures to get the first Sunday Night Football Game in franchise history next season — and is the favorite to be showcased in the Thanksgiving game in Detroit.

Throw in the state of the Astros and the Rockets, and the Texans are all but guaranteed to be the story in Houston sports for at least the next five years.

By the middle of last season, Reliant Stadium morphed into a rollicking gameday party scene with outside linebacker Connor Barwin dubbing it The Slaughterhouse. The Texans have officially sold out 101 straight games and the fans are certainly not going to stop pouring in now that the team's on the cusp.

“Our fans have created one of the best home field advantages in the NFL, as anyone who saw the Wild Card (home playoff) game can attest,” Texans VP of ticketing and event services John Schriever said in a statement. “We want to continue to make our games accessible to a broad audience while still pricing in a manner that reflects the strong demand for our tickets.

"Fielding a championship caliber team and delivering a world class experience for our fans requires us to generate revenues that keep pace with our competition.”

Which doesn't mean that anyone will be excited to see their ticket prices rising. The highest priced regular seats at Reliant will jump from $110 to $120 and from $120 to $130 per single game ticket for the two field level sections between the 20-yard lines. Field level end zone seats will go from $70 to $78.

It's no tiny jump, but the team points out that it's the first ticket price increase in two years and that the Texans should still be in the "bottom half" of the 32-team NFL in ticket prices next season.

The 15-2 Green Bay Packers and those Texans-eliminating Ravens will be on next season's home schedule with Minnesota, Miami, Buffalo, Indianapolis, Tennessee and Jacksonville rounding out the eight game regular season home slate. The dates and times of the games will be announced months from now in the NFL's increasingly-elaborate schedule unveiling.