"The best season in Texans history comes with a higher price tag.

The team announced late Friday that the average general ticket price will increase by 8.5 percent – from $72.47 to $78.66 – for the 2012 season.

Nearly all of the seating locations at 71,054-seat Reliant Stadium will have a price increase between $3 to $10.

The price change is the first for the Texans in two years and follows the first AFC South title and playoff win in team history.

John Schriever, the Texans' vice-president of ticketing and event services, said the price increase is necessary for the team to generate revenues that "keep pace with our competition."

"Our fans have created one of the best home-field advantages in the NFL, as anyone who saw the wild-card game (a 31-10 win over Cincinnati) can attest," 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."

The Texans' average ticket price ranked eighth among 12 playoff teams this season, the team said. The team anticipates being in the bottom half of the 32 NFL teams in ticket prices when those figures are released sometime next season."