Basketball Atmosphere at the Brick

[aucat]

The first Montana State basketball game that I attended was during the 1999-2000 season. Despite living in Great Falls in previous years I had not been down to see a game, but then my daughters enrolled and we came down during the Christmas holidays to attend a game in some type of holiday tournament on December 30, 1999. The students were not in session. I don't think there were any cheerleaders or band.

That 1999-2000 Montana State team had a pretty miserable year, going 7-16 during the season and only 4-12 in the conference.
However, I will never forget the atmosphere at the arena. The place was pretty much packed and it was a loud, raucous crowd.

On that night Montana State defeated Mississippi State from the SEC 74-70.

When I think of how much Bozeman and the Gallatin Vally have grown since 1999-2000, not to mention how much the enrollment has increased, I have to wonder, what is different? What changed? The attendance and atmosphere at today's game was really lacking.

Again, I know we are on Thanksgiving break, but none of that mattered on that night December 30, 1999. I have observed the attendance and enthusiasm at football games really grow over the years. I wish I could say the same for basketball. I DO think attendance at the women's games are pretty decent. I guess it all boils down to winning these days. Maybe there just wasn't much else to do around these parts back in 1999.

[MSU01]

It's tough to say what exactly has caused the decline in enthusiasm for Bobcat men's basketball over the years, but I'd guess a few things have played a role:

- At around the same time Mick Durham left and MSU basketball entered a decade plus of mediocrity under Huse and Fish, the football team had ended the "streak" and long playoff drought and was becoming much more successful on a consistent basis. I was a student during the 2000 0-11 season and distinctly remember the student section looking a lot like the one at basketball games does these days. Plenty of good seats available and a great atmosphere to study for that big test on Monday if one were so inclined. Now, football games have become a major event for students and non-students alike. They'll happily snap up all the tickets and show up, although many of them clearly couldn't care less about what's going on down on the field unless it's interfering with the background for their Instagram selfies. The same can also be said for quite a few of the non-student fans who stumble in midway through the first quarter and can't wait to get out of the stadium and back to their tailgates at the first possible opportunity.

- A huge proportion of the growth in MSU's enrollment and the Bozeman/Gallatin Valley are from out-of-staters who had no connection to MSU before moving here. They aren't here to support MSU athletics, they're here for the many other world-class recreational opportunities the area provides.

- Too many basketball games are played at inconvenient times of the day and week. Three home games during Thanksgiving Break, Thursday night games during the conference season and weird afternoon start times for weekend games so that opposing teams can fly home and (presumably) save themselves the cost of another night in Bozeman hotels.

The women's team is definitely a success story, as their attendance has consistently grown under Coach Binford.

[4KornerKat]

Related question. . . When did the crowd stop standing until the cats first score at Men's games? The majority still does at women's games, just seems interesting that it's died off.

[saintcat40]

Do you think some of it is seating as well? When I was in high school, you bought a general admission ticket and you would crowd in on the bench seating as close as you could get. Now if you get a general admission seat, you are way up in the upper sections. It just seems like that could be one more factor in the environment.

[aucat]

Do you think some of it is seating as well? When I was in high school, you bought a general admission ticket and you would crowd in on the bench seating as close as you could get. Now if you get a general admission seat, you are way up in the upper sections. It just seems like that could be one more factor in the environment.

This is a very good point. I wish the men's seating arrangement was the same as for the women's games.

[saintcat40]

Agreed, aucat. It seems like once you build momentum as a program with attendance, then you could make the closer seating more expensive, but first you need people in the seats. My opinion.

[snarf]

Agreed, aucat. It seems like once you build momentum as a program with attendance, then you could make the closer seating more expensive, but first you need people in the seats. My opinion.

I don’t think filling those seats are a matter of price. I just went on looking for tickets for Thursdays game this week. There are only a handful of tickets available in those sections.

[msu_agfan]

Agreed, aucat. It seems like once you build momentum as a program with attendance, then you could make the closer seating more expensive, but first you need people in the seats. My opinion.

I don’t think filling those seats are a matter of price. I just went on looking for tickets for Thursdays game this week. There are only a handful of tickets available in those sections.

The problem is, come game time there are a plethora of open/empty seats even though online they are unavailable.

[snarf]

Agreed, aucat. It seems like once you build momentum as a program with attendance, then you could make the closer seating more expensive, but first you need people in the seats. My opinion.

I don’t think filling those seats are a matter of price. I just went on looking for tickets for Thursdays game this week. There are only a handful of tickets available in those sections.

The problem is, come game time there are a plethora of open/empty seats even though online they are unavailable.

Correct. I just meant the issue of attendance in those sections isn’t the price. The issue is getting people who have already paid to use their seats.

[msu_agfan]

Agreed, aucat. It seems like once you build momentum as a program with attendance, then you could make the closer seating more expensive, but first you need people in the seats. My opinion.

I don’t think filling those seats are a matter of price. I just went on looking for tickets for Thursdays game this week. There are only a handful of tickets available in those sections.

The problem is, come game time there are a plethora of open/empty seats even though online they are unavailable.

Correct. I just meant the issue of attendance in those sections isn’t the price. The issue is getting people who have already paid to use their seats.

I see, and yeah how do we,they, cause them to attend or allow their seats to be used by other fans?

[CNC_Cat]

As someone who regularly looks down from the upper decks at lots of empty seats, I wonder if after say 10 minutes of game time they could just put an announcement on the board that all the open seats are now general admission and let the crowd fill in the lower sections a bit better.