Television Broadcast of 3/3/14 Cat Griz Basketball

[duelalumnicat]

Is the game being broadcast tonight?

[John K]

Is the game being broadcast tonight?

According to the Tribune, it is not being televised. That tells you how far the interest level has fallen for basketball at both schools to some degree, although more dramatically at MSU than UM. I don't even remember the last time a Cat-Griz game wasn't televised, but I'll bet it's been at least 20 years. UM drew only 3,400 for their game against WSU last week, in a matchup of the two marquee BSC programs over the past few years. If they can't get more than 3,400 for a game against WSU, then it seems that UM/Missoula must not be terribly enthusiastic about their hoops program either. I'm curious to see what they draw for Cat-Griz. I'm sure the attendance will be significantly larger than it was in Bozeman, but I'll bet it's not anywhere close to historical levels.

[desmond1957]

So who dropped the ball?? How can the biggest rivalry in the Big Sky not be televised!!! Who do we scream at, Fields, Fullerton, Cruzado someone has to be responsible, you can't tell me that the game isn't still the biggest draw in the state, this is ridiculous!!! At the start of the season I seem to recall Altitude had the Cats scheduled for TV coverage on some of their games, anyone know how many actually made the tube (streaming doesn't count).

[John K]

So who dropped the ball?? How can the biggest rivalry in the Big Sky not be televised!!! Who do we scream at, Fields, Fullerton, Cruzado someone has to be responsible, you can't tell me that the game isn't still the biggest draw in the state, this is ridiculous!!! At the start of the season I seem to recall Altitude had the Cats scheduled for TV coverage on some of their games, anyone know how many actually made the tube (streaming doesn't count).

As far as I know, the only MSU games that have been televised this season are the first Cat-Griz game, and the game at NC a couple of weeks ago. Altitude used to carry 4-5 of our games every season, plus the two Cat-Griz games were always televised by either Max Media or MTN. I don't know that you can blame MSU for this though. The various broadcast outlets apparently believe that the ratings/revenue from these games no longer justify the expense of producing them. MSU can't force Altitude or Max Media to televise games that don't draw many viewers. I know that here in GF, there is so little interest in MSU hoops, that I'll bet not 1 in 10 Cat fans even know they're playing the Griz tonight, let alone care enough to watch it on TV, if it was televised. I remember being in a local sports bar the night of one of the Cat-Griz games last year, and not a single TV was tuned into the game, until I asked them to put it on. Actually, I don't think the interest is much higher among Griz fans. I mentioned the game to a buddy of mine yesterday, who is a big Griz fan, and he had no idea that they were playing tonight.

[Hawks86]

So who dropped the ball?? How can the biggest rivalry in the Big Sky not be televised!!! Who do we scream at, Fields, Fullerton, Cruzado someone has to be responsible, you can't tell me that the game isn't still the biggest draw in the state, this is ridiculous!!! At the start of the season I seem to recall Altitude had the Cats scheduled for TV coverage on some of their games, anyone know how many actually made the tube (streaming doesn't count).

Why not blame Haslam and Engstrom also ?


It's been said many times that the Cat/griz Bball schedule will go back to normal next season.

[kcatz]

The games not being televised on max media this year is 100% on the schedule.

[John K]

The games not being televised on max media this year is 100% on the schedule.

What...I'm not sure what you mean by that?

[Colter_Nuanez]

The game is not being televised because no station wanted to pick it up. It had nothing to do with administration. Both schools wanted it on TV. No one wanted to show it.

[ddlalum]

Wow, a Cat/Griz game not televised. When was the last time that happened, 1980 something?
Having the game on Monday night sucks for attendance. However, I thought that would actually help with television since there is less competition on a Monday night.
I also thought the recent transition of Max Media would mean more MSU athletics being televised.... Sorry to see that's not true Hopefully, they still have an interest in MSU football.

[CPACAT]

Part of the TV station deciding to broadcast is there ability to sell advertising to pay for it. Not much interest there.

[ilovethecats]

The game is not being televised because no station wanted to pick it up. It had nothing to do with administration. Both schools wanted it on TV. No one wanted to show it.

that should tell ya everything you need to know about the state of bobcat hoops. so sad.

[John K]

The game is not being televised because no station wanted to pick it up. It had nothing to do with administration. Both schools wanted it on TV. No one wanted to show it.

that should tell ya everything you need to know about the state of bobcat hoops. so sad.

I've been as critical of MSU's hoops programs as anyone on this board, but I think it's a little unfair to solely blame MSU for the game not being broadcast. I don't honestly believe there's much more interest in hoops among UM fans, despite their success in recent years. I'm really curious to see what the attendance will be in Missoula tonight. We drew only 3,400 for Cat-Griz in Bozeman. I'll be surprised if they get more than 4,500 tonight.

[Colter_Nuanez]

The women are averaging 1,276 fans per game at home during league play, 1,247 overall. That's third in the league. I'd be surprised if there was any boost whatsoever tonight. If there's 1,500 people there, I'll be surprised.

[desmond1957]

You're right I was out of line to blast the MSU administration on this one, it was a knee-jerk reaction to an unbelievable situation. I called the local TV stations, they said it was too costly to carry. Maybe someone with media connections could find out more. I just can't believe that the rivalry has sunk so low in viewer interest across the state that someone wouldn't carry it!!!!!

[Potomac Griz]

UM drew only 3,400 for their game against WSU last week, in a matchup of the two marquee BSC programs over the past few years. If they can't get more than 3,400 for a game against WSU, then it seems that UM/Missoula must not be terribly enthusiastic about their hoops program either. I'm curious to see what they draw for Cat-Griz. I'm sure the attendance will be significantly larger than it was in Bozeman, but I'll bet it's not anywhere close to historical levels.

The weather was awful during the day when the Griz played WSU so that likely kept a fair number of fans at home. The Griz actually drew 3530 for that game. The game against ISU that Saturday though was over 4000.

The U of M does an absolutely horrible job trying to draw attention to the basketball team. If it's not football related they just don't care. That's been evident for many years where often halfway through the season we don't even have updated bios on the players on the official site. If I remember right it still talked about Selvig like he was a freshman back when he was well into his junior season.

As for tonight's game, I'm guessing with the weather and the fact that it's a Monday game attendance won't be very good for the game. Still, I'd be shocked if it wasn't over 5000 and if I had to guess I'd guess it'd be more like 5500. I sure hope they really do go back to scheduling these games on Saturdays instead of this ****** of scheduling it on a Monday. Totally pathetic that it's not on TV also. The TV stations sure aren't doing a very good job promoting the two programs if they won't even televise the rivalry game. I can't remember the last time a game between the Griz and the Cats wasn't televised.

I expect the average attendance of the Griz to be down this year compared to the past two years. I'm guessing the Griz will end up averaging around 3600 fans per game only. Weather affected later games, but a very boring non-conference schedule combined with a cluster ****** of a conference sure doesn't help things either. Still, I'm pretty disappointed in the lack of attendance this year.

[desmond1957]

Crap!!! Someway the thread to the streaming site got deleted on my favorites listing. Anyone out there have the internet streaming site???HELP!!!

[Potomac Griz]

As for tonight's game, I'm guessing with the weather and the fact that it's a Monday game attendance won't be very good for the game. Still, I'd be shocked if it wasn't over 5000 and if I had to guess I'd guess it'd be more like 5500.

Well, I'm shocked and disappointed. Only 4600 at the game tonight. Yeah it was a Monday game and the weather is kind of ****** (lots of snow and some freezing rain I guess) but FFS... It's pathetic we couldn't at least get 5000

[MSU01]

Well, I'm shocked and disappointed. Only 4600 at the game tonight. Yeah it was a Monday game and the weather is kind of ****** (lots of snow and some freezing rain I guess) but FFS... It's pathetic we couldn't at least get 5000

It's not all that bad. MSU will be lucky to draw 4600 fans combined for the entire home schedule next year.