Brains vs the Brawn Next Week

[nanacat]

I enjoyed that alot! Good to see Tommy, or Tom now. Lol

[onceacat]

I probably haven't since my undergrad days three decades ago-- at that time facilities were really crumbling, but my sense is they've invested quite a bit in them subsequently. Harvard stadiums ongoing renovation is approaching $200 million in cost I think-- I know the biggest donor for it very well. LIke I said, there is plenty of money there if they want to direct it to athletics.

I went to a Harvard game with my Wife about 3 years ago. They were playing Columbia (actually ran into Coach Tomlin there, as his son was playing for Columbia) … Anyways, I was SHOCKED at the difference between that game atmosphere and stadium compared to top FCS schools

1) The stadium was NOT NICE. Yes it was old, and had a "Wow this is historic" feel to it but it was not nice. Very run down.

2) Entering the Game, there was just a picnic table set up where a lady (one lady) would look at your ticket and say "Looks right" and you would go in. My Wife asked "Do you need me to take anything out of my bag?" and the lady said "Why, are you proud of something?"

3) Tickets... The people in front of us in the "Ticket Line" were arguing with the Lady about not having tickets.. They kept saying "Why do we need to buy tickets, we are just going in to watch the football team play" and "I am an alumni, I went here" They could not wrap their head around having to actually pay money to watch the game...

4) Concessions / Merch... Again, just picnic tables, and weber grills for Hot Dogs, and Burgers (those were your only options). We walked around the stadium and there were a total of 2 stands, one person working at each. Merch was just hangers in the open, with 3 options on a shirt.

5) PA Announcer... Before the game, they announced the 2 teams that were playing, and said "Columbia, a school with a higher Acceptance rate than points scored a game"... Then made some joke about the crew team... Everyone around us (all 75 of them) laughed mightily about that one.

That's funny. I went to a Cornell game about 10 years ago and unless they have made MAJOR renovations, I'm not sure where this talk is coming from that Ivy facilities are so amazing. I don't doubt that they have a fortune, but at least there they weren't spending them on athletic facilities. I guess my sample size is small, but I guess I have just never heard the Ivy's as being big spenders on facilities. My game experience feltlike an NAIA game except for worse facilities.

It's not that they are 'amazing'. It's that they are huge. And mostly empty on game day because they only care about one game.

And, let's face it. It's not as though Bobcat Stadium is anything special, as a facility. My wife (from Oklahoma) thought it was the high school stadium when she first came to town. The East side bleachers are downright terrible.

Bobcat Stadium is amazing as an environment because it's packed above capacity every single game. And the end zone is FIRE.

Harvard has 20 mens and 20 women's varsity sports (19 really, because I don't count Heavyweight Rowing as different than Lightweight Rowing...even if the NCAA does). MSU has 7 mens and 8 women's.

The point isn't that the Ivies have something magical or that theres something wrong with Bozeman. Just that for MSU to double the size of its football stadium & add facilities and scholarships for an additional 12 sports, it would cost somewhere close to a billion dollars.