Mountain West Conference meeting

[CelticCat]

Let me ask everyone this - how do we feel once NDSU, SDSU, Tartleton, UC Davis, are gone?

And of those 4 teams, UC Davis was the only one to make it past the second round of the playoffs. I still believe there needs to be 3 levels in Division 1. Until that happens those in the lower levels will be playing in the Tidily Wink bowl for 7 bucks and a warm doctor pepper.

I'm just saying if you lose 4 of the attendance leaders, you are looking a subdivision that only has 10 other schools (not including HBCUs) averaging over 10k in attendance, and only one over 15k (Sac State lol, it won't be 15k next year).

MSU as a fish keeps getting bigger and the pond we swim in keeps getting smaller.

[cat22[2010]]

For those wanting to move up this is a great discussion. When they do the realignment, consider what is going to happen. The g6 coaches get a lot more money than ours. To move up means those g6 guys are not going to get a pay cut. If we want to play with them all of our costs are going up, that ties in with ticket prices. It is going to cost a lot of money play that game and I don't think tv revenyis going to make up the difference.
Them there are the Portland, Eastern, Uncu, and maybe others in our conference that won't be able to pay the price.

TV revenue won’t pay for it and it’s not a steady and reliable source anyway. The Cats will need help from state government and an increase in student fees among other revenue increases, like ticket prices.

I think MSU need to focus on improving the food in the concessions. $17 for a crappy burger and ok fries is highway robbery.

The food is a part of the game day experience and the food is awful and way over priced for what is served.

Okay, so wow…moving up and we get a burger post…

These are the things that really matter!

[MSU01]

For those wanting to move up this is a great discussion. When they do the realignment, consider what is going to happen. The g6 coaches get a lot more money than ours. To move up means those g6 guys are not going to get a pay cut. If we want to play with them all of our costs are going up, that ties in with ticket prices. It is going to cost a lot of money play that game and I don't think tv revenyis going to make up the difference.
Them there are the Portland, Eastern, Uncu, and maybe others in our conference that won't be able to pay the price.

TV revenue won’t pay for it and it’s not a steady and reliable source anyway. The Cats will need help from state government and an increase in student fees among other revenue increases, like ticket prices.

I think MSU need to focus on improving the food in the concessions. $17 for a crappy burger and ok fries is highway robbery.

The food is a part of the game day experience and the food is awful and way over priced for what is served.

Okay, so wow…moving up and we get a burger post…

These are the things that really matter!

If only MSU would bite the bullet and allow customers to make a full Chicago style hot dog at the condiment cart we'd be fully ready for FBS football.

[wapiti]

For those wanting to move up this is a great discussion. When they do the realignment, consider what is going to happen. The g6 coaches get a lot more money than ours. To move up means those g6 guys are not going to get a pay cut. If we want to play with them all of our costs are going up, that ties in with ticket prices. It is going to cost a lot of money play that game and I don't think tv revenyis going to make up the difference.
Them there are the Portland, Eastern, Uncu, and maybe others in our conference that won't be able to pay the price.

TV revenue won’t pay for it and it’s not a steady and reliable source anyway. The Cats will need help from state government and an increase in student fees among other revenue increases, like ticket prices.

I think MSU need to focus on improving the food in the concessions. $17 for a crappy burger and ok fries is highway robbery.

The food is a part of the game day experience and the food is awful and way over priced for what is served.

Concession stand quality and price are always a hot topic. I'm curious, if you were the concession manager, what changes would you make to for a better game day experience? Also, should the goal of the concession stand to be to maximize profits or should the goal be to provide a non-profit service?

2 different size burgers. Small one and fries for $10 to $12 and large one and fries for $17.
Burger would be 100% beef and come with onion, tomato, lettuce and cheese, and have a quality bun.
The cooking apparatus would be set so the burgers are cooked but not over cooked. Too many times I had a dry, nearly burnt burger.

The chicken finger/nuggets would actually have some chicken in them and not mostly breading and the chicken would be moist.

The hot dog is ok. It could too use some toppings such as onion, tomato, lettuce and cheese.

You should be able to substitute a hot drink for the soda on the combo meals.

Providing non-profits a share of the proceeds is fine with me. Which means the labor costs for MSU to cook and serve the food is very minimal.

Get rid of the awful huckleberry lemonade and have a better selection of sodas. Have oj as an option for a drink.

Some of the above is a bit is over the top, but a bit better quality isn't hard to do.

Condiments - in addition to mayo, mustard, relish and ketchup - could be provided in a self service "bar" for all menu items:

diced onions
iceberg lettuce
sliced tomatoes
pickle chips
kraut
sliced jalapenos

These could be used for burgers, dogs, brats, and nachos. For those of you that have ever been to a Mustangs game at Dehler Park, i believe all of the above is available, in addition to the standard ketchup/mayo/mustard. The most expensive of these would be the tomatoes. Everything else is inexpensive and 3 of 6 require ZERO prep aside from opening a container.

Completely agree that the huckleberry lemonade is truly vile stuff. Tastes like cough medicine. Replace with root beer or Dr Pepper!

A&W Root Beer

[Helcat72]

If we moved up who would pay for the increase in coaches salary, increases in NIL, increases in number of scholarship sports, and increases in facilities. We may be closest in facilities, but it seems to me that ticket prices may go up further than our fans can absorb. We get good attendance now but how many fans will stay home and watch the games on TV if they have to pay over $100 for tickets on the 10 yard line to watch us play Wyoming? It may be a novelty the first year, like the SDSU game this year, but I think it may be unaffordable for every game every year. Our fan base isn't made up of folks that have a pile of disposable income because we are a unique situation within the scheme of things...a sparsely populated large state with an inordinately large following due to our dominance. How large will that following be if prices double and we are a middle of the road conference combatant?

[MSU01]

If we moved up who would pay for the increase in coaches salary, increases in NIL, increases in number of scholarship sports, and increases in facilities. We may be closest in facilities, but it seems to me that ticket prices may go up further than our fans can absorb. We get good attendance now but how many fans will stay home and watch the games on TV if they have to pay over $100 for tickets on the 10 yard line to watch us play Wyoming? It may be a novelty the first year, like the SDSU game this year, but I think it may be unaffordable for every game every year. Our fan base isn't made up of folks that have a pile of disposable income because we are a unique situation within the scheme of things...a sparsely populated large state with an inordinately large following due to our dominance. How large will that following be if prices double and we are a middle of the road conference combatant?

Whether MSU stays at the FCS level or moves up to FBS, I think it's safe to say that demand for access to those tickets is high enough right now that every fan priced out by cost increases will not be leaving an empty seat behind when they decide to give up those tickets and watch from home instead. Ideally a move up would coincide with a stadium expansion so that revenue could increase by adding new season ticket holders to those that already have their seats. I'm sure Leon Costello and the Athletic Department have a pretty good idea of how much it would cost to play FBS football and if it were so cost-prohibitive that they couldn't do it, that he would have told us that.

[Helcat72]

If we moved up who would pay for the increase in coaches salary, increases in NIL, increases in number of scholarship sports, and increases in facilities. We may be closest in facilities, but it seems to me that ticket prices may go up further than our fans can absorb. We get good attendance now but how many fans will stay home and watch the games on TV if they have to pay over $100 for tickets on the 10 yard line to watch us play Wyoming? It may be a novelty the first year, like the SDSU game this year, but I think it may be unaffordable for every game every year. Our fan base isn't made up of folks that have a pile of disposable income because we are a unique situation within the scheme of things...a sparsely populated large state with an inordinately large following due to our dominance. How large will that following be if prices double and we are a middle of the road conference combatant?

Whether MSU stays at the FCS level or moves up to FBS, I think it's safe to say that demand for access to those tickets is high enough right now that every fan priced out by cost increases will not be leaving an empty seat behind when they decide to give up those tickets and watch from home instead. Ideally a move up would coincide with a stadium expansion so that revenue could increase by adding new season ticket holders to those that already have their seats. I'm sure Leon Costello and the Athletic Department have a pretty good idea of how much it would cost to play FBS football and if it were so cost-prohibitive that they couldn't do it, that he would have told us that.

I'm not talking about people who may make over $100K being able to afford it, I'm talking about the lower middle income people. Montana is not overly populated. If the people who must give up their seats due to cost will there be enough fans around to absorb the seats? Right now we have people who buy SRO tickets, so we are talking seating expansion. If we go FBS in a couple of years will there be enough upper middle income folks to still fill the stadium? If we don't challenge for the league championship in the first few years, will falling attendance hinder team development? I think this is the main concern for not courting the MW now. Idaho is the example. It would be great if we could balance any cost increases with attention to retention!

I'm sure Leon is aware of this and won't pull the trigger on moving up until the appropriate studies are done. I believe back in the day when Idaho moved up they had to guarantee 17,000 fans per game to enter the FBS. I also remember that there was some booster/corporate money that they used to boost the gate receipts to that point in the beginning. In the end they couldn't sustain it especially due to mediocre finishes and travel costs. The MW is a lot closer than Idaho was to the rest of their conference so travel may not be an item, but when you have 2 highly attended football teams in a state with a small population, the gray area is a lot closer to us than it is to Wyoming who has only one team, and the rest of the Mountain West who are situated near major population centers.

[PHAT CAT]

Idaho had no business moving up. They only moved up because of Boise moving up. Idaho had to play their home games in Pullman at WSU stadium. The Kiby Dome didn't qualify for the amount of seats needed. Moscow has 26,000 people. Bozeman has 57,000 and the greater Bozeman area 125,000. Bottom line, Bozeman has a lot more people than Moscow. U of I has 12,000 students. MSU 17,0000. We have a bigger stadium, city population and student body. Idaho is just not a fair example for moving or not moving up. I love the FCS playoffs. Hope we can hold off moving up until the four or five big conferences form their own league. But, I'll take Las Vegas and Honolulu over Greeley and Cheney, any day of the week. Pack the clubs and the sun screen.

[Montanabob]

Idaho had no business moving up. They only moved up because of Boise moving up. Idaho had to play their home games in Pullman at WSU stadium. The Kiby Dome didn't qualify for the amount of seats needed. Moscow has 26,000 people. Bozeman has 57,000 and the greater Bozeman area 125,000. Bottom line, Bozeman has a lot more people than Moscow. U of I has 12,000 students. MSU 17,0000. We have a bigger stadium, city population and student body. Idaho is just not a fair example for moving or not moving up. I love the FCS playoffs. Hope we can hold off moving up until the four or five big conferences form their own league. But, I'll take Las Vegas and Honolulu over Greeley and Cheney, any day of the week. Pack the clubs and the sun screen.

As i recollect , they only played one year at pullman 1999. After that they played in the Kibbie as FBS never officially enforced the attendance requirement.

[MSU01]

Idaho had no business moving up. They only moved up because of Boise moving up. Idaho had to play their home games in Pullman at WSU stadium. The Kiby Dome didn't qualify for the amount of seats needed. Moscow has 26,000 people. Bozeman has 57,000 and the greater Bozeman area 125,000. Bottom line, Bozeman has a lot more people than Moscow. U of I has 12,000 students. MSU 17,0000. We have a bigger stadium, city population and student body. Idaho is just not a fair example for moving or not moving up. I love the FCS playoffs. Hope we can hold off moving up until the four or five big conferences form their own league. But, I'll take Las Vegas and Honolulu over Greeley and Cheney, any day of the week. Pack the clubs and the sun screen.

As i recollect , they only played one year at pullman 1999. After that they played in the Kibbie as FBS never officially enforced the attendance requirement.

Idaho definitely played at Martin Stadium in Pullman during the 2000 season, I and a few dozen other fans in blue & gold (how times have changed since then) watched the Bobcats play them there during that miserable season.

Edit: They returned to playing full time at the Kibbie Dome in 2002.

[Montanabob]

Idaho had no business moving up. They only moved up because of Boise moving up. Idaho had to play their home games in Pullman at WSU stadium. The Kiby Dome didn't qualify for the amount of seats needed. Moscow has 26,000 people. Bozeman has 57,000 and the greater Bozeman area 125,000. Bottom line, Bozeman has a lot more people than Moscow. U of I has 12,000 students. MSU 17,0000. We have a bigger stadium, city population and student body. Idaho is just not a fair example for moving or not moving up. I love the FCS playoffs. Hope we can hold off moving up until the four or five big conferences form their own league. But, I'll take Las Vegas and Honolulu over Greeley and Cheney, any day of the week. Pack the clubs and the sun screen.

As i recollect , they only played one year at pullman 1999. After that they played in the Kibbie as FBS never officially enforced the attendance requirement.

Idaho definitely played at Martin Stadium in Pullman during the 2000 season, I and a few dozen other fans in blue & gold (how times have changed since then) watched the Bobcats play them there during that miserable season.

Edit: They returned to playing full time at the Kibbie Dome in 2002.

Ok. My bust. Longer than I thought. Looked it up.

For 2+1⁄2 seasons, 1999–2001, the Idaho Vandals of nearby Moscow borrowed Martin Stadium to use as its home field,[60][61] as Idaho transitioned from Division I-AA back up to I-A. At the time, the Vandals' Kibbie Dome was too small to support the NCAA's attendance requirements for Division I-A.[62]

[PHAT CAT]

Idaho had no business moving up. They only moved up because of Boise moving up. Idaho had to play their home games in Pullman at WSU stadium. The Kiby Dome didn't qualify for the amount of seats needed. Moscow has 26,000 people. Bozeman has 57,000 and the greater Bozeman area 125,000. Bottom line, Bozeman has a lot more people than Moscow. U of I has 12,000 students. MSU 17,0000. We have a bigger stadium, city population and student body. Idaho is just not a fair example for moving or not moving up. I love the FCS playoffs. Hope we can hold off moving up until the four or five big conferences form their own league. But, I'll take Las Vegas and Honolulu over Greeley and Cheney, any day of the week. Pack the clubs and the sun screen.

As i recollect , they only played one year at pullman 1999. After that they played in the Kibbie as FBS never officially enforced the attendance requirement.

Idaho definitely played at Martin Stadium in Pullman during the 2000 season, I and a few dozen other fans in blue & gold (how times have changed since then) watched the Bobcats play them there during that miserable season.

Edit: They returned to playing full time at the Kibbie Dome in 2002.

Ok. My bust. Longer than I thought. Looked it up.

For 2+1⁄2 seasons, 1999–2001, the Idaho Vandals of nearby Moscow borrowed Martin Stadium to use as its home field,[60][61] as Idaho transitioned from Division I-AA back up to I-A. At the time, the Vandals' Kibbie Dome was too small to support the NCAA's attendance requirements for Division I-A.[62]

Idaho had no business moving up, other than ego.