Basketball attendance

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aucat
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Basketball attendance

Post by aucat » Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm

I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.



MSU01
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by MSU01 » Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:22 pm

I think a lot of the students at MSU football games aren't there because they love football, but because it's a major social event on campus. The same goes for a lot of non-student fans who may be there as much or more for the tailgating scene as they are for the football game itself.

Schools like Grand Canyon and Gonzaga have succeeded in making their basketball games into the same type of social event that MSU football games are, but I'd guess that not having a football team at those schools helps in that effort.

Ultimately fans will show up to watch a winning team, and especially on the men's side there was not a lot of winning going on in the 25 years between the success of the '90s and Danny Sprinkle's rejuvenation of the program as head coach. They were drawing some great crowds under Sprinkle which declined again when he left...last season was a weird one since MSU wasn't all that good in the regular season but then got on a roll in Boise and won three straight.



duelalumnicat
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by duelalumnicat » Sat Jan 25, 2025 7:35 pm

It doesn't help that the only TV viewing option for fans statewide is ESPN+. For years, the local stations treated Cat-Griz basketball, men's and women's, just like the football game, with a unique local broadcast of each game.



MSU01
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by MSU01 » Sat Jan 25, 2025 7:39 pm

duelalumnicat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 7:35 pm
It doesn't help that the only TV viewing option for fans statewide is ESPN+. For years, the local stations treated Cat-Griz basketball, men's and women's, just like the football game, with a unique local broadcast of each game.
Cat/Griz is still broadcast on local TV stations in addition to ESPN+.



kwcat
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by kwcat » Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm

aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk



MSU01
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by MSU01 » Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm

kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.



Desert_Bobcat
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by Desert_Bobcat » Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:59 pm

MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm
kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.
Wins > geography.
The “people don’t travel well when you don’t have in-state kids playing for the school” is such a lazy take.
Would you rather watch a team of MT kids get their doors blown off by Sac St and has a 0% chance of competing with the Griz, or a team that wins at a pretty decent clip who can supplement their roster with a MT kid or two when the talent is there? The answer is you’re not going to basketball games when the team is losing regardless of if they have local kids or not.

We’ve had this conversation too many times. There simply isn’t enough talent in the state to support a competitive team made up of MT boys. Girls are different because the game is completely different, which is why Binford can have 4 girls from MT who all play significant roles on their team.



rfischer94
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by rfischer94 » Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:15 pm

Desert_Bobcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:59 pm
MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm
kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.
Wins > geography.
The “people don’t travel well when you don’t have in-state kids playing for the school” is such a lazy take.
Would you rather watch a team of MT kids get their doors blown off by Sac St and has a 0% chance of competing with the Griz, or a team that wins at a pretty decent clip who can supplement their roster with a MT kid or two when the talent is there? The answer is you’re not going to basketball games when the team is losing regardless of if they have local kids or not.

We’ve had this conversation too many times. There simply isn’t enough talent in the state to support a competitive team made up of MT boys. Girls are different because the game is completely different, which is why Binford can have 4 girls from MT who all play significant roles on their team.
Are there really not very many men D1 level players in MT, or do they all play football instead?



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tdub
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by tdub » Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:36 pm

rfischer94 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:15 pm
Desert_Bobcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:59 pm
MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm
kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.
Wins > geography.
The “people don’t travel well when you don’t have in-state kids playing for the school” is such a lazy take.
Would you rather watch a team of MT kids get their doors blown off by Sac St and has a 0% chance of competing with the Griz, or a team that wins at a pretty decent clip who can supplement their roster with a MT kid or two when the talent is there? The answer is you’re not going to basketball games when the team is losing regardless of if they have local kids or not.

We’ve had this conversation too many times. There simply isn’t enough talent in the state to support a competitive team made up of MT boys. Girls are different because the game is completely different, which is why Binford can have 4 girls from MT who all play significant roles on their team.
Are there really not very many men D1 level players in MT, or do they all play football instead?
A little of both. Some tremendous athletes that play football where basketball probably could have been their primary. But Montana is and has historically been a football first state.

On the rest of the attendance discussion, I think Sprinkle himself brought out more fans. Just his name alone is a Bobcats great. Winning was part of it, but there is no doubt having a Montana-born MSU great leading a winning team brought a lot of excitement and fans back. I think Logie is a good coach, but doesn’t have that connection to the fans like Danny had.


Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts. - Dan Gable

Desert_Bobcat
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by Desert_Bobcat » Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:53 pm

tdub wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:36 pm
rfischer94 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 11:15 pm
Desert_Bobcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:59 pm
MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm
kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.
Wins > geography.
The “people don’t travel well when you don’t have in-state kids playing for the school” is such a lazy take.
Would you rather watch a team of MT kids get their doors blown off by Sac St and has a 0% chance of competing with the Griz, or a team that wins at a pretty decent clip who can supplement their roster with a MT kid or two when the talent is there? The answer is you’re not going to basketball games when the team is losing regardless of if they have local kids or not.

We’ve had this conversation too many times. There simply isn’t enough talent in the state to support a competitive team made up of MT boys. Girls are different because the game is completely different, which is why Binford can have 4 girls from MT who all play significant roles on their team.
Are there really not very many men D1 level players in MT, or do they all play football instead?
A little of both. Some tremendous athletes that play football where basketball probably could have been their primary. But Montana is and has historically been a football first state.

On the rest of the attendance discussion, I think Sprinkle himself brought out more fans. Just his name alone is a Bobcats great. Winning was part of it, but there is no doubt having a Montana-born MSU great leading a winning team brought a lot of excitement and fans back. I think Logie is a good coach, but doesn’t have that connection to the fans like Danny had.
The connection that Sprinkle had to the school and the community won’t be touched by another MSU basketball coach ever. The amount of networking he did for basketball in the short time he was head coach was incredible. Always in the public eye bringing a presence to Bobcat basketball. Like you said, Logie is a great head coach, he just doesn’t have the personality (like Sprinkle) to be in the limelight 24/7.



kwcat
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by kwcat » Sun Jan 26, 2025 9:59 am

MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm
kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.
Danny himself was a draw.
Winds are definitely part of the formula, but not all of it.
If you sit in the bleachers with fans and interact with them, you’ll always hear a comment in the past about different groups of people that travel to see Montana kids. So it is a balance



damnyoutuesday
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by damnyoutuesday » Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:16 am

I was actually kind of shocked to see empty seats last night in Missoula on TV. This game used to sell out every single year, and the Griz are in second place in the conference right now. Seems like basketball attendance is down conference wide right now, based on photos the BSC posts on instagram of other arenas



Bocephus
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by Bocephus » Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:05 pm

damnyoutuesday wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:16 am
I was actually kind of shocked to see empty seats last night in Missoula on TV. This game used to sell out every single year, and the Griz are in second place in the conference right now. Seems like basketball attendance is down conference wide right now, based on photos the BSC posts on instagram of other arenas
Maybe they just have Bobcat fatigue this year?



rfischer94
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by rfischer94 » Mon Jan 27, 2025 3:34 pm

Bocephus wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2025 7:05 pm
damnyoutuesday wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2025 10:16 am
I was actually kind of shocked to see empty seats last night in Missoula on TV. This game used to sell out every single year, and the Griz are in second place in the conference right now. Seems like basketball attendance is down conference wide right now, based on photos the BSC posts on instagram of other arenas
Maybe they just have Bobcat fatigue this year?
"Like"



John K
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by John K » Mon Jan 27, 2025 10:42 pm

MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 7:39 pm
duelalumnicat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 7:35 pm
It doesn't help that the only TV viewing option for fans statewide is ESPN+. For years, the local stations treated Cat-Griz basketball, men's and women's, just like the football game, with a unique local broadcast of each game.
Cat/Griz is still broadcast on local TV stations in addition to ESPN+.
The games last weekend were broadcast only on the MTN network which isn't carried by Spectrum, so for their subscribers, ESPN+ was the only option. I went to dinner that night at P. Gibsons in GF, which is the most popular sports bar in town. Not a single TV was tuned into the Cat-Griz game until I asked them to put it on. Even then, they had trouble finding it. Except for real diehards, not many people statewide care much about Cat or griz hoops anymore.



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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by Colter_Nuanez » Tue Jan 28, 2025 7:52 am

kwcat wrote:
Sun Jan 26, 2025 9:59 am
MSU01 wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:43 pm
kwcat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 9:21 pm
aucat wrote:
Sat Jan 25, 2025 12:02 pm
I wonder what the attendance will be in Missoula today for the two matchups? It wasn't that long ago that this game was a sellout at both arenas.

I'm puzzled as to what has happened over the years. It is a joy to see Bobcat Stadium fill up for football games. While we have been getting decent crowds for the Montana State women, the place ought to be packed, given how well the team is performing. The band, cheerleaders and spirit squads are great, but where are the students?. Montana State has an on-campus enrollment of over 17,000. What I don't understand is how SOME colleges have student bodies that pack the arena. For example, honestly, I had not even heard of Grand Canyon University until a few years ago. The Montana State men played there a few years ago. The place was packed with about 8000 raucous fans, mostly students. What is unique about those students? They sellout just about every game.

I read today where students at Auburn camped out overnight to get into the arena to see the Auburn-Tennessee game tonight. Any student who arrived after 5 am this morning didn't make the cut to get in. I thought the SEC was a football conference. I guess the bottom line is, Montana State is a football school, not so much a basketball school, at least when it comes to fan and student support.
People don’t travel as well when you don’t have any in state kids on the team. I am well aware that is not all of it, but that is a chunk
Fans seemed to be quite happy to show up to watch Danny Sprinkle's teams that didn't have any Montana players who played meaningful minutes. Wins > Geography, unless it was Sprinkle himself who was causing the fans to show up.
Danny himself was a draw.
Winds are definitely part of the formula, but not all of it.
If you sit in the bleachers with fans and interact with them, you’ll always hear a comment in the past about different groups of people that travel to see Montana kids. So it is a balance
Here’s an example: I met Danny when he was hired and he immediately asked for my personal cell phone number. Literally days after he took the MSU job, he called me and said “what would it take for me to have a weekly segment on your show? I want to be on statewide TV!”

He then set up a time with me, told sports info he would take care of it every week, and then gave me 10 minutes of gold week after week for 4 years. It was amazing. No other head coach I’ve ever worked with has ever done that, although I bet if I asked Binford, she’d do it.

The point is it was Danny’s idea AND he set the entire thing up himself, the followed through on it for four seasons! And he was cheerful, engaging, and fun every single week. Sprinkle is a special person, not just a great basketball coach. He treats everyone with respect and his attitude is contagious. MSU was lucky to have him.



aucat
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by aucat » Tue Jan 28, 2025 9:49 pm

I completely agree with what Colter says about Sprinkle. However, I'm reminded of two games. We had not beaten the Griz in, gosh I don't know, 12-15 games. We had them at home. Sprinkle was coach. However, I believe it was like the day or two after we played in the FCS national championship game in Frisco. EVERYBODY was still in Texas or on their way home. No band, cheerleaders, nothing. Not many students. Not many fans. The arena was actually kinda dead. And FINALLY, Montana State and Sprinkle beat the Griz. The arena was maybe half full. I thought to myself how unlucky that our home game did not come until later in the season instead of early January when the students were not even back yet I don't think.

The other game I really remember was against a very good Weber State team. It was a Saturday afternoon. I believe this was Sprinkle's last year and I think this was probably the best Montana State team in history. We were loaded. I decided to sit right behind the Weber State bench. For some reason, despite how good our team was, the attendance on this Saturday afternoon was not good. Now, I don't know if Sprinkle just didn't like the Weber coach or what, but when I saw the MSU players and Sprinkle come onto the court, I could tell that they were loaded for bear. And they delivered. That first half was something to behold. Jubrile Belo and Great Osobar delivered some monster dunks but right before the end of the first half Raequan Battle got a steal and did a reverse windmill dunk that brought down the half-empty arena. I watched the MSU players and coaches exit the court with "an attitude" and I also saw the Weber coach up close extremely angry at what had just transpired. To Weber's credit, they really fought back in the second half to make a game of it, but the Cats prevailed. What a team that was. And again, I never did see the arena close to full.



MSU01
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by MSU01 » Wed Jan 29, 2025 7:57 am

aucat wrote:
Tue Jan 28, 2025 9:49 pm
I completely agree with what Colter says about Sprinkle. However, I'm reminded of two games. We had not beaten the Griz in, gosh I don't know, 12-15 games. We had them at home. Sprinkle was coach. However, I believe it was like the day or two after we played in the FCS national championship game in Frisco. EVERYBODY was still in Texas or on their way home. No band, cheerleaders, nothing. Not many students. Not many fans. The arena was actually kinda dead. And FINALLY, Montana State and Sprinkle beat the Griz. The arena was maybe half full. I thought to myself how unlucky that our home game did not come until later in the season instead of early January when the students were not even back yet I don't think.

The other game I really remember was against a very good Weber State team. It was a Saturday afternoon. I believe this was Sprinkle's last year and I think this was probably the best Montana State team in history. We were loaded. I decided to sit right behind the Weber State bench. For some reason, despite how good our team was, the attendance on this Saturday afternoon was not good. Now, I don't know if Sprinkle just didn't like the Weber coach or what, but when I saw the MSU players and Sprinkle come onto the court, I could tell that they were loaded for bear. And they delivered. That first half was something to behold. Jubrile Belo and Great Osobar delivered some monster dunks but right before the end of the first half Raequan Battle got a steal and did a reverse windmill dunk that brought down the half-empty arena. I watched the MSU players and coaches exit the court with "an attitude" and I also saw the Weber coach up close extremely angry at what had just transpired. To Weber's credit, they really fought back in the second half to make a game of it, but the Cats prevailed. What a team that was. And again, I never did see the arena close to full.
I remember that Cat/Griz game well, played on a Sunday afternoon and everyone in attendance was pretty down after MSU had lost in Frisco the day before. It felt a little better leaving the arena after finally beating the Griz, and a LOT better a couple months later when MSU won both the men's and women's tournaments in Boise. Thank goodness the Big Sky appears to have stopped scheduling the first Cat/Griz matchup so early in the season before the host team's students are even back on campus yet.



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WalkOn79
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by WalkOn79 » Thu Jan 30, 2025 12:00 pm

The product has deteriorated across the board for low major D1, and I blame the transfer portal and NIL. Colter would agree and I think that's really what's driving dismal attendance trends across college basketball at this level. There aren't any Bello's, Battles left in the league.


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John K
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Re: Basketball attendance

Post by John K » Thu Jan 30, 2025 1:30 pm

WalkOn79 wrote:
Thu Jan 30, 2025 12:00 pm
The product has deteriorated across the board for low major D1, and I blame the transfer portal and NIL. Colter would agree and I think that's really what's driving dismal attendance trends across college basketball at this level. There aren't any Bello's, Battles left in the league.
I'm not disputing that...I do think that's a valid point for sure. Although the decline in attendance/interest in MSU and UM basketball began long before the NIL/transfer portal era. I think there are many reasons for that, with the lack of Montana kids on their rosters being one of them. When the Cats won the BSC title and went to the BSC tournament in 1996, 3 of 5 starters and 4 players who were part of the regular rotation were from Montana. There's more to it than that though. I bet if I struck up a conversation with 10 random Bobcat fans, 9 of them would have no idea how the MBB team is doing this season, or know that the WBB is undefeated in BSC play and 18-2 overall. Cat-griz was always a sellout in both Bozeman and Missoula back in the day. In the 90's, I think our average attendance was as high as 3,500-4,000 per game some years , and even during the Sprinkle era I bet it wasn't much more than about half that.



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