The Bobcat Nation

Hello, Basketball Fans!

We're taking a deep look into our game times on Saturdays. Traditionally, they've been 2pm, but we're soliciting feedback in order to maximize attendance. If you have a moment, please take our quick poll: http://bit.ly/BasketballGameTimePoll

Also, feel free to leave feedback here!

Bethany Cordell
Bobcat Athletics

BethanyCordell wrote: ↑

Tue Aug 20, 2019 10:06 am

Hello, Basketball Fans!

We're taking a deep look into our game times on Saturdays. Traditionally, they've been 2pm, but we're soliciting feedback in order to maximize attendance. If you have a moment, please take our quick poll: http://bit.ly/BasketballGameTimePoll

Also, feel free to leave feedback here!

Bethany Cordell
Bobcat Athletics

Main issue I see is that Saturday afternoon games are also when the Hawks are playing... Splitting the crowd between the two teams.

Can I call on Friday night to let you know what best fits my schedule?

Wow.

I didn’t know we could do that.

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

This is a great point. It's nice to be able to watch both teams play! I voted in the poll for 7:00 start times as I've never been a fan of the afternoon games, and for me at least there are fewer potential conflicts in the evening than during the day.

MSU01 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:02 pm

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

This is a great point. It's nice to be able to watch both teams play! I voted in the poll for 7:00 start times as I've never been a fan of the afternoon games, and for me at least there are fewer potential conflicts in the evening than during the day.

While that's understandable for Gallatin county residents, I think they were hoping to attract more folks from further away (Helena, Billings, etc.), which is really hard to do with a 7 p.m. tip. There really aren't many people who care to brave potential winter road conditions late at night to go see a 2 hour basketball game...

I'd suggest a 4 or 5 p.m. tip.

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

Excellent statement of this problem. It affects us exactly the same way.

grizzh8r wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 23, 2019 3:49 pm

MSU01 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 4:02 pm

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

This is a great point. It's nice to be able to watch both teams play! I voted in the poll for 7:00 start times as I've never been a fan of the afternoon games, and for me at least there are fewer potential conflicts in the evening than during the day.

While that's understandable for Gallatin county residents, I think they were hoping to attract more folks from further away (Helena, Billings, etc.), which is really hard to do with a 7 p.m. tip. There really aren't many people who care to brave potential winter road conditions late at night to go see a 2 hour basketball game...

I'd suggest a 4 or 5 p.m. tip.

Bobcat4Ever wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 23, 2019 6:39 pm

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

Excellent statement of this problem. It affects us exactly the same way.

While I can sympathize with this issue, just as we are here trying to decide what time to set our home games obviously other teams are capable of choosing their home game start times as well. Since the MBB and WBB teams play the same teams on the same day just with opposing home/away there really isn't anything that MSU can do to ensure that the tip times are different other than waiting and adjusting our home games after every other team sets theirs, which doesn't really sound too feasible.

kmax wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:18 pm

Bobcat4Ever wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 23, 2019 6:39 pm

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

Excellent statement of this problem. It affects us exactly the same way.

While I can sympathize with this issue, just as we are here trying to decide what time to set our home games obviously other teams are capable of choosing their home game start times as well. Since the MBB and WBB teams play the same teams on the same day just with opposing home/away there really isn't anything that MSU can do to ensure that the tip times are different other than waiting and adjusting our home games after every other team sets theirs, which doesn't really sound too feasible.

KMAX, this topic is specifically about Saturday games and my suggestion and your comment relates only to the conference schedule. With that said, it should be more than feasible for the time scheduling god at MSU to communicate with his/her counterpart at the other school and agree to a tipoff time that is at least 2 actual hours apart. I would assume that their fan base at the other school would appreciate such a staggering of tipoff times so that they, too, could watch/listen to both of their corresponding WBB & MBB teams. There are a lot of options on Saturday tipoff times….easy peasy with a few some phone calls I would assume (or hope).

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 7:42 pm

kmax wrote: ↑

Wed Aug 28, 2019 1:18 pm

Bobcat4Ever wrote: ↑

Fri Aug 23, 2019 6:39 pm

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

Not sure if this would do much for Saturday home attendance, but as an out of stater who enjoys MBB & WBB via Pluto, it would be great if both teams tip off time were at least 2 actual hours apart so I could watch both. As it's been recently, both teams usually start at the same time unless one team is traveling to a pacific time zone and then there is one hour difference between game time.

Excellent statement of this problem. It affects us exactly the same way.

While I can sympathize with this issue, just as we are here trying to decide what time to set our home games obviously other teams are capable of choosing their home game start times as well. Since the MBB and WBB teams play the same teams on the same day just with opposing home/away there really isn't anything that MSU can do to ensure that the tip times are different other than waiting and adjusting our home games after every other team sets theirs, which doesn't really sound too feasible.

KMAX, this topic is specifically about Saturday games and my suggestion and your comment relates only to the conference schedule.

I'm slightly confused by this statement. Realistically we have very few non-conference home games on Saturdays so this whole thread is pretty much about the conference schedule. Either way you agree that my comment and yours were about the conference schedule so.....what's your point?

arvcat2 wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 22, 2019 1:51 pm

With that said, it should be more than feasible for the time scheduling god at MSU to communicate with his/her counterpart at the other school and agree to a tipoff time that is at least 2 actual hours apart. I would assume that their fan base at the other school would appreciate such a staggering of tipoff times so that they, too, could watch/listen to both of their corresponding WBB & MBB teams. There are a lot of options on Saturday tipoff times….easy peasy with a few some phone calls I would assume (or hope).

As for this, yes it is feasible that this could happen but is it really likely? MSU and all of the other schools like to get their start times set ahead so that planning can be done. MSU and many of the schools like to have a consistent start time for every Saturday game (whether Men's or Women's) to help with planning. Some even get the occasional local or regional tv coverage that has to be factored into it. Now, could they try and coordinate with 9 conference teams that we play on Saturdays right now and set all of that up well before the season? Theoretically yes but realistically it's going to be too many conflicts between separate parties that have their own interests in mind in terms of the setup for their own home games.

As I said, I get the idea and understand why fans would want this but to say this is something should just be easy with a few phone calls is an extreme over-simplification.

kmax wrote: ↑

Thu Aug 29, 2019 9:05 am

As for this, yes it is feasible that this could happen but is it really likely? MSU and all of the other schools like to get their start times set ahead so that planning can be done. MSU and many of the schools like to have a consistent start time for every Saturday game (whether Men's or Women's) to help with planning. Some even get the occasional local or regional tv coverage that has to be factored into it. Now, could they try and coordinate with 9 conference teams that we play on Saturdays right now and set all of that up well before the season? Theoretically yes but realistically it's going to be too many conflicts between separate parties that have their own interests in mind in terms of the setup for their own home games.

As I said, I get the idea and understand why fans would want this but to say this is something should just be easy with a few phone calls is an extreme over-simplification.

This level of coordination would surely need to come from the conference office and not be done by each individual school interacting with every other school and thinking there's any chance of coming to an agreement on the start times. The Big Sky would have to say something like that all Saturday WBB games will start at 2 MST/1 PST and no MBB game can start before 4 MST/3 PST. Of course then you'd surely have TV or facility conflicts that would require exceptions to be made, and it would likely turn into a big mess.

Getting back to the original topic of this thread, I think we've demonstrated through this very limited discussion how impossible it is for MSU or any other school to come up with one ideal start time that works for everyone, or even for most people!

The 1pm start times for Saturday games are, at times, set so the out of town team can get home by Saturday night and not have to absorb another nights on the road expenses....It goes both ways.....

What's cool here is I don't remember, as a fan, ever being asked before.