Standing room only....

[DuckDuckGriz]

....If that. Just read in the Missoulian that the Griz-EWU game in Missoula is officially SOLD OUT. Talked to someone in the ticket office yesterday and they said they would try to bring in portable bleachers and hopefully fit around 25,000. Maybe more.

Great game, great atmosphere, and great for I-AA!

[Down with the Foe!]

....If that. Just read in the Missoulian that the Griz-EWU game in Missoula is officially SOLD OUT. Talked to someone in the ticket office yesterday and they said they would try to bring in portable bleachers and hopefully fit around 25,000. Maybe more.

Great game, great atmosphere, and great for I-AA!

I was told that all but two of the games are a sell out.

The opening game against a a D-2 on Labor day weekend, and SDSU I believe.


I waited on hold Friday with the ticket office when I heard this, no one came back to me, I hung up.

This is what I "Heard" from a fellow Season Ticket holder.


Go Griz

[Ronbo]

Sellouts across the board this season will assure continued TV coverage and speed up plans for the next expansion. Bet they will revise the next expansion to add at least a couple thousand seats. We have 23,310 seats now with some small portable bleachers they set up at every game. We need to get to at least 25,500 or so to accommodate the demand. :)

[FightinBluHen51]

Sellouts across the board this season will assure continued TV coverage and speed up plans for the next expansion. Bet they will revise the next expansion to add at least a couple thousand seats. We have 23,310 seats now with some small portable bleachers they set up at every game. We need to get to at least 25,500 or so to accommodate the demand. :)
Lucky you all! At least your U is doing something about it instead of sitting on their thumbs like ours. I think we have at least one game sold out already as well, and I'm sure the UMass game will sell out pretty quickly. Should be another over capacity season for us, but our admin just dosen't seem to be as committed to making upgrades as quick as the UM admin. Congrats on the sell outs.

[Ronbo]

Lucky you all! At least your U is doing something about it instead of sitting on their thumbs like ours. I think we have at least one game sold out already as well, and I'm sure the UMass game will sell out pretty quickly. Should be another over capacity season for us, but our admin just dosen't seem to be as committed to making upgrades as quick as the UM admin. Congrats on the sell outs.

I know we are darn lucky to have such sweet support for the Griz. At the rate the area is growing and if the Griz keep winning, in 10 years we will be the only I-AA team that draws an average of 35,000 fans a game. :) :) ;)

[nevadagriz]

I told my parents I would come home for their retirement party if they had it during the season. They decided to have it the weekend of the EWU game !!! I cant wait game at noon party that night.

[SoCon48]

....If that. Just read in the Missoulian that the Griz-EWU game in Missoula is officially SOLD OUT. Talked to someone in the ticket office yesterday and they said they would try to bring in portable bleachers and hopefully fit around 25,000. Maybe more.

Great game, great atmosphere, and great for I-AA!

How are the I-A schools in your state doing this year?

[GSUBass]

How are the I-A schools in your state doing this year?

ha thats funny.

[putter]

All right, I don't want to hear that old " you don't have any competition in your state argument." We only have 900,000 people in our state. Are you drawing 2.5% of your state's population to your games??

:deadhorse

[henfan]

At least your U is doing something about it instead of sitting on their thumbs like ours.

Ditto on that sentiment. UD could build a stadium of gold if it wanted. The problem isn't lack of funding in our case. It's the presence of fiscal hyper-conservatism and big-time sports-a-phobia among our trustees.

Instead of generating excitment and more investment in the football program, striking while the poker's hot, UD's on the field success has led to a even greater sense of conservatism. The timing is very, very unfortunate, IMO.

[Ronbo]

Another funny point to make to most of you schools drawing 12,000 fans is what's the population with in a 50 mile radius? :D Ha! Now that could be an embarrassing comparison and show how little your program is thought of. :o Hey we draw 6 one thousands of one percent of our 50 mile radius! :D

[ngineer]

Another funny point to make to most of you schools drawing 12,000 fans is what's the population with in a 50 mile radius? :D Ha! Now that could be an embarrassing comparison and show how little your program is thought of. :o Hey we draw 6 one thousands of one percent of our 50 mile radius! :D

Partially valid--but what else do you have in competition? How many high schools, colleges, pro-teams, etc that all compete for attendees? I have frequently heard the lament from many alums who cannot attend games because their kids have games. It's the same with high school sports. While the 'big' games still get large crowds, the average attendance is down. Friday night/Saturday afternoon 40 years ago, the local game was all the entertainment there was. Today--at least around here, there is so much going on it makes the head spin. :rotateh:

[JaxSinfonian]

All right, I don't want to hear that old " you don't have any competition in your state argument." We only have 900,000 people in our state. Are you drawing 2.5% of your state's population to your games??

I assume you don't want to hear it because it's a pretty dang valid argument. The fact that Montana can get 2.5 percent of the state's population in the stadium on gameday only proves the "no competetion" argument.

No, we're not drawing 2.5 percent of our state's population. And here's why:

On Oct. 16, 2004, both the University of Alabama and Auburn University played at home. Those two football games drew a combined 169,545 football fans, according to box scores from ESPN.com. That represents 3.7 percent of Alabama's 4,530,182 residents (per Census estiamtes for 2004). Looked at another way, the attendance in Bryant-Denney and Jordan-Hare stadiums that day was a few few thousand more than Montana's entire accumulated 2004 regular-season attendance of 161,007.

Jax State drew 14,722 that day, and I was well pleased.

UAB and Troy, our other two I-As, happened to be on the road that day.

Alabama A&M and Alabama State were, too.

Samford drew 3,716 for a forgettable matchup with UT-Martin. I don't know what D-2 North Alabama & West Alabama were up to Oct. 16, nor the D-3 teams, but I think I've already made my point.

Now putter, don't get me wrong. We're all very happy that Montana gets so many people in the stadium on gameday. Does the division proud. But the rest of us out here in the real world have to fight for fan & media attention. Forgive us if we point out our obstacles when you brag.

[Ronbo]

The way our attendance is growing we could be drawing 35-40,000 in 10-12 years. Most want to stay I-AA at Montana. Would that be chicken of the AD and fan base to out draw 1/2 of I-A and still be in I-AA? :confused:

[DemiGS]

The way our attendance is growing we could be drawing 35-40,000 in 10-12 years. Most want to stay I-AA at Montana. Would that be chicken of the AD and fan base to out draw 1/2 of I-A and still be in I-AA? :confused:

Yeah.... I don't want to hear it. I know GSU fans go half ass with their attendance; but let’s not compare. First of all, UM is the state university, and second of all the surrounding area can in no way compete with the SE fan base. Just in the state of Georgia, every third car tag is a UGA tag (never mind most UGA fans never attended UGA). GSU is located 10 thousand miles away from the population of the state of Georgia. Because we can get 20,000 sometimes is a Div I-AA miracle. It would be like if the University of Montana fan base was plucked up and planted 140 miles from the University of Texas. Then imagine that within 1000 miles there were 10+ other top 25 BSC teams.

[rokamortis]

I understand that MT doesn't have a lot of competition to their football on Saturdays, but do you guys realize how spread out their population is? Many fans have to drive hours just to get to the game. That is some dedication regardless of the competition, especially when you consider many GSU fans say that they can't get many alums living in Atlanta to drive back for a game.

But I feel the pain from the other side too. We are fighting with the U of SC and Clemson for fans along with all of the other I-AAs in our state. I think / hope if we had a bigger stadium we would be able to handle the growth to about 10,000 fans - but I don't know if we'll be able to do anything beyond that. I would like to think that we can, but seeing the problems all of the other I-AA schools have I'm sure we'll have them too.

[Ronbo]

We have about 10 I-A's within 500 miles, many in our State are UW fans, and Wash. State Fans, BYU fans, Utah State fans, Oregon fans, Wyoming fans. We have some competition. Washington State is only a 100 miles from the State of Montana. We have fans that drive as much as 400 miles on game day to our games.

Another thing on the competition question. Many of you live in States that are heavily populated. Sure the I-A's draw 160,000 on Sat., what about the other 2.5 million to 4 million folks. What are they doing?

What about Maine? New Hampshire? Aren't they in the same position as Montana? Why can't they draw? SDSU and NDSU only get 9-12,000 what's up with that? They are the only Div. 1 teams in their states. We have to fight another I-AA for fans, they don't.

Delaware seems to be doing what we have in Montana, they market their game day experience and create fans.

[SoCon48]

I understand that MT doesn't have a lot of competition to their football on Saturdays, but do you guys realize how spread out their population is? Many fans have to drive hours just to get to the game."

Big deal. They have to drive that far to get to a Seven-Eleven, too. :rolleyes:

[SoCon48]

[QUOTE=Ronbo]We have about 10 I-A's within 500 miles, many in our State are UW fans, and Wash. State Fans, BYU fans, Utah State fans, Oregon fans, Wyoming fans. We have some competition."

10?
Hell there must be 25 within 500 miles of NC.

[McNeeserocket]

I believe the McNeese vs. Southern game (Sept. 3) will be soldout by the end of the day on August 29th. A standing room only crowd might break a recent record for Cowboy Stadium. I don't think McNeese really knows what the all time record attendance is for "The Hole." Back in the 70s and 80s it was thought the stadium held about 20,000 people. However, that figure was incorrect and was more like 16,500 or 17,000 and is 17,500 now with press box seating. My guess is that the 27,000 + record in the 70's (for a McNeese vs. USL game) was more likely to be 22,000 to 23,000 and both hills were packed and walkways filled (today the Fire Marshall would not allow it).

The McNeese vs. Grambling game in Lake Charles in 2002 was a little over 20,000. My guess is Southern's attendance may break the 21,000 mark, but not by much as the Fire Marshall won't allow much more.

[Ronbo]

I understand that MT doesn't have a lot of competition to their football on Saturdays, but do you guys realize how spread out their population is? Many fans have to drive hours just to get to the game."

Big deal. They have to drive that far to get to a Seven-Eleven, too. :rolleyes:

Actually most of the 7-11's have been closed down. We don't have enough middle easterners to man them. ;)

[MR. CHICKEN]

ALOT O' DEM...HAVE TAKEN UP....BACKPACKING!.......:eek:........BRAWK!

[FightinBluHen51]

I know we are darn lucky to have such sweet support for the Griz. At the rate the area is growing and if the Griz keep winning, in 10 years we will be the only I-AA team that draws an average of 35,000 fans a game. :) :) ;)



I'd like to think that you won't be ;).

[DuckDuckGriz]

Big deal. They have to drive that far to get to a Seven-Eleven, too. :rolleyes:

We don't let 7-11 expand in MT but your ignorance is noted.

Many people drive 600 miles just to show up for a Griz game -- EVERY Saturday. I don't care how spread out and small our population, or how we don't compete with I-A teams in our region (we do by the way). There's no excuse why other fanbases don't have that dedication. And don't tell me the drive is too much. Try driving across Eastern Montana and the Continental Divide in November.


UM averages more season tickets than alot of I-A schools. There is a waiting list for them. It's like something you will to your kids -- bigger than the house or the valuables.

The original topic was that every Griz game is sold out, which is great for I-AA. If you want to bash on Montana for a while and try to take away from that, head to the smack forum.

[putter]

Most of the arguments are valid points but part of that is excuses also. Eastern Washington is a few miles from Washington State and when the Eagles play Montana at home they triple their home attendance (not including the Montana fans). That means that they need to market and build the program because the opportunity is there. Saying you have all these I-A's to compete with is difficult but, like a post earlier said, what about the other 1-3 million people in the area? What are they doing? Montana does a lot to promote and market their product while things are good. To say that you can get 14,000 while Auburn etc are home is selling yourself short. There are a lot of people/alumni out there that would come to your games.
P.S> winning does help too.

[SoCon48]

[
"Many people drive 600 miles just to show up for a Griz game "

They have to and they're used to it.

200K is good for I-AA. However THE University of --------(insert any I-A state name) and you average 60K. (UNC, AL, MS, GA, TN, NE, OK, TX, etc etc.) That's dedication and marketing.
One day, MT will join the other states with a program in I-A.

[Pantherpower]

I would love to watch the UM-EWU game. Should be a battle!

[DuckDuckGriz]

[
"Many people drive 600 miles just to show up for a Griz game "

They have to and they're used to it.

.

Why's that?

[putter]

No they don't have to, they can watch it on TV but they still come. There was a time not too long ago that the Griz got 3,000 - 5,000 per game. What has changed? A committment by the school to their football program. Would you drive 600 miles one way to watch a I-A program? If so why?

[Griz Grunt]

ALOT O' DEM...HAVE TAKEN UP....BACKPACKING!.......:eek:........BRAWK!

That comin from the b-packing MAN!

http://people.montana.com/~rkdl/UD-CM.gif


They have to and they're used to it.

200K is good for I-AA. However THE University of --------(insert any I-A state name) and you average 60K. (UNC, AL, MS, GA, TN, NE, OK, TX, etc etc.) That's dedication and marketing.
One day, MT will join the other states with a program in I-A.

Tell ya what, you be content with what your program and we'll continue to be ecstatic with our program!:nod: http://www.anygivensaturday.com/forum/images/icons/icon14.gif

[Ronbo]

I've heard the only game in town comparison many times and it does have some merit but not much.

Here in Montana the Griz fight for the consumers recreational dollar too. Not too much with I-A, some, not with Pro Sports, some. But as a recreational state there is much to spend your dollars on besides the Griz.

Boating and Water Sports
Fishing
Hunting
Skiing
Camping
National Park visits
Snowmobiling

Only game in town? For Missoula, you could say that, although there is plenty to do around here. We have 10,000 of our fans in the stadium drive between 50 to 400 miles. We travel 4-5000 fans to ISU (350 miles), Weber State (500 miles). We travel 3000 fans to Sac State and Portland State. We travel up to 10,000 fans to EWU (220 miles). I don't see the argument that these people have nothing else to do. "Hey honey, geeze there's nothing to do, let's drive 250 miles and see a game." Doing that goes deeper than just having nothing to do.

There is more going on here than the only game in town folks. It's a rabid fan base that's growing every year. It's fans in the tradition of many of the southern I-A's except on a smaller scale. It's more than the only game in town when guys arrange their annual hunting trips when the Griz are out of town. When vacations are scheduled as not to interfere with home games or the season. When weddings are planned to not conflict with game days. When season tickets are left in wills.

[Down with the Foe!]

I would love to watch the UM-EWU game. Should be a battle!

THAT my friend may be the understatement of the year, along with the game of the year in the Big Sky Conference, and the 1-AA before it's all said and done.


:rolleyes:

[TheBisonator]

SDSU and NDSU only get 9-12,000 what's up with that?

Actually, SDSU almost drew an average of 10,000 per game last year, and NDSU drew over 13,000 on average. And North Dakota only has about 640,000 people compared to the 925,000 in Montana, so as far as proportion goes, that's decent compared to Montana. We get over 2 percent of the state at our games, and you get around 2.5 percent. As far as SDSU goes, I can agree with you to an extent, but theie basketball program is king, and their FB program is growing in support every year anyway. And besides, you guys have another DI-AA school in Montana too. There's only one here.

[biobengal]

"We travel 4-5000 fans to ISU (350 miles)". I'm assuming you're talking about 2003; more Montana fans in Pocatello on homecoming, call me a skeptic.

Ronbo, if I'm not mistaken, twenty years ago Montana drew about 8,000. Since the watered down BSC and Montana winning games attendance has shot up.

[Ronbo]

Build it and they will come Bio. We might have had trouble getting tickets for the 2003 game but any other time Griz fans will buy tickets right from your ticket office after ours are gone. I was in Sacramento in 2003 and we had 3000 there. I'm sure we had 3000 last year in Portland maybe 4000. So 3-4000 in Pocatello is realistic if it's not Homecoming of course. You guys only average 6500 in your 12,000 seat dome, your AD won't turn down our money. ;)

[blukeys]

I've heard the only game in town comparison many times and it does have some merit but not much.

Here in Montana the Griz fight for the consumers recreational dollar too. Not too much with I-A, some, not with Pro Sports, some. But as a recreational state there is much to spend your dollars on besides the Griz.

Boating and Water Sports
Fishing
Hunting
Skiing
Camping
National Park visits
Snowmobiling

Only game in town? For Missoula, you could say that, although there is plenty to do around here. We have 10,000 of our fans in the stadium drive between 50 to 400 miles. We travel 4-5000 fans to ISU (350 miles), Weber State (500 miles). We travel 3000 fans to Sac State and Portland State. We travel up to 10,000 fans to EWU (220 miles). I don't see the argument that these people have nothing else to do. "Hey honey, geeze there's nothing to do, let's drive 250 miles and see a game." Doing that goes deeper than just having nothing to do.

There is more going on here than the only game in town folks. It's a rabid fan base that's growing every year. It's fans in the tradition of many of the southern I-A's except on a smaller scale. It's more than the only game in town when guys arrange their annual hunting trips when the Griz are out of town. When vacations are scheduled as not to interfere with home games or the season. When weddings are planned to not conflict with game days. When season tickets are left in wills.

Within a 150 mile drive from Newark (not the 400 miles quoted earlier in the thread by a Montana poster. )

There are:

5 professional baseball teams.
5 professional football teams
5 1-a footbal programs ( I will not count the other I-AA programs as they do not compare to Delaware)
7 minor league baseball teams.
5 Profesional Hockey teams
3 minor league hockey teams
10 gazillion casinos (where you gamble)
Sales tax free shopping at factory outlets and malls (go to the game and send the women shopping) in the tax crazy Northeast/Mid Atlantic region.
Miles of Atlantic Beaches from NJ to Va. (careful you have to pay to get on NJ beaches)
Broadway theatre in 5 towns (for you sensitive guys)
Trout fishing (white clay Creek 5 min. from the Tub)
Small and Large mouth bass fishing
deer Hunting
Goose and Duck Hunting (Atlantic Flyway)
Crab catching (more fun than you can believe chickenneckers!!)
4 Thorobred Racetracks (where you gamble)
7 Standardbred Racetracks (where you gamble)
The best salt water fishing you will ever see both off shore and deep sea.
1 gazillion museums including the Smithsonian. I also recommend the Philly Art Museum, Gugenheim in NY.
More cultural crap
1. Longwood gardens in Pa. (just across the border although be prepared to deal with the gazillion Asian (Japanese) tourists
2. Winterthur
3. Hagley Museum the first American Gunpowder factories really cool.
Usual water sports sailing, motor boating (both very cool when you want to cruise and bar hop from May to October )
Jet ski
Kayaking and canoeing both flat water and whitewater.
Road bike and Mountain Bike courses (mountain bike course at Fairhill Md. 10 min. from UD.)
Competitive water skiiing and competitive rowing
Snowmobiling and skiing (poconos)

And most important to this History teacher
4 Revolutionary battle sites
4 War of 1812 battle sites
7 U.S. civil War Battle sites
Civil War Prison
World war II artillery sighting towers
Washington Monument
U.S. Mint (Philly a really good tour)
Site of sigining of the Declaration of Independence
Site of writing of U.S. Constitution
Liberty Bell
Lincoln Monument
Jefferson Monument
U.S Capitol
White House
USNA at Annapolis (beautiful place and city. Definitely go)
USMA at West Point (ditto above)
Warships at Philly dock (Olympia from Spanish Amercian War plus modern ships)

In short UD football has more competition than most. Somehow we seem to put people in the stands.

[Hells Bells]

"We travel 4-5000 fans to ISU (350 miles)". I'm assuming you're talking about 2003; more Montana fans in Pocatello on homecoming, call me a skeptic.

Ronbo, if I'm not mistaken, twenty years ago Montana drew about 8,000. Since the watered down BSC and Montana winning games attendance has shot up.

If the big sky is watered down then why isnt ISU drawing more according to your logc?? Face it, Montana is the class of the Big Sky with the best facilities, a good population base to draw fans from (missoula), and a good program. I am sure that Mt. State and ISU would be drawing as much as the griz if we had been to the playoffs the last umpteen million years xcoffeex