Whether you ere you a die hard Griz fan wanting to expand on your game day experience, a new fan or a visiting fan, this guide will tell you everything you need to know to have the best time at Montana’s greatest event, a Grizzly Football game.
Thanks to egriz member grizfan95 for putting this guide together. To follow updates and the discussion around this topic, read the discussion here
Tickets
Tickets can be purchased through the following avenues:
1. eGriz has a forum for tickets. Post in here asking for tickets or look to see if someone has already posted available tickets:
3. GoGriz.com/AdamsCenter/UM Ticket Office: Individual tickets are available mid to late July. Visit https://www.umt.edu/griztix/events-tick … office.php for more info or call (406) 243-4051
4. Scalp. There is always a surplus of people trying to sell their tickets at the game and unless it’s a really big one (NDSU/App State/Cat-Griz level) you should easily be able to get tickets.
***For visiting fans: most visiting fans are usually located in the north portion of the west stands or the south endzone. If you want a milder experience, the south endzone is it. There is not a bad seat in the house, but the loudest and most passionate part of the stadium is in the north endzone.
Hotels
There are a number of hotels throughout town, but they fill up quickly (months in advance usually).
Highly recommend something downtown or on Broadway Street (the portion east of Russell Street) so that you can hit up the downtown restaurants, breweries, and bars on foot and walk to the game.
Bars
1. Press Box: an absolute must on game day, either before or after the game. It is located a 5-minute walk from the stadium across the footbridge.
2. Reds and the Mo Club: two sports bars in downtown Missoula separated by less than a block. They are packed with Griz memorabilia. Wear your gear too (if you’re an opposing fan, you shouldn’t have to buy a drink at these places if Griz fans do you right). The Mo Club is famous for its greasy “Mo Club Burger.”
3. There are dozens of others that vary in degree of niceness and style for food, drink and atmosphere but the three listed in items 1 and 2 are must-stops for a Griz game.
4. There are also a number of breweries in Missoula that should be checked out as well. Kettlehouse and Tamarack are great first stops and the Tamarack has a good selection of food to go along with craft beer.
Restaurants
A simple Google search will show you a number of restaurants in downtown Missoula that are pretty difficult to go wrong by. However, Lolo Steakhouse just outside of Missoula is excellent if you want to try to have a Montana experience not downtown.
Montana Experiences
1. If you have the time, go to Glacier National Park in the early part of the football season (2.5 hour drive each way) and do the Going to the Sun drive. You will never forget it for the rest of your life.
2. Connect with a guide (if needed) and do some fly fishing.
3. Hike the “M” on Mount Sentinel, whose trailhead is a couple hundred yards from the football stadium, where you can overlook all of the Missoula valley. It’s a 3/4 mile walk/hike. Best done during the morning or late evening.
4. If you have kids, downtown Missoula has a nice carousel.
Game Day Musts
1. Walk across the footbridge towards the tailgate area to get to the game, it’s a unique sight for college football. If downtown, walk along the Clark Fork river path and it will lead you to the footbridge.
***A number of bars and restaurants, Mo Club and Reds come to mind, offer shuttles to and from the game.
2. Get to the tailgating area 1.5-2 hours before kickoff. Grizzly tailgating is something that shouldn’t be missed and if you walk around there are plenty of people who would be happy to bring you into their tailgate. While walking through the tailgates, be sure to do a full loop around the whole stadium as each tailgating section has their own styles. Also in doing so, check out the Champions Center on the south portion of the stadium, which is set to be complete by September/October 2017.
3. A couple of hours before kickoff, the football team does a Griz walk as they head to the locker room. If you’ve never done it, it would be worth seeing once.
4. When you get to the Champions Center on the south portion of the stadium, a couple hundred yards south of that is the University Center (the student union building) where the UC Bookstore can be found. Inside is all the Griz gear (hats, shirts, jackets, jerseys, memorabilia, etc.) a fan needs.
*Additionally, there is another Griz store located downtown, called the M Store, which is a nice supplement to the UC Bookstore.
5. If you’re at the UC, go just 100 yards southwest of that and you’ll find yourself on the oval (one of the most picturesque parts of campus that contains a bronze grizzly statue. There’s a reason UM’s campus has historically been rated as one of the most scenic in the nation. Also, around Halloween, an anonymous student will climb and place a pumpkin on the top spire of Main Hall.
6. While walking around the stadium or attending the Griz walk, check out our athletic hall of fame. There are two entrances but the easiest is just to the south of the Adams Center (basketball arena) entrance. If you simply ask someone they will point you in the right direction.
In it, you will see prior team and individual trophies/awards, pictures of inducted teams/players, newspaper clips, and jerseys of some of our athletes that went professional. There is also a pretty nice exhibit from when Monte won National Mascot of Year.
7. Head to your seats 30 minutes before kickoff. Lines can be congested and there is some pre-game stuff that starts 20 minutes before kickoff (there have been skydivers, fly overs, fireworks, etc., in the past) that you won’t want to miss.
