Attendence

[BozoneCat]

What are your guys thoughts about your attendence last night? I gotta say, I was pretty disappointed in Bozeman when we only got ~6,300 people or so for Cat/griz - although the game was played right as a huge snow storm was coming into town. I know that it took me about 5 hours to get back to Missoula the next day, so I figured that maybe the weather kept a few hundred people away.

But it has been gorgeous in Missoula the last couple of days. I couldn't believe when I saw that only 5,400 people came to the game. Not only that, some of the reporters and writers sounded genuinely excited about it! I know the griz aren't having the best of seasons, but you would think that the spectacle of Cat/griz would bring people to the game regardless of their record.

 

[TrueGriz]

Getting over 4,000 fans for the Griz is pretty good. I mean, we can't complain to much. Usually, the actuall attendance is much lower than the official announced attendance. But, yesterday, the game looked like it actually had over 5,400 fans in attendance. That is quite unusual.

But, I think the attendance would have been lower if the Griz didn't win the previous three games. The Griz were hitting rock bottom a couple of weeks ago, and were looking horrible.

But Kennedy did make changes that had a positive affect on the team, and now the team has quite a bit of confidence in themselves for once. This resurgence though may have come to late in the season to spur interest in the Griz, and thus attendence wasn't any larger for this game. But after the Griz - Cat game, there may be larger crowds for next weeks Griz games because of the winning, and much better play.

Except one problem I see for the Griz with attendance is that the Game against Sac St is on a wednesday night and many people who have to work early or go to school, etc. may end up missing it. Plus, the game against NAU is on saturday afternoon at 2:00pm. Not a good time for many people. There may be more excitement for the State High school basketball tournament than the Griz games.

 

[Jimus]

My two cents:

It's easy for a cat fan to point out a 900-person difference in basketball attendence, but neglect to mention that UM normally gets in excess of 10,000 more fans per football game. You tell me what the bigger problem is.

Yeah, the attendence was a low turnout for a Griz/Cat basketball game. I admit that it's a direct reflection on the team's disappointing performance over the course of the year. At least the fans were really into it last night. And don't anyone forget we had over 5,300 for the women's game on Friday. That wasn't too shabby at all. Great wins all around. Overall, it was a very gratifying weekend of basketball.

 

[BozoneCat]

Jimus-

I don't really see how football attendence has anything at all to do with my post, or basketball in general. We all know that the griz average 23,000 for football. So what does that have anything to do with the attendence last night? If anything, it makes the attendence figures look even more pathetic. You bring up the attendence in Bozeman - well, getting more fans in Bozeman in the middle of a blizzard, in a city that is 1/3-1/2 the size of Missoula doesn't say a whole lot about the excitement for grizzly basketball.

I wasn't starting this post to talk smack, otherwise I would have put it in that forum. It was simply a valid question, and I was curious as to what you guys think the reasons are. I was also curious because the griz have drawn at least 6,000 for Cat/griz the last few years, and those teams weren't much better than this year's version.

 

[TrueGriz]

Two Reasons:

1. Griz hit rock bottom two weeks ago and many fans lost interest.
Two wins on the road, and a win over NAIA wasn't enough to draw
many of those fans back, but it did bring some back.

2. Griz-Cat rivalry losing some of it's edge in basketball in Missoula.
I've hear the complaint that the Griz and Bobcat BB teams play
each other too often in a season, and some other complaints. And
maybe both the Griz and Cat's athletic departments equally
responsible for this? It used to be that MSU brought their mascot
over to these basketball games. So, was the Bobcat mascot scared
of showing up in Missoula, or is the MSU athletic department becoming
more football oriented and trying to save expenses by taking it out of
basketball team? At least, the bobcat mascot wasn't at the game
yesterday.

 

[Jimus]

Bozone, you were clearly pouring it on in your post asking why the basketball attendence was so low, so I thought I'd just bring you down to earth. If you weren't in fact trying to rub it in, then you wouldn't have asked the question in the first place. It should be obvious why attendence was down. It's simply because we've had a poor basketball season. And yes, the success of the football team is a big reason people began to lose interest in basketball to begin with. It's as simple as that.

 

[GrizRanger]

Bozone I think the earlier posters hit the nail on the head when they said it is too late in what has been a disappointing season to stir up much excitement to get big crowds at Griz BB games. With that said last nights game was the best attendance and excitement I have seen all season at a Griz BB game. This in-state rivalry can at least stir up a few people to attend a game.

After the watching the dismal Griz performance against EWU a couple of weeks ago I doubted I would attend any more Griz games this year, but the surprising Griz success on the Weber-ISU road trip changed this fans attitude and I was well rewarded in going to the Cat game.

 

[BozoneCat]

Jimus-

You are clearly reading WAY too much into this. I wasn't at all "pouring it on." If I had been, you and everyone else would have known it. I know why the attendence has been low during the rest of the season, but I still wonder why people won't come to a Cat/griz basketball game, even if the griz aren't very good. If it wasn't clear, I was also disappointed that the game didn't sell out in Bozeman. I don't care what the weather is like or what else is going on, a Cat/griz game should always be a tough ticket and a sellout. I would think that people would want to go even more so when the team is down, because the home-court advantage might be the only thing that helps them get a win. Quit being a jerk and try to understand that Cats and grizzlies can, on occasion, have rational discussions without trying to put the other down.

 

[Jimus]

I'm not here to get in an extended shouting match over a topic like attendence. You can call me a jerk all you want, but the point is, if you want any of us to say Bozeman has better fans or are better Montanans because they put more significance in the context of their whole season on the Griz/Cat game, it's not going to happen. Hell, I'd love to get only 5,000 at the Griz/Cat game if it meant getting the same attendence for all other basketball games too. But like I said, UM has fair-weather fans. So does Bozeman. That's why getting 6,300 at a Griz/Cat game during a blizzard when your team has a winning record isn't going to impress me. That's all I have to say on the matter.

 

[twentythreeOh4]

BozoneCat

I agree with your point. This is a rivalry that always used to sell out no matter what the record, in both Bozeman and Missoula. Cat/Griz attendance has been down in both places the past few years.

I think this is a game that UM should start promoting. Give away tickets the week of the game on local radio stations. Try to get more media stories on the rivalry earlier in the week. Work to get more students to the game. If UM was getting 7,000 people to this game, they wouldn't have to advertise, but at 5,400 they need to promote it.