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Joining the Mountain West would run an $8MM - $9MM annual deficit - can we overcome that?

kemajic said:
Why not? Did it in '14, should've won it, but no running game, gassed from the elevation. A bad weather delay.
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I know you love the Wyo game. But it has no interest to me, especially there. Too far from Missoula. I don’t get off on UM’s FBS games either. I went to UW because my wife and I have many Seattle relatives who are Husky fans. I went to Iowa on team charter. I’d rather attend any home game. I’d rather go watch Dartmouth in Yankee Stadium and Fenway Park and in Hanover.
 
BWahlberg said:
Took a stab at what Montana would need to do to move up, posted it the other day, and already others have pointed out that my numbers on expenses might be low as I ran a scenario of Montana keeping all other sports in the Big Sky, or maybe moving to the Summit or WAC - which might not be possible. For a football only move the costs associated with the move up in terms of travel, salaries, staff, scholarships, and adding 2 or 3 more sports to meet the FBS requirement.

What a move up would hinge on would be:

- Student athletic fees seeing a large increase
- Fans paying more for tickets + more focus on premium pricing
- State financial support financially and also raising the hard cap of $1.5MM in revenue share that UM/MSU are held to
- 2 high dollar road guarantee games per year for the first 5 years (so less home games)
- Some big donor help for the first year hit of nearly $16MM

Link here: Took a look at the costs here and what it might take to join the Mountain West
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Good write-up. Welcome to the new NCAA landscape, you either have the leadership to find new revenue and adapt or get left behind. The only viable option is the MWC, it fits geographically and Olympic sports already play these teams every year so nothing new their.

The new MWC media deal is being reported around 3-4 million/school, does this move the needle, what is UM making with script sports, EPN Plus and the few games their on ESPN2. Is the extra exposure on CBS Sports and FOX Sports worth more in the long run. You here their is not enough football inventory on the west coast, has the BSC explored going to CW network, TNT, ect for better media rights?.

UM has some of the lowest student/athletic fees, in this new revenue structure, most schools are increasing these fees, if you increase the fees 200/year assuming 10K students would get extra 2 million/year - again, adapt or die.

UM has some of the lowest ticket prices, if you want to move up, yes, these will need to increase. Boise State increased there football tickets for the PAC 12 season ranging from 199 to 999 per seat. Yes, fans complained and threatened to leave, they won't. Upgrade/add more seats to WA Griz, someone mentioned that the west side is looking to expand - again, where is the campaign to fund this, seems like AD Dept don't like to publicly announce things. NDSU had a very visible campaign - Climb the Mountain to generate funds to help move up.

Jersey Patches, starting this season, NCAA is allowing 2 jersey patches on uniforms and one patch on equipment to bring in more revenue. What is UM/Big Sky doing, last I heard about 6-8 months ago, commissioner was trying to lump all big sky schools together to get a bigger slice of money. Is this for all three patches? UM has the name recognition to make more money by itself.

Is playing money games that bad, when your limited in funding, another way to bring in more revenue. Idaho played WSU this year, should of beat WSU at got 625K, MSU played Oregon got 680K and still won the FCS. Play regional FBS schools. Is getting paid 625-680K K better or worse than having a home game vs Drake or a D2 team that you will by 30 points.

Additional sponsorships and naming rights are required in this environment. I know the WA Group is/has been a big donor, do they have exclusively, can you additional sponsorships for football or basketball, your seeing more schools have multiple logos on their football fields and basketball courts. How did Idaho get the Idaho Credit Union to pay half of their new basketball arena which is pretty sweet looking. Does UM have the proper people in these positions.

UM endowment reported as of 2024 was 289 Million, can the AD Dept tap into this, a one time loan/gift if invested correctly could set up the athletic dept for years.

Its being reported that you want to position yourself now so that in 2031 when new media right contracts come up for renewal you don't get left behind. SAC St, NDSU went FBS, UC Davis will move up to MWC in a few years, Tarleton State and South/North Dakota are pursuing a move up. What happens if these schools move up and UM doesn't.
 
MontanaGrizSoccer said:
Good write-up. Welcome to the new NCAA landscape, you either have the leadership to find new revenue and adapt or get left behind. The only viable option is the MWC, it fits geographically and Olympic sports already play these teams every year so nothing new their.

The new MWC media deal is being reported around 3-4 million/school, does this move the needle, what is UM making with script sports, EPN Plus and the few games their on ESPN2. Is the extra exposure on CBS Sports and FOX Sports worth more in the long run. You here their is not enough football inventory on the west coast, has the BSC explored going to CW network, TNT, ect for better media rights?.

UM has some of the lowest student/athletic fees, in this new revenue structure, most schools are increasing these fees, if you increase the fees 200/year assuming 10K students would get extra 2 million/year - again, adapt or die.

UM has some of the lowest ticket prices, if you want to move up, yes, these will need to increase. Boise State increased there football tickets for the PAC 12 season ranging from 199 to 999 per seat. Yes, fans complained and threatened to leave, they won't. Upgrade/add more seats to WA Griz, someone mentioned that the west side is looking to expand - again, where is the campaign to fund this, seems like AD Dept don't like to publicly announce things. NDSU had a very visible campaign - Climb the Mountain to generate funds to help move up.

Jersey Patches, starting this season, NCAA is allowing 2 jersey patches on uniforms and one patch on equipment to bring in more revenue. What is UM/Big Sky doing, last I heard about 6-8 months ago, commissioner was trying to lump all big sky schools together to get a bigger slice of money. Is this for all three patches? UM has the name recognition to make more money by itself.

Is playing money games that bad, when your limited in funding, another way to bring in more revenue. Idaho played WSU this year, should of beat WSU at got 625K, MSU played Oregon got 680K and still won the FCS. Play regional FBS schools. Is getting paid 625-680K K better or worse than having a home game vs Drake or a D2 team that you will by 30 points.

Additional sponsorships and naming rights are required in this environment. I know the WA Group is/has been a big donor, do they have exclusively, can you additional sponsorships for football or basketball, your seeing more schools have multiple logos on their football fields and basketball courts. How did Idaho get the Idaho Credit Union to pay half of their new basketball arena which is pretty sweet looking. Does UM have the proper people in these positions.

UM endowment reported as of 2024 was 289 Million, can the AD Dept tap into this, a one time loan/gift if invested correctly could set up the athletic dept for years.

Its being reported that you want to position yourself now so that in 2031 when new media right contracts come up for renewal you don't get left behind. SAC St, NDSU went FBS, UC Davis will move up to MWC in a few years, Tarleton State and South/North Dakota are pursuing a move up. What happens if these schools move up and UM doesn't.
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I think the bold is worth exploring. I know people will push back on the idea of selling space on uniforms, but I love the idea of telling the BSC to shove it because we can make more on our own. No, I'm not talking Town Pump patches. Instead of Lucky Lil's, see if DraftKings wants to sponsor a CFB team. We could really break some new ground in CFB and create a new revenue stream if we play it well. Maybe

Look at EPL jerseys for shit's sake. Etihad contributes 80 million pounds per year to Manchester City. Of course, that partnership goes well beyond jersey graphics and it's the freaking EPL, but you get the idea. Did fans throw a fit when UM started putting swooshes on uniforms? Doubt it. If it's become a business, and we don't have the money to do what we want to do, maybe start treating it like a business.
 
CDAGRIZ said:
I think the bold is worth exploring. I know people will push back on the idea of selling space on uniforms, but I love the idea of telling the BSC to shove it because we can make more on our own. No, I'm not talking Town Pump patches. Instead of Lucky Lil's, see if DraftKings wants to sponsor a CFB team. We could really break some new ground in CFB and create a new revenue stream if we play it well. Maybe

Look at EPL jerseys for shit's sake. Etihad contributes 80 million pounds per year to Manchester City. Of course, that partnership goes well beyond jersey graphics and it's the freaking EPL, but you get the idea. Did fans throw a fit when UM started putting swooshes on uniforms? Doubt it. If it's become a business, and we don't have the money to do what we want to do, maybe start treating it like a business.
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I have heard that as well that certain folks don't want patches on the Griz uniforms - Again adapt or die, its another way to generate revenue, all your competitors will have them.
 
kemajic said:
You would need to show some data to convince me of this.
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Wyoming and Air Force’s tickets are a lot less expensive. The MWC which UM is trying to join has less expensive tickets than the Griz on average. We aren’t comparing to the Big 12.
 
MontanaGrizSoccer said:
I have heard that as well that certain folks don't want patches on the Griz uniforms - Again adapt or die, its another way to generate revenue, all your competitors will have them.
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If you don't look before you leap or jump off a cliff, you die alot more quickly. Adapting is what UM has been doing for years. Going to FBS isn't "adapting". It's going in a whole new directions with lots of big risks.
 
5280Griz said:
Wyoming and Air Force’s tickets are a lot less expensive. The MWC which UM is trying to join has less expensive tickets than the Griz on average. We aren’t comparing to the Big 12.
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Yes and those programs are terrible. Compare them to current MWC or teams coming into the conference
 
indiancoyote said:
Actually they wouldn't and would probably come down. The TV deal UM has is basically nothing. Tickets sales are nearly completely funding the program.
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I’m sure they will figure out what to correctly price the tickets. Better competition will increase demand which will increase the price unless the supply and capacity of the stadium is increased to offset the increased demand.
 
5280Griz said:
I’m sure they will figure out what to correctly price the tickets. Better competition will increase demand which will increase the price unless the supply and capacity of the stadium is increased to offset the increased demand.
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Higher TV revenue would replace increased ticket prices.
 
indiancoyote said:
Higher TV revenue would replace increased ticket prices.
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That would be stupid to leave money on the table. Higher tv revenue and increased ticket prices with the extra money being put back into the program for facilities and NIL is the way to go.
 
What really get me going is that we and the scats only get something like 10k for the brawl for media deal. That is insane!!! How much do you think we could sell that game alone to a media partner for national audience. Right now it is just local or regional. The montana schools are doing all the heavy lifting for the big sky and we get shit on every year. Now the big sky says that ESPN has to have a game other then the montana schools. No one gives 2 shits about the other schools in conference. Just look at their attendance. If it wasn't for the montana schools the big sky would be equal to the Southland or the patriot conferences.
 
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