Northern Iowa...

[Spanky]

Highline....I agree with your post in general. However, there are many more potential corporate sponsers statewide and elsewhere than just Missoula. Our problem currently is lack of leadership to develop a long term plan for our athletic program.

 

[BDizzle]

As far as your list....Missoula and Corvallis are pretty similar places, same with Eugene. Eugene's like a bigger Missoula. Spokane is bigger than Missoula, but I'd hardly say it's more "successful". It's kind of a dump. Billings is a faceless dump for that matter too.


Your list is pretty random though. I don't know exactly your point. Your towns run the gamut from smallish cities to metropoli.

And I must've missed the part where it was determined that all 26000 fans each week come only from Missoula.

Kind of tough on Billings aren't you. They have a ton of beatiful box stores, chain restaurants, and the amazing Rimrock Mall. Don't forget three oil refineries, a gorgeous sugar beat processing plant and railroad tracks that run right through the middle of town. How much more do you want? Brown town is amazing you heartless bastard.

Your forgetting the wafting bouquet of the stockyard...

All I hear, see, and smell is money. And I'm a fan of that.

 

[Copper Griz]

Don't forget three oil refineries,

Two that I am aware of. The output of which is far more useful than any in Missoula since the left shut down the forest products industry.

Thank you for catching that. One is in Laurel - 15 minutes away and the way Billings is growing, Laurel is essentially going to be a suburb of Billings (if it is not already considered so). I am not arguing economic growth is a bad thing. You lept to that conclusion on your own. Culturally, Billings is behind Missoula in my humble opinion. Additionally - Missoula and Bozo have done a much better job of having zoning criteria and a cohesive brand/style required for their growth and development. Billings is laregely unchecked and looks like sh$t. Debate away. You posted three times in a row - so I am sure you have something valuable to say.

 

[br fan]

If you're looking at size, the statistics can be misleading. The Missoula "metropolitan area" is technically about 110,000, while the Billings metropolitan area is around 160,000. But the Missoula metropolitan area only includes Missoula County, while the Billings metropolitan area includes Yellowstone and Carbon counties. If you include the counties of Ravalli and Lake that Missoula serves, which are similar in distance from Missoula as the those areas covered by the Billings metropolitan area, Missoula is about 200,000 people within about 50 miles.

 

[CentralMontanan]

Boise, while not a "Tech Superpower" still HQs Micron and HP, both of which give plenty of money to Boise State and its athletic programs. Boise's also much more business friendly and is doing a good job of attracting fleeing California companies (including Tech) into the area. Boise State has had some great coaches that have built that program, but it wouldn't be near where it's at without the corporate $upport it has recieved. Much like Montana wouldn't be the program it is without Dennis's money or all the other corporate sponsors that spend money for those big "annoying" ads in the stadium. Unfortunatly, the list of available corporate donors in Missoula is much shorter than a lot of cities. Makes it difficult to invest in large expenditures that are needed to move up when you have to rely on public funds from a state with a small economy.

HP is based in Palo Alto.

 

[CentralMontanan]

Wow, I guess I haven't seen the tech manufacturers you have seen because any publicly traded company that has consistently held revenue at $2 billion a year for the last three years, has made $8.5 billion in international acquisitions in the last 3 years, and employs over 25,000 people worldwide would be considered big for Montana. This is rather large for manufacturing. If there is another publicly traded company that comes close to these numbers that is based in MT (or our good neighbors in Wyoming or North Dakota) the way Micron is based in Idaho, please let me know.

I never made any claim about a bigger company in Montana. I was just pointing out that Boise wasn't the "tech powerhouse" that someone erroneously claimed.

 

[CentralMontanan]

Kind of tough on Billings aren't you. They have a ton of beatiful box stores, chain restaurants, and the amazing Rimrock Mall. Don't forget three oil refineries, a gorgeous sugar beat processing plant and railroad tracks that run right through the middle of town. How much more do you want? Brown town is amazing you heartless bastard.

It's a veritable Shangri La. The best part about it is the people go apeshyt over the new box stores as if it validates them being a "big time" city or something.

It's a joke. There's some great places to eat there, and a fun bar or two, but that's about all that can be said for the Tragic City.

 

[indian-outlaw]

Don't forget three oil refineries,

Two that I am aware of. The output of which is far more useful than any in Missoula since the left shut down the forest products industry.

There should be a hunting season on real estate developers. If you guys had it your way Montana would be just another California.

 

[BDizzle]

Kind of tough on Billings aren't you. They have a ton of beatiful box stores, chain restaurants, and the amazing Rimrock Mall. Don't forget three oil refineries, a gorgeous sugar beat processing plant and railroad tracks that run right through the middle of town. How much more do you want? Brown town is amazing you heartless bastard.

It's a veritable Shangri La. The best part about it is the people go apeshyt over the new box stores as if it validates them being a "big time" city or something.

It's a joke. There's some great places to eat there, and a fun bar or two, but that's about all that can be said for the Tragic City.

Downtown is very nice. Billings is a great place if people get out and actually experience it.

 

[CentralMontanan]

Downtown is very nice. Billings is a great place if people get out and actually experience it.

I lived there for around 20 years. I know all about "experiencing" it.

Billings is well, Billings. Downtown is livelier than it was, but it's still just Billings. Definitely not the greatest spot in the world...but not really the worst. (You could be in North Dakota after all)

And what I wouldn't kill right now for a CJ's Brisket sandwich.

 

[84GRIZ]

Kind of tough on Billings aren't you. They have a ton of beatiful box stores, chain restaurants, and the amazing Rimrock Mall. Don't forget three oil refineries, a gorgeous sugar beat processing plant and railroad tracks that run right through the middle of town. How much more do you want? Brown town is amazing you heartless bastard.

It's a veritable Shangri La. The best part about it is the people go apeshyt over the new box stores as if it validates them being a "big time" city or something.

It's a joke. There's some great places to eat there, and a fun bar or two, but that's about all that can be said for the Tragic City.

Downtown is very nice. Billings is a great place if people get out and actually experience it.

Basically Billings is getting better and better as more money comes into the local area. In the downtown area alone you have 3 new micro breweries and a new whiskey distillary joint that have opened in the last six months alone. And you want to make fun of our box stores? Have you driven down Reserve Street lately, what a cluster f***. The only store that I am waiting to go apeshyt over here in Billings is the new Scheels store they are building on the west end. It is going to be almost double the size of the Cabela's store that we already have.

 

[AllWeatherFan]

Interesting. Why do people who live in Billings feel the need to trash Missoula? I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to live in Billings if you want to do that. As for me, I will never move to Billings from Missoula, but I don't feel any compelling need to talk badly about Billings. It's a free country - live where you want.

 

[CentralMontanan]

Basically Billings is getting better and better as more money comes into the local area. In the downtown area alone you have 3 new micro breweries and a new whiskey distillary joint that have opened in the last six months alone. And you want to make fun of our box stores? Have you driven down Reserve Street lately, what a cluster f***. The only store that I am waiting to go apeshyt over here in Billings is the new Scheels store they are building on the west end. It is going to be almost double the size of the Cabela's store that we already have.

I don't live in Missoula.

Reserve Street looks like something out of the West End.

Billings is still a bore.

 

[84GRIZ]

Interesting. Why do people who live in Billings feel the need to trash Missoula? I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to live in Billings if you want to do that. As for me, I will never move to Billings from Missoula, but I don't feel any compelling need to talk badly about Billings. It's a free country - live where you want.

Well if saying that Reserve Street is a mess is trashing Missoula then I guess I did. I love Missoula. Just kind of get tired of people trashing Billings all the time.

 

[BDizzle]

Interesting. Why do people who live in Billings feel the need to trash Missoula? I'm sure there are plenty of good reasons to live in Billings if you want to do that. As for me, I will never move to Billings from Missoula, but I don't feel any compelling need to talk badly about Billings. It's a free country - live where you want.

I'm pretty sure people were trashing Billings in this thread. I don't see a whole lot of trashing of Missoula besides saying Reserve is a cluster and the job market isn't great. Which is true.

But I'm happy you feel that way. I have lived in Billings, Missoula, and Bozeman. I like and dislike things about all three. I make money off of oil now so I like living in Billings.

 

[bozely]

Billings is a cesspool, it can have all the jobs it wants. The fact is that the crime rate there has skyrocketed in the past couple years, making it one of the least safe places in Montana to live. Screw Billings, lived there once, never again.

 

[BDizzle]

Billings is a cesspool, it can have all the jobs it wants. The fact is that the crime rate there has skyrocketed in the past couple years, making it one of the least safe places in Montana to live. Screw Billings, lived there once, never again.

Somebody steal your lunch money?

 

[AllWeatherFan]

Well if saying that Reserve Street is a mess is trashing Missoula then I guess I did. I love Missoula. Just kind of get tired of people trashing Billings all the time.

No worries - I wasn't really referring specifically to your post. And I agree, no reason to trash Billings. I know people who live there and love it. Hell, I know people who love Miles City!

 

[cclarkblues]

Billings is a great town because I live here. So KMA.

 

[br fan]

UNI, Liberty and James Madison and every other FCS school are not going anywhere.

Conference realignment at the FBS is pretty much done with the new ACC media contracts. The ACC owns all the tv rights for all the schools for 15 years. Which means that if a schools leaves, the ACC can make it so that the schools' teams are not on tv.

And a cap has been put on how much money the "other" FBS conferences get. So why would these conferences add schools to shirnk their piece of the pie.

Read in the paper this morning that the non-automatic bid conferences (Sun Belt, MAC, Mountain West etc.) will be receiving 5 times the money under the new College Football Playoff system than they did under the BCS