The Bobcat Nation

No conversation over here either....

Honest question: Has basketball interest declined and if so, why? ? We've been mulling it over. Not just a UM or state of Montana or Big Sky question. Waning interest in a lot of places....

Anyways! Montana hosts Montana State on Saturday. Here's a full primer, plus banter about our mid-season All-Big Sky picks and awards.



https://open.spotify.com/episode/3LdFCS ... c3721740ac

Colter,

Yup. Basketball interest has waned. Anecdotal evidence. I’ve seen it by watching the crowds. I’m an early-to-middle of the pack Boomer. I watched in the Fieldhouse from the time it opened until 2010. I told my wife about 1999 that basketball was in trouble — look, everyone is turning gray like we are. When I was in school at MSU, basketball games were perfect date nights. My girlfriend bought me a season ticket for Christmas.

Now the heads are turning from gray to white, and sadly, disappearing. The young people don’t date and students (outside of maybe ‘Cat/Griz) don’t care. And I’ll have to say the Men’s game is less appealing. I’m with John Wooden (and @MSU01) in enjoying the style of play of the Women’s game much better. I’d rather watch Danny Sprinkle or Tom Domako or the Mick & Finney show any day compared to the muscled up brutes (like Weber’s Jones) that rule the game today. Now a league of Robert Ford IIIs I’d watch.

The crowds are aging out. Intramural and rec league players (for the most part) don’t recognize the game their varsity counterparts play. John Wooden was right.

Best regards. B4E

I firmly believe the NBA one and done rule for college severely impacted college basketball and it has trickled down from the elite levels. And now the transfer portal has worsened it. The huge percentage of roster turnover every year makes it tough to feel like you bond with the team as a fan. It’s a random group of guys that you don’t feel like you know anything about. This year’s Bobcats are case-in-point.

And at the NBA level, it has become so much of a “look-at-me” contest, that it has become more side show than main event, with NFL being the main event. Again, trickle down effect. Lose interest at the top, and eventually it’ll affect levels down the road. And I’m talking about the casual fan. Just like bandwagon fans on a winning football team, that’s where you truly get your numbers. The die-hards will continue, the casuals will lose interest.

And then streaming and access to every game either televised or streamed, has absolutely had to hurt attendance, especially since basketball is in the dead of winter. Why travel when I can watch from home and not risk bad roads? So the audience has become diluted.

For me personally, Sprink leaving sucked a lot of air out of my enthusiasm. With the talent we had coming back, we would likely be watching another 25+ win team with a legitimate shot at winning a game in the dance. Logie's a good coach and he's done a remarkable job...but it's hard not to wonder "what could have been."

I'm not sure if interest in basketball has declined overall, but the way that fans interact with the sport has definitely changed. As someone who doesn't live in Bozeman, I attend significantly fewer games in person these days due to the inexpensive access to streaming for every single MSU game. I'm not less interested in basketball than I was before, but two hours of sitting on the couch with a cold beer generally is a more desirable option than taking a whole weekend and spending a few hundred bucks to drive to Bozeman for a game.

As for the relative lack of discussion here, I feel like message boards are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Most of us who post here have been around since the beginning when message boards were a much bigger deal and on demand media coverage wasn't as easily accessible as it is today.

I really appreciate the conversation. It’s interesting (and in some ways depressing) to think about.

I didn’t go to games for a few weeks with the birth of our son. One of my buddies came over to watch on a Thursday night and he asked me a chilling question: “wow, if you can watch every Big Sky game on the stream all at once, why would you ever go to a game again?”

And I thought to myself, it’s a good point in terms of content production and keeping up with the conference from an analysis stand point. But…did we get into journalism to be a tweeter who watches a stream from a couch…?

The times, they are a changin’…

Colter_Nuanez wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 16, 2024 9:42 am

I really appreciate the conversation. It’s interesting (and in some ways depressing) to think about.

I didn’t go to games for a few weeks with the birth of our son. One of my buddies came over to watch on a Thursday night and he asked me a chilling question: “wow, if you can watch every Big Sky game on the stream all at once, why would you ever go to a game again?”

And I thought to myself, it’s a good point in terms of content production and keeping up with the conference from an analysis stand point. But…did we get into journalism to be a tweeter who watches a stream from a couch…?

The times, they are a changin’…

For covering the conference the streaming has probably been a great thing for you. Being able to see players across the conference more than 1 or 2 times helps you develop better story lines and content.

The negative side is watching from the couch or office you can't get the feel of intensity or ebbs and flows of a game like you can Courtside.

Elam ending would help. Today’s game is hard to watch.

Interesting for GFeller to call the Cat/Griz game just another basketball game.

Here is my hot take on why college basketball interest is declining:

First and foremost, the biggest difference between college basketball and college football is that college football is an event, whereas college basketball is a game. By that, I mean the activities around football are such that it brings a multitude of different people out - fans and non-fans. Between the tailgates, flyovers, allowing people on-field access, mid-day kickoff times, etc., college football is a day-long, dare I say, weekend-long event. Even people who don't care for football wanna be there. It's exciting.

On the flip side, the basketball game is just that - a game. No tailgates, no flyovers, etc. to bring the non-fan to the arena. Hence, smaller crowds of only people who truly wanna take in a game. Games are in the winter when it's tougher for out-of-town fans to travel on bad roads. Games are on the weekdays and late in the evening, so again only in-town fans will show. Games are much shorter, so I am not gonna travel from Billings, Great Falls, Helena, Butte only to be there a couple of hours and then have to drive home in the dark on bad roads. Besides the game itself, there is no draw. So, people are gonna go skiing instead. Students are gonna sit at home and play video games or stream the game on ESPN+. The non-interest from students is staggering to me, and something I will never understand. Bozeman is growing, but much of that is from people moving here out of state. There is no interest for them to attend a basketball game, and if you can't draw from your out-of-town fanbase like football does, you will always have small crowds.

It is what it is. I have talked to MSU Athletics and I have talked to my local alumni and booster chapters. Nobody wants to work on increasing interest/attendance because it's too hard, or everyone is too vested already in football. Throw in the transfer portal and how we watched possibly one of the best eras of Bobcat basketball get torn to shreds in a matter of a few days and forget about it. I traveled 3 hours to watch the men take on Rocky Mountain College earlier this year and we lost. To a frickin' NAIA team. That was the worst display of basketball I think I have ever seen from the men. Needless to say, I haven't been back this season.

Sorry for the long rant.....

wapiti wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 16, 2024 12:18 pm

Interesting for GFeller to call the Cat/Griz game just another basketball game.

Goracke said the same thing, but this is his first year as a Cat.

I’m on the younger end (graduated college in 2017). For sure my interest is down this year and I can tell others is as well. The flip side of that coin is that you could really feel the interest building the past 4 years with coach Sprinkle. Winning really does help a lot.

Tons of factors involved for me. Having kids now, means the evening game are hard to attend even living close and $15 a head for general admission hits the budget pretty hard after a couple games.

I ref as well so that both keeps me busy and gives me my hoops fix. Not to mention I tend to follow the Montana players I know and most of them end up at the Frontier level.

Speaking of which, I honestly think that Tech and Carrol students and specifically fellow student athletes do a great job of supporting the basketball teams which bring a lot of energy. Maybe if the msu football team came and filled the student section it would help raise the intensity a bit

To me, there was nothing better than heading over to the Brick for an evening basketball game. I’ve had to move away, but I do miss it. Very happy to be able to watch on ESPN+ but I’d almost never miss going to the live game while we lived there. I’d walk in the doors of the Brick, and always stop a minute. The sounds, the familiar faces, and even the smell of the popcorn made me smile. I’d always get there at least 30 minutes early to watch the teams warm up. Two hours of joyous escape from everything else. The games were an event unto themselves. In the mid-80s the place was packed! People were buying tickets and sitting up in the corners where there were no seats. Noise? Deafening. My wife never liked the gris games for the noise and the crazy intensity. We took it personally when Krysko dropped his shoulder and bulled his way to the basket, rules not withstanding. Weber? Oh, my, the crowd didn’t like them. The band was good. And there was usually some very quality halftime entertainment, especially on Saturday nights. Students packed the north side. Now they don’t. They say they can’t just sit down and watch someone else, they have to be active. And then two hours later they are still in the same corner of the couch, still engrossed in their smart phone. I really miss the enthusiasm that used to put 6,000+ people in there for every home conference game. How exciting.

CNC_Cat wrote: ↑

Fri Feb 16, 2024 11:41 pm

I’m on the younger end (graduated college in 2017). For sure my interest is down this year and I can tell others is as well. The flip side of that coin is that you could really feel the interest building the past 4 years with coach Sprinkle. Winning really does help a lot.

Tons of factors involved for me. Having kids now, means the evening game are hard to attend even living close and $15 a head for general admission hits the budget pretty hard after a couple games.

I ref as well so that both keeps me busy and gives me my hoops fix. Not to mention I tend to follow the Montana players I know and most of them end up at the Frontier level.

Speaking of which, I honestly think that Tech and Carrol students and specifically fellow student athletes do a great job of supporting the basketball teams which bring a lot of energy. Maybe if the msu football team came and filled the student section it would help raise the intensity a bit

Absolutely some of the football team should be at most of the home games. Maybe you divide them up into 2 or 3 groups and send them.. would build on the whole university ownership mentality too.

I don't agree about interest waining but I do agree that sometimes it is easy to get lazy and watch the game on ESPN plus rather than go to the game. I have been very impressed by the size of some of the crowds of the mens' games considering the upheaval our program has gone through with Sprinkle leaving and taking along players and assistants with him.

The women receive a very good steady audience in my opinion.

And no, I don't think college basketball interest in general has declined, at least based on TV games I occasionally watch involving top 25 teams, especially those in the SEC. And speaking of crowds and interest, I enjoyed watching the Iowa women vs. Nebraska last week. THere were lines a mile long just to get into that game which was packed. Everyone was there to see Darian White! Ha, no just kidding, though she did fine. Caitlin Clark is one amazing player and a joy to watch.

Compared to 30 years ago, women's attendance is light years ahead. I remember when the only game they even bothered to roll out the bleachers on the far side was the Cat-griz game. Now our women's team draws better than a lot of men's teams in the Big Sky.

As for the men-it goes up and down. I remember games way back in the olden days when the fieldhouse floor under the court was dirt. The Bobcats were terrible (Jurarez was the coach) and it was empty. Haroldson got it going with JC transfers who could dunk like Arnold McDowell. Starner had it rolling for a few seasons (the Ferch, Domako era), and Durham had his run in the mid-90's with Quadre Lollis, Sprinkle, Holmstadt, Hatler, Leachman, Harrison, et. al. Then it went steadily downhill in Durhams later years, then Huse, then Fish, where even Cat-griz crowds got tiny. Sprinkle brought it a long ways back. Remember those late Big Sky Conference games against Northern Colorado (Battle's last second shot), Sac State or whoever where the place was almost full. This year it's gone down, but Cat-griz was still pretty much a sell out and the Idaho game crowd was really good-but losing that was a big blow. The missing element recently is students. If they were a quarter as enthusiastic as they are at football games that'd be amazing. Maybe copious amounts of cheap alcohol available in the parking lot would help???

Good point about the students’ lack of support in basketball at Montana State. That is certainly not the case on many college campuses around the country.

There's over 2000 students who live on campus. They all get free tickets to every home game (maybe limited for Cat/griz).

I don't understand how we can't capture more students at least on the Thursday night game. I get a Saturday afternoon has work, ski, etc conflicts but if Athletics and Residenc Life worked together they could come up with sone type of incentive to get more students to games.

Even 5% of on campus residents would be a noticable increase.

Dornblaser had lots of empty seats last night. The Brick was nearly sold out.