There has been talk about the suitability of Montana for the WAC. Well half the fans would be on board, the other half are afraid of going through a couple losing seasons. Over the past 11 seasons the Griz are 122 wins and 25 loses. The fans have become spoiled. Regarding the idea that Montana/Montana State are joined at the hip. I've heard that there would be no problem moving on if the U of M wanted to. In fact having just one 1A football program in the state would be best. Look at Nebraska and Wisconsin. The whole state becomes a fan base.

We averaged 23,350 in 2003. We have 17,000 season ticket holders at $180 a ticket, with 3000 more on a waiting list. To sit between the 20's there is a $500 (I'm not a member, so I'm estimating, it might be more) fee per two seats for GSA membership which makes those seats $430 a season. We could possibly average 28,000 if the stadium were expanded again.



Here's a view from above.

bigskygriz Wrote:There has been talk about the suitability of Montana for the WAC. Well half the fans would be on board, the other half are afriad of going through a couple losing seasons. Over the past 11 seasons the Griz are 122 wins and 25 loses. The fans have become spoiled. Regarding that Montana/Montana State are joined at the hip. I've heard that there would be no problem moving on if the U of M wanted to. In fact having just one 1A football program in the state would be best. Look at Nebraska and Wisconsin. The whole state becomes a fan base.

We averaged 23,350 in 2003. We have 17,000 season ticket holders at $180 a ticket, with 3000 more on a waiting list. To sit between the 20's there is a $500 (I'm not a member, so I'm estimating, it might be more) fee per two seats for GSA membership which makes those seats $430 a season. We could possibly average 28,000 if the stadium were expanded again.

I believe you.


17,000 season ticket holders....Wow! That is more than the Broncos. I think the Broncos are shooting for that number this year.

I have no doubt that Montana could be very competitive in the WAC. I sure would like to see the Griz back in Bronco Stadium!!!!

Basically, you guys are a 1A program with 1A support and practically a 1A facility (certainly high enough quality, just smallish)... that plays in 1AA.

There's something special about that, I guess. Just like with Delaware. But I think you could make the jump pretty successfuly and be a good fit in the WAC.

I love Montana's Stadium. But are they willing to take the leap and go I-A, from my talks to ppl is no. Not yet anyway. If something were to happen in the Big Sky or this new conf out west weakens I-AA even more maybe. But buckle your seatbelts, just as I said LA Tech would not get in C-USA Im predicting just the oppisite for Idaho with a close vote.

Factoid: Montana was Marshall's last I-AA game in 1996.

And that staduim gets as loud as any staduim. When Idaho played there last season, after the game the head coach said that they have a harder time with the noise than in Huskie staduim the week before. Also, Tony Moss, the 1-AA writer for the Sports Network, picked Washington-Grizzly Staduim as the best atmosphere in 1-AA football.

The Sam Houston State Coach that was an Assistant in the Big 12 said that Washington/Griz was every bit as hard to hear the signals as a game at Texas or Texas A&M.

bigskygriz Wrote:The Sam Houston State Coach that was an Assistant in the Big 12 said that Washington/Griz was every bit as hard to hear the signals as a game at Texas or Texas A&M.

I did a (decidedly not very scientific) study of why Wash-Griz is so loud a while back, and what I found to be crucial are these facts:

1. There is no track around the field, and the stands are very tight to the sidelines.
2. The intensity of sound diminishes with the square of the distance to the listener.

I put together a spreadsheet comparing the sound characteristics of Washington's Husky Stadium and Montana's Washington-Grizzly Stadium, and found that, assuming the same level of sound from each fan, the stadia are comparable in terms of sound intensity at the center of the field.

...and this was before Wash-Griz was expanded another 4,000 seats!

No, I'm not an acoustic engineer, so take my conclusion with a lick of salt.

I have the spreadsheet if anyone wants to look at it. Admittedly, I assumed a lot and made a lot of educated (?) guesses, but it was interesting, even shocking, to me when I got to the conclusion.

I haven't been to a lot of other stadia for comparison, but Wash-Griz is very loud. Great fun on fall afternoons, for sure.

...oh, yeah--I-A? Not yet. It's moot at this point, anyway, with Montana's athletic department in the midst of a study by a commission looking for someone to blame for a near $1 mill shortfall--hardly the atmosphere for expanding the program to the I-A level, with its attendant increases in costs (initial, at the very least).

Oh yeah, thats a good point. Not many of you know this, but the Athletic Dep. is a million bucks in debt :(
Something to do with bad accounting or something, but yeah, its bad. We lost a great Athletic Director because of it, ticket prices have gone up, and good bye charter flights - hello buses!! :bang:

I remember going to the last Bronco/Griz football game back in 1995. That game set an attendence record to date and I remember being impressed with how much noise the 18,000 fans made that day. I can only imagine how much louder that stadium is now with 4,000 more seats.

I'd love to see Montana jump up to the WAC and start playing BSU again. It was great rivalry. :bluethumb:

I think that debt will be cleared in one year. They raised the tickets this year, added a 7th home game, and the farthest they travel this season is Sam Houston State. Let's see, the extra game will be $500,000 and 1 plane trip and overnight. We'll not only clear the debt this year, we'll turn a nifty profit.

Hey, Tahoe. We hold 5,350 more now than 18,000. Also since the last time you saw us we have gone back to our schools original colors, Maroon and Silver. Back in the 60's then coach Jack Swarthout brought the Texas Orange to Montana. In 1996 we went back to the schools orginal colors.

bigskygriz Wrote:I think that debt will be cleared in one year. They raised the tickets this year, added a 7th home game, and the farthest they travel this season is Portland State. They could bus that if they had to. Let's see, the extra game will be $500,000 and no plane trips or overnights. We'll not only clear the debt this year, we'll turn a nifty profit.

Hey, Tahoe. We hold 5,350 more now than 18,000. Also since the last time you saw us we have gone back to our schools original colors, Maroon and Silver. Back in the 60's then coach Jack Swarthout brought the Texas Orange to Montana. In 1996 we went back to the schools orginal colors.

I gotta admit, I like the new colors of your uniforms better than the ones you wore when played each other.

Has anyone ever measured the true noise level your fans make when their at their loudest?

When the crowds really in to it, (which is most of the time,) you cant even hear yourself think!!

I saw the decible level in a article once but I can't remember the exact number. They also had Washington's Husky Stadium listed as a comparison. They were just a little louder than us in decible level, but it wasn't much. But they have 70,000 fans so that is pretty amazing.

bigskygriz Wrote:I saw the decible level in a article once but I can't remember the exact number. They also had Washington's Husky Stadium listed as a comparison. They were just a little louder than us in decible level, but it wasn't much. But they have 70,000 fans so that is pretty amazing.

I can say it is diffenently a "Big Noise" venue! The noise your crowd creates is a huge factor in home win/loss statistics.

TahoeBronco Wrote:

bigskygriz Wrote:I saw the decible level in a article once but I can't remember the exact number. They also had Washington's Husky Stadium listed as a comparison. They were just a little louder than us in decible level, but it wasn't much. But they have 70,000 fans so that is pretty amazing.

I can say it is diffenently a "Big Noise" venue! The noise your crowd creates is a huge factor in home win/loss statistics.

In the playoff game last year against Western Illinois (which the Griz somehow managed to lose in double overtime), Western Illinois' offense got no less than eight false start penalties directly because of the noise level in Wash-Griz. I was there, and counted 'em (in that small set of neurons still firing amidst the din).