MISSOULA — Griz football is set to kick off on Sept. 5 here in Missoula for their first game of the season. However, with COVID-19, the season -- and fan limitations -- are still up in the air.
Leagues around the county like the NBA and MLB are rebooting while the NFL and NCAA attempt to set up a safe football season. However, a football season may still not happen, so what does that look like financially for the University of Montana and the city of Missoula?
The KPAX sports team took a deeper look and talked to university officials and downtown businesses to see how much would be lost.
Attendance, half attendance -- we're probably in the $2 million-$3 million [range] you're off and then the situation where there's a canceled fall, you obviously don't have a lot of expenses," explained University of Montana Athletics Chief Financial Officer Ryan Martin. "You don't travel to Missouri State, we don't go down to Northern Arizona. So you're not as bad as the football without fans, but you're in that $5 million range where are you are going to lose if you don't have any fall sports."
We’ll have a full story covering the financials of the UM football team and more coming up tonight on the Thursday 5:30 News with Jill Valley.
