Game Masters: Staffers
boost stadium experience

Grizzly football at Washington Grizzly stadium has been called the greatest show in Montana by USA Today and Sports Illustrated. It’s an intoxicating mix of bone-jarring action, acrobatic cheerleaders, precise parachutists, big-screen videos, timely music, a booming cannon and one memorable mascot.

But who are the brains that orchestrate this adrenaline-filled experience?

With football fever in sight, UM’s athletics marketing department is working hard to ensure Griz fans have an enjoyable game experience. Christie Anderson, UM’s sports marketing and promotions director, said she watches e-Griz, a Griz fan blog on the Internet, to see what fans have to say. She said many of their opinions are taken into consideration when planning events for upcoming Griz games.

For the 2005 Griz football season, many new elements and surprises are being scheduled. For instance, during the Saturday, Sept. 3, game against Ft. Lewis College, the 1995 National Champion Griz football team will be honored during a halftime reunion.

Then, on Saturday, Sept. 17, when the Griz face South Dakota State, Benny the Bull — the mascot of the NBA’s Chicago Bulls — will appear in all his red-suited glory. The man powering Benny, Barry Anderson, once animated the suit of UM’s award-winning mascot, Monte.

“We really want to make halftime a bigger event,” Anderson said. “We want to help pump-up the team for the end of the game too, not just the beginning.”

She said the football games haven’t always been so fan-driven. They became more crowd-oriented with the combination of the Griz football team winning UM’s first-ever national championship and then later the installation of Griz Vision, perhaps the biggest TV screen in Western Montana, which once graced Times Square.

As a department, they were ready to provide the entertainment value, it was just a matter of timing to unleash the crowd-oriented activities, said Greg Sundberg, assistant director of the Grizzly Scholarship Association and former marketing and promotions director of UM’s Intercollegiate Athletics.

To keep the game’s activities running smoothly, a protocol, designed the week of the game, is used to stay organized. Changes can be made to the list, however, depending on different scenarios, such as how the football team is doing and media time-outs for commercial breaks. Even though a down-to-the-minute protocol is used, improvisation with the crowd is just as crucial to maintain excitement.

“It’s a balance between the script and improv,” Anderson said. “We don’t want it to be too scripted.”

Twenty-five percent of the entertainment at the football games is improvisation, Sundberg said, whether through Monte, a switch in what to show on Griz Vision or even what music is selected to play at what time.

“It’s all about the crowd momentum,” Sundberg said. “One thing we don’t want to do is put down that momentum, we want to just give it a boost and amplify it.”

Game production staffers radio back-and-forth during the game. The “caller” is on the field, making decisions on what to play for music or show on Griz Vision. The video, sound and public announcer is in the stadium press box, but the video personnel for Griz Vision are based outside the football arena in an Adams Center control room.

“Griz Vision is all run by students,” Sundberg said. Usually, three to four camera guys are on the field, and two to three students are in the Adams Center with a radio for directions, video screens and a clock. They have no way of knowing what is unfolding in the game without their radio directions.

Another popular fan-aspect to the games is Monte the bear, UM’s national champion mascot. He receives a protocol script, but Anderson said, he’s “all improv and hard to control because of that.” To make sure he stays out of trouble, “which bears so easily get into,” he is assigned one intern for each half of the football game to help keep him on track.

Aside from his dancing, kid-holding and running into poles, Monte appears in skits on Griz Vision, which are planned the summer before the season begins. Putting together the skits is a collaborative effort, and many ideas for them come from the fans themselves.

“We’ve got a good thing going at Washington-Grizzly Stadium,” Sundberg said. “I hope our fans never take for granted what we have.”

It’s a lot of organization, timing and mad dashes, that makes a football game at Washington-Grizzly stadium so energetic.

“When it all comes together and the clock hits zero,” Anderson said before breathing out a massive sigh, “we realize we did it.”

— By Brianne Burrowes