Bobcat Stadium - Montana State Bobcats

Photos by Aaron S. Terry, Stadium Journey

Stadium Info FANFARE Score: 4.29

Bobcat Stadium 1 Bobcat Circle Bozeman, MT 59717

Montana State Bobcats website

Bobcat Stadium website

Year Opened: 1973

Capacity: 17,777

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In the Shadow of the M

There is only one thing you’re allowed to do on Saturdays in Bozeman, MT, and that’s watch the Montana State Bobcats play football. Having watched their team play in Bobcat Stadium since 1973, the fans are loud, intense, and ready to cheer for their Cats.

The stadium currently has a capacity of 17,777, but that number is regularly expanded with additional temporary seating in the north end zone, as well as standing room only areas. The venue boasts FieldTurf and lighting that allows for night games, but the school is also in the middle of a 20-year athletic facility master plan, which will provide additional enhancements, most notably increased seating at Bobcat Stadium in the future.

Food & Beverage   4

Bobcat Stadium does not have a ton of variety in their main concessions – all the stands on the east and west sides offer the same items, namely bratwurst, hot dogs, pizza, and nachos, along with typical snacks such as popcorn, cookies, peanuts, chips, and candy.

Pepsi is the fountain drink provider here; you can get fountain drinks in three different sizes, as well as bottled water, energy drinks, Gatorade, and coffee or hot cocoa. Prices top out at $14 for a personal-sized pizza and drink, or $11 for the pizza alone, with brats and hot dogs going for $6 or $7 respectively, but also available in combos to save you a few dollars if you also want chips and a drink. Snacks and drinks range from $3 to $6.

What raises the score for this section is that there are a few food trucks and temporary concession stands set up in the northeast corner, which give you a little more variety than the typical items mentioned above.

Atmosphere   5

The fans win the day at Bobcat Stadium, making the atmosphere what it is; I will discuss that later in a bit. In terms of the stadium layout, the student section is behind the south end zone, with the club seating “Touchdown Terrace” behind the north end zone. There is also berm seating in the northwest corner, and there is tailgating as far as the eye can see around the stadium, both before and during the game. There are also party sections within the confines of the stadium itself.

The Bobcat staff plays great music during the game, and there is also the band, dance team, mascot, fan contests, and all the other amenities you have come to expect at a football game.  But what really sets Bobcat Stadium apart is when the team comes onto the field – sure you’ve seen cones of fire spurting up as the team makes their entrance, but have you ever seen the football team led onto the field by not one but SEVEN mounted riders? Each rider holds a lettered banner aloft to spell out the word B-O-B-C-A-T-S, and they are accompanied by a cannon that goes off during every kickoff.

The horses can be seen, and petted, during pregame; they hang out in a field behind the north end of the stadium. Their entrance is truly a sight to behold. Make sure to be paying attention, however, and perhaps have your camera ready, when the big moment comes – the horses only ride around to lead the team onto the field; unfortunately, you will not see them again when the home team scores, which would be amazing, by the way.

Neighborhood   4

Bozeman, Montana has a lot of great things to see and do while you’re in town for a Bobcats game. The Museum of the Rockies is right next to Bobcat Stadium and includes several exhibits on dinosaurs, including some specimens dug up right here in the local area. There are other exhibits inside the museum as well, not to mention an entire third floor taken up by a hands-on exhibit & play area for the kiddos.  The American Computer & Robotics Museum is near the stadium as well, featuring exhibits from the beginning of people-kind all the way to our modern day.

If you are willing to drive about 10 miles to the east, you can also visit the Montana Grizzly Encounter, a Grizzly Bear habitat/education center. The center has 3 bears on premise, who apparently don’t get along, so they are rotated in the outside enclosure throughout the day – if you want to see all three bears, you may want to plan several hours, maybe half a day, for your visit. It is a great experience to see the bears play in the pond, or frolic in their enclosure; the habitat will give you a true look at Montana’s wildlife.

There are also plenty of great restaurants in town, as well as numerous hotels. The hotels tend to be on the pricier side, given the proximity to Yellowstone, so you may want to book in advance. Some of the restaurants also seem to have limited hours, for example Feed Café (amazing breakfast and lunch) is only open until 2 pm, while Red Tractor Pizza doesn’t open until 4 pm.

Fans   5

The fans at Bobcat Stadium are stellar – the first game of the season is called Gold Rush, and the fans turned out in force, with a wall-to-wall sea of gold throughout the stadium. In fact, I have rarely seen a sports venue with so few visiting fans; there is a tiny section of visiting fans on the lower west side, near the 10-yard line, and another tiny section in the upper corner behind the south end zone, no more than a few hundred visiting fans in all. The rest was pure gold.

I was a little nervous when the stands seemed to empty out at halftime, but they ALL came back, so it was just as full at the end of the fourth quarter as it was at the beginning of the first, and the fans were also loud and engaged throughout, especially the student section. Several of the students had their chests painted to show their Bobcat pride, and the student section did their best to will their team to victory, causing enough ruckus to make the visiting team get called for several false starts at key moments in the fourth quarter.

Access   2

Parking is a little difficult for games at Bobcat Stadium; you cannot park close to the facility unless you have a parking pass, and even if you do have a pass, there is very little signage directing you where to go, and the staff may not be able to help you much either. Your best bet is to use the parking map, but even that doesn’t have all the parking areas labeled.

Getting out after the game also takes a long time, as there are several giant parking lots, and each one only has 1-2 entrances, causing lots of delays as everyone tries to exit at once. Fortunately, Bobcat Stadium doesn’t hold that many people right now, but the parking situation may worsen as the school expands the facility, as they plan to, if additional parking is not somehow provided for.

In addition, there seem to be long lines to get into the stadium, even an hour before kickoff, so it would help if the venue had faster processing. Note that there are entrances on the southwest side as well as on the southeast side – the southeast side is where the tailgaters and RVs park, while the students enter on the west/southwest side, behind the press box. That said, if your line is long to get in you might try walking over to the other entrance.

Return on Investment   5

Despite the access issues, I consider seeing a football game at Bobcat Stadium to be a great return on investment. The fan energy and crowd noise alone would make it worthwhile; seeing the mounted riders lead the team onto the field is just icing on the cake.

Tickets in the south end zone start at $30 or $35 for most games, but can rise to $100 for the Gold Rush game; sideline seats start at $60 for the lowest priced games. General admission parking can be found for $20 to $25, although as I mentioned above those lots are not necessarily close to the stadium.

Extras   5

There is a giant ‘M’ on the mountains overlooking the stadium, visible above the west grandstand, although depending on the time of day it can be hard to see, for example if there is any mist or fog in the area; during the middle of the day you should be able to get some very clear pictures of it. There are other schools that boast such letters – BYU has its ‘Y’, Utah has its ‘U’, etc., but this is still a feature you won’t see at many sports facilities.

Bobcat Stadium also boasts an “open air” team gear shop (the walls are lattice and there is no roof, making it easy to look in and see everything they have for sale). Also, if you pay close attention you may see spurts of flame late in the game, done in order to burn off all the gas from the pyrotechnics used when the team comes onto the field; the tanks need to be empty before they cart away the equipment. That was a surprising, and fun, thing to witness during the fourth quarter.

Lastly, I have to give credit to the tailgating scene all around the stadium – you can look out from the top of the east grandstand and see quite a few folks partying all game long, in addition to tailgating being visible beyond the northwest corner, as well as in the traditional tailgating parking lot on the west/southwest side; the tailgating at Bobcat Stadium doesn’t ever appear to stop, even when the game is in full swing.

Final Thoughts

I would definitely recommend a visit to Bozeman for a Bobcats game, even if you need to fly in to see them – Bobcat Stadium and the local are well worth a look.

It would be a good idea to plan ahead on tickets, so you don’t have to buy them on the secondary market, as well as to get better rates on hotels. But even if you have to go in at the last minute and spend a little more, I think you will have a great time.