Time for a hard truth: Boise is not a football town. If it were, the sixth-ranked Boise State football team with its Heisman Trophy candidate would be selling out games at 33,500-seat Bronco Stadium.
If it were, the ticket department would not have to resort to a buy-three, get-one-free "Tick-et Treat" offer to lure people to the San Jose State game.
If it were, there wouldn't have been large pockets of empty seats for games against Miami (Ohio) and UC Davis.
wrote Idaho Statesman Sports columnist Brian Murphy in a column early last October.
"If it were, tickets would not remain for every home game on the schedule, including rival Idaho," he wrote at the time.
Murphy agrued that you can't blame the recession, high ticket prices, bad opponents, or cold weather.
You don't have to start spouting reasons why you're not going.
"Obviously, we wish we'd sell out all our games," coach Chris Petersen said. "You'd love it to be packed."
Boise State added 1,500 bleachers to the south end zone this year, but rarely sells out the stadium.
Murphy asked what will happens if and when the school expands the stadium further.
Sure, ticket prices might drop a bit (don't hold your breath), but are another 5,000 or 10,000 people going to show up for a game against 1-5 San Jose State?
They show up in Lincoln, Neb., and Norman, Okla., just to name a few cities of similar or smaller sizes where the home team is often favored by three or four touchdowns and the weather is often brutal and the tickets aren't cheap.
Those are football towns, where kids are raised in Cornhusker cribs and old men are laid to rest in Sooner caskets. Where the waiting list to purchase season tickets is long - and getting longer.
But if Boise, with its top five ranking, Heisman candidate quarterback, frequent ESPN coverage, and recent winning record that is the envy of virtually every program in college footbnall - is not a football town - then what is it?
According to Murphy, Boise is an event town. The Oregon game was an event. The Rolling Stones at the Idaho Center was an event. The 2007 Fiesta Bowl was an event.
Boise State-San Jose State? Not an event.
No, just a Saturday day game with great football weather, a Heisman Trophy candidate and the No. 6 team in the country trying to extend its unbeaten streak to eight games and keep its BCS chances alive.
In a football town, they'd call it an event.
What's more, they'd call it a sellout.
Chadd Cripe wrote that for the 2010 Fiesta Bowl against Texas Christian, the final figures from the BSU athletic department were 18,200 tickets sold, 500 donated to the military, and 300 unsold as of 24 hours prior to the game.
That leaves the school with 300 tickets to try to sell Monday. The school also has about 1,000 parking passes remaining. Combining the leftover tickets, the donated tickets and the leftover parking passes, Boise State stands to lose about $130,000 of its $3 million payout.
"I'm not mad. I'm just disappointed," wrote Bronco Nation Blogger Kevan Lee.
And apparently 26,000 Boise State fans purchased their tickets from sources other than the university. Reasons cited include cheaper prices elsewhere, and the fact that many fans who bought from BSU in the past didn't know where they would be seated until they got to the game. Some packages also included extra fees, parking passes, and a mandatory tailgate ticket.
How are these isues dealt with at Notre Dame, Rutgers, Texas, Ole Miss, Pittsburgh, Clemson, UCLA and other schools?
Lee continues:
And then there's this: 44,000 fans arrived at the Fiesta Bowl to cheer on the Broncos. Boise State sold out two of its home games in a 33,000-seat stadium. The issue of home sellouts is a touchy one, and there is no shortage of suggestions on how to fix it (the newest one I heard last week was to put all locally televised games on tape delay). However, a showing like Bronco Nation had at the Fiesta Bowl only serves to magnify the disconnect that home games have with the fanbase.
That disconnect sounds very different from what I've heard about Missoula.
Do you live in a Football town? If so, what kind of casket did you lay grandpa to rest in?
In fairness, I once saw a Boise television report about fans who had their whole house decorated in Blue and Orange, included Boise State Bronco toilet seat covers.
What does your house look like?
Or are you stuck in a mere event town?
Tell us about it.