I know the subject of fuel costs relative to game attendance has been discussed on other threads but I think the Cats (and the griz and many other colleges as well) are going to see attendance drop due to fuel costs, especially if they keep rising.

As people have stated, instead of attending all home games, they may attend only half, or less. It's also going to cost teams a lot more to travel, either by bus or airplane. If attendance/game day revenue (concessions, gear sales, etc.) drops and travel costs continue upward, there gets to be a point where it becomes a permanent problem.

So, in regard to the Bobcat Stadium improvements, the turf will be in a few weeks and the skyboxes that already have the required cash on hand will be built next year and then I suspect that will be it for a while, regardless of the W-L record. Of course, as I posted on BN, if the powers that be don't get the APR problem under control, then the Cats will be "cordially invited" by the NCAA to move to DII because of failure to meet DI academic requirements. There are still some who think the NCAA wouldn't do that - I strongly believe they will. I don't think they are kidding about the whole academic/APR thing and by the time the Cats learn that lesson it will be too late. If that happens, then the whole stadium expansion issue will become moot. The good news is the Cats will have one of the best stadiums in DII for its 5,000 fans to sit in.