Football games are major events for a school that benefits from concession sales and parking revenue. Without TV money, the school needs fans in the stands to play football. That's why Montana might decide against playing the spring season. Current regulations would limit the number of fans who could attend games, and school officials have created a formula that suggests that playing football with 5,000 or fewer fans in the spring would be the financial equivalent of canceling the season.
Montana's inability to pack its football stadium this fall will have an impact on other sports, including basketball.
"Unless there is some drastic revamping of media rights, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for us," Montana athletic director Kent Haslam said.
The decision about the size of the football crowd, critical for revenue, is out of Haslam's control. In Montana, the governor's guidelines are regulated and policed by a designated official. Ellen Leahy, director and health officer of the Missoula City-County Health Department, holds the power to create and enforce restrictions. Right now, Missoula allows limited "cohorts" of 50 or fewer people, as long as they don't mix.
https://www.espn.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/29993776/why-mid-low-major-college-basketball-programs-big-trouble-buy-games