The Missoulian:
Sour note: Bands don't always get to play on at bowl games
excerpt:
...Massaro said Conference USA also helps to send bands to bowl games within driving distance; Middle Tennessee received aid for its trip to the 2013 Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.
But the Bahamas, probably as inviting as any bowl location, presents many challenges. Neither Central Michigan nor Western Kentucky took its band to the inaugural game last year.
Western Michigan athletic director Kathy Beauregard said the school uses a stipend offered by the MAC to help with these types of expenses. Last year the AD said it took that money, and more, to take the band to Boise. But school officials determined sending the 300-member band to the Bahamas would prove too difficult — both logistical as well as financial.
Middle Tennessee and Western Michigan are both sending equipment by freighter to the Bahamas well in advance to make it as smooth as possible when the teams go through customs.
Massaro said that when Conference USA announced that the Bahamas Bowl was a league partner, Middle Tennessee used the NCAA student assistance fund to get passports for its football players just in case they were ever sent to that game.
Beauregard said band members were given a heads up that they wouldn't be going to the Bahamas if that's where the Broncos were sent for their bowl game. Western Michigan President John Dunn even went to band practice the day of the bowl announcement to show his support.
"We had our fingers crossed that everything could work out and we could go, but I don't think we were totally surprised," Montgomery said.
With neither school's marching band at the game, Bahamas Bowl executive director Richard Giannini said the halftime show would include a preview of the musical attractions at the Junkanoo, a Bahamian national festival beginning later that week.....