MSU’s Heartbreak And Loss Costs Millions

It has been a very long weekend with people from the Spartan Nation walking around with that thousand-yard stare. You know, the look of shell-shocked Spartan fans still trying to wake up from a horrible nightmare where the men’s basketball team defeats the little regarded Middle Tennessee team by 15 or 20 points. Sadly there is no shaking the loss or the taste of a 9-point loss to The Blue Raiders . It is one of the biggest upsets in the history of college basketball and that image isn’t going away any time soon. It was slow, ugly and hard to watch. It’s something you don’t soon forget.

The Spartans stunning loss however will be felt for the next two weeks by a lot more than the team and the fans. Usually by the end of the first weekend the Spartans are studying the team they will play in the Sweet 16. People this time of year are decked out in green far after St. Patty’s Day with a little air in their step. Shirts and hats and blankets fly off the shelves. Not this year. Tom Izzo’s teams have advanced deep into the tournament in many years with teams that were not nearly as loaded and talented as this one. Around the state bars would be full of cheering fans. People would stock up on great food for the next couple of rounds. Travel agents would be booking tickets to the next city on the way to the final four. This year it’s just the sound of silence.

This year those normally ringing, jingling cash registers and jovial fans are gone. The economic impact is devastating and stretches across the state. Think about all of the lost revenue. Not just the bars and house parties but hotels and caps and shirts and bumper stickers- the list goes on and on. And it all adds up.

I am guessing the economic impact of a first round loss by the team many had picked to win it all is millions and millions of dollars. Luckily you can’t really put a price on heartbreak- for if you could the Spartan Nation might be in the hole for years.