FRISCO, Texas — Souvenirs are often great memories of a trip well taken. That's what Tumbleweed TexStyles in Frisco, Texas, counts on, especially in early January.
"We love it because we get to tell our story and hear stories from people from other communities," said co-owner Brian Wysong.
Most of those communities are up north. Of the 15 FCS championship games Frisco has hosted, a team from Montana or North Dakota has played in 14 of them, with schools from the two states facing each other in each of the last four. North Dakota State fans, who have seen their team in 11 of the 15 games, have become especially comfortable.
"North Dakota, they do love coming here," Wysong laughed.
"It's usually a really big crowd of green and gold," added Greg McDonald.
It’s a blessing for the co-owner of the Frisco Rail Yard, during the bar and food truck court’s slowest season.
"It’s really big. We get business we wouldn’t normally have, especially when it’s teams from northern states that consider our winter mild," McDonald said.
"We know if we get Montana or Dakotas, we’re gonna get a good crowd because those folks travel well," added Josh Dill, assistant executive director of Visit Frisco.
Monday will be Dill’s ninth FCS championship game working with the city’s tourism group. When the event first showed, Frisco had about 125,000 people. Now, it’s almost double that.
"The game kind of put us on the map as far as hosting major events," Dill said. "And we know we wouldn’t have had the success without these legacy teams that have gotten in."
It’s meant huge business for the boom town.
"We know there’s a direct economic impact of about $10 million," he added.
A lot of that is in beer. There have been multiple reports over the last few years of bars and restaurants running out of beer, thanks to thirsty northern guests.
"That has happened before, I can confirm that," McDonald laughed.
"It’s true," Dill added. "In the early years, the stadium even ran out of beer. That happened one time — (the operations manager) wasn't gonna let it happen again."
There’ll be plenty ready this time, for what may be the city’s last FCS title game. Toyota Stadium will start a massive two-year renovation project basically as soon as Monday’s game is over. Frisco tried to find another venue, but the NCAA chose to move the game to Nashville for the next two seasons.
"We worked really hard not to have it go away," Dill said, "but we have an eye to the future. We’ll put in a bid to have it return after it goes to Nashville."
Time will tell what the NCAA decides. Wysong knows many who want to see it back in north Texas.
"People fall in love with our city," he said. "Many times after the sporting event, they’ll come back and travel just to Frisco."
"I certainly know in North Dakota, we’re very popular up there," McDonald added.
It's because of so many good memories Montana State fans are hoping to start this week.
