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Saturday night鈥檚 Rio Grande Rivalry men鈥檚 basketball game brought an announced crowd of 8,106 to the Pan American Center 鈥� the most fans for a nonconference game in New Mexico State鈥檚 arena in more than a decade.

In 2023 and 2024, the 15,411-seat Pit was sold out when NMSU came to town. UNM has not sold out the Pit against any other nonconference opponent since December 2013.

For NMSU and UNM, the game against their in-state rival almost always guaranteed the best home gate of nonconference play, if not the entire season.

The rivalry used to be a home-and-home, played once in Las Cruces and once in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 each season. Two years ago, the schools agreed to drop the rivalry down to once a year, with the schools rotating home games. That agreement is now expired, but there is still no guarantee that the series will return to the more fiscally-responsible, albeit not-so-coaching-friendly approach of the past.

But there is hope.

鈥淓ven though there isn鈥檛 a plan in place right now, I鈥檇 be open to bringing back the tradition of a home-and-home series each year,鈥� recently hired New Mexico State University Athletic Director Joe Fields said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 clear how important this matchup is to both the Las Cruces and sa国际传媒官网网页入口 communities, and I want to make sure we do what鈥檚 right for both schools and their fan bases.鈥�

First-year UNM Athletic Director Fernando Lovo said he鈥檚 also 鈥渙pen鈥� to the idea, but like Fields is so-far uncommitted to making it happen.

鈥淲e鈥檙e continuing to have conversations both at the conference and institutional level about the best overall schedule composition moving forward for our men鈥檚 basketball program,鈥� Lovo said, noting that the Mountain West鈥檚 new structure starting next year has led to some uncertainty about how many league games they will play each season, which would also affect the nonconference schedule.

鈥淥ur goal is to find the right balance between positioning ourselves for at-large success, providing an exciting home schedule for our fans, and supporting the continued growth of our program and revenue opportunities,鈥� he said.

The rivalry game helps both schools build their postseason r茅sum茅s (some fans like to suggest it鈥檚 not, but the computer metrics prove otherwise).

So why have the coaches at both schools for years pleaded not to play the series twice a season?

鈥淔rom a coach鈥檚 standpoint, you know, it鈥檚 pretty draining,鈥� NMSU coach Jason Hooten said on Saturday, even amid the adrenaline rush of having just beat the Lobos for the second consecutive season. 鈥淚t鈥檚 tough to play. You know, if you had to turn around and play each other again next Saturday, that鈥檇 be a tough game to play. There鈥檚 also not anybody in the country that plays each other twice as a rival, so that鈥檚 another reason why we didn鈥檛 do it, and it was something Coach (Richard) Pitino 鈥� we both agreed not to do it.鈥�

But the decision to play a home game guaranteed to bring in revenue might be more vital now than ever. Especially in NMSU鈥檚 case, when rival UTEP leaves Conference USA for the Mountain West next season.

鈥淲e鈥檝e got a really good athletic director that鈥檚 going to make really good decisions, and if he feels like (playing UNM) is something that we need to do twice, then I鈥檓 going to be all on board with whatever he wants to do,鈥� Hooten said. 鈥淎nd I think that New Mexico feels the same way about their athletic director and his decision making as well.鈥�