Fargodome expansion

[Thundering Herd]

OK, I know this has been talked about numerous times already....so in advance, I'm sorry. I messed around with some pics to see if there was a way to cram more people into the FFD. I don't know how much it would cost to do or how hard it would be. I figured that if we 'beefed up' the structure that supports the roof, that there is a way to SUSPEND more seating from the ceiling. It might sound crazy, but there are engineer alums that could probably do this. My crazy scenario would create 3500-4000 more seats and bring in UP TO $360,000 in ticket sales in 6 home games (4000 asses-in-seats @ $15/ea at all 6 home games). Now bleachers could be set up in the corners to create seating for up to 1000 more (obstructed views) as well. What do you guys think??? THIS PLACE WOULD BE SO F*CKING LOUD IT'S RIDICULOUS!!!

[4mcruenomore]

I wish, who would pay for it, fargo/ND is a bunch of whiners when it comes to cash.

[A1pigskin]

Good idea. I think it could be done with a little brainstorming and creativity.

[walknroehl]

I wish, who would pay for it, fargo/ND is a bunch of whiners when it comes to cash.

No more so than anywhere else in the country. BTW we did fund the FFD.

[Civil06]

:nod:
OK, I know this has been talked about numerous times already....so in advance, I'm sorry. I messed around with some pics to see if there was a way to cram more people into the FFD. I don't know how much it would cost to do or how hard it would be. I figured that if we 'beefed up' the structure that supports the roof, that there is a way to SUSPEND more seating from the ceiling. It might sound crazy, but there are engineer alums that could probably do this. My crazy scenario would create 3500-4000 more seats and bring in UP TO $360,000 in ticket sales in 6 home games (4000 asses-in-seats @ $15/ea at all 6 home games). Now bleachers could be set up in the corners to create seating for up to 1000 more (obstructed views) as well. What do you guys think??? THIS PLACE WOULD BE SO F*CKING LOUD IT'S RIDICULOUS!!!

That looks pretty cool. If I remember correctly, the roof is a separate structure - meaning the roof load is supported fully by the columns in the corners and not by the walls. One concern I can think of, with all of the new weight added by this project, is the foundation. The soils in the red river valley are notoriously weak and unless the original design had a very large factor of safety, it would be an issue.

The pictures you made of what it looks like are sweet though:nod:

[BisBison]

No more so than anywhere else in the country. BTW we did fund the FFD.

good point. And will fund the half of the bball arena expansion to the FFD when Erv finds SU's newest sugar daddy.

[BisoninNWMN]

18,700 is getting too small...if season tickets keeps rising, it is going to put a pinch on the student tickets

Good problem:D

[roadwarrior]

If I remember correctly, the roof is a separate structure - meaning the roof load is supported fully by the columns in the corners and not by the walls.

I'm pretty sure you are correct. In fact the roof and corner columns were built by a different contractor (Meinecke-Johnson) than the rest of the building (Industrial Builders).

[roadwarrior]

That would be some steep seating in those upper decks!

[X-Factor]

I believe the dome holds 19,287 as is. It is listed inside of the Fargodome on the east wall for football capacity. We had 18.8k and it wasn't even full yesterday.

[roadwarrior]

I believe the dome holds 19,287 as is. It is listed inside of the Fargodome on the east wall for football capacity. We had 18.8k and it wasn't even full yesterday.

OK - Who is volunteering to do an actual seat count of the dome so we REALLY know the number of seats? Some seats were lost when the 8 newest suites were built.

[No_Skill]

I'm pretty sure you are correct. In fact the roof and corner columns were built by a different contractor (Meinecke-Johnson) than the rest of the building (Industrial Builders).

Is there anything about NDSU Football that you don't know? :D

[Thundering Herd]

:nod:

That looks pretty cool. If I remember correctly, the roof is a separate structure - meaning the roof load is supported fully by the columns in the corners and not by the walls. One concern I can think of, with all of the new weight added by this project, is the foundation. The soils in the red river valley are notoriously weak and unless the original design had a very large factor of safety, it would be an issue.

The pictures you made of what it looks like are sweet though:nod:

Let's lighten the existing roof then! The flat, rectangular middle part could be taken out (Texas Stadium style). It would be replaced with a lighter frame and a fabric roof section (same stuff as over the metrodump- SEE PIC). Or maybe we inflate the FFD to suspend itself. :confused:

[Hammersmith]

Is there anything about NDSU Football that you don't know? :D

He doesn't know the average wing speed of an unladen running back.



Sorry

[90BISON]

He doesn't know the average wing speed of an unladen running back.



Sorry

Was that an African or European running back?:D

[extremerouge]

Let's lighten the existing roof then! The flat, rectangular middle part could be taken out (Texas Stadium style). It would be replaced with a lighter frame and a fabric roof section (same stuff as over the metrodump- SEE PIC). Or maybe we inflate the FFD to suspend itself. :confused:
is that a glass roof?? that would be cool!

[IBleedYellow]

A glass roof would totally ROCK for the place. But they would have to move quite a lot of things in the roof and raftors. I really think that the 22.5k seating would be cool, but very steep seats. I still think the only way would be the 1k per corner obstructed seats.

[Thundering Herd]

A glass roof would totally ROCK for the place. But they would have to move quite a lot of things in the roof and raftors. I really think that the 22.5k seating would be cool, but very steep seats. I still think the only way would be the 1k per corner obstructed seats.

they could install lap bars like on rollercoasters, yes??? ;) :D :( :smh:

[extremerouge]

A glass roof would totally ROCK for the place. But they would have to move quite a lot of things in the roof and raftors. I really think that the 22.5k seating would be cool, but very steep seats. I still think the only way would be the 1k per corner obstructed seats.
and then we can have the glass roof be retractable... ;)

[tjbison]

and then we can have the glass roof be retractable... ;)


And also kiss the lights off Intro goodbye!!

[IBleedYellow]

That intro HAS to stay...I'll keep 19.5k max for that intro. I love that chill when the lights drop, and the students and the crowd intensity just gets that much higher.

[Thundering Herd]

Don't they have glass that goes opaque at the flip of a switch? Actually I said nothing about a glass roof, which would be cool except for 4 things: 1. the dark entrance by the team would not be bad-ass anymore like you said, 2. the a/c would have to work harder to keep me and my flask cool, 3. the cost, and 4. the weight. The only reason I said for taking out that section of roof would be to lighten the roof so not as much reinforcement would be needed to support the weight of the additional structures and 3-4,000 jumping fans. The 'fabric' option should be a lot lighter, cheaper (?) and would reflect a lot of the light (heat) away. Oh, and taking that chunk of roof off would make it easy to get the needed steel in.

Maybe we just rip the damn roof off of that place so new supports could be built for the upper deck outside of the current structure and the upper deck wouldn't have to be as steep! Put the metrodumps roof over the whole damn thing! (new fargodome could end up about 80' wider and 30' taller). Who could we pass these ideas onto???

[roadwarrior]

Check with the FAA on height restrictions first.

[roadwarrior]

Maybe we just rip the damn roof off of that place so new supports could be built for the upper deck outside of the current structure and the upper deck wouldn't have to be as steep! Put the metrodumps roof over the whole damn thing! (new fargodome could end up about 80' wider and 30' taller). Who could we pass these ideas onto???

Nice ideas, but 200 million dollars later......

[IBleedYellow]

Wow...Honestly, does it F with the FAA around there...

[Thundering Herd]

Don't they have glass that goes opaque at the flip of a switch? Actually I said nothing about a glass roof, which would be cool except for 4 things: 1. the dark entrance by the team would not be bad-ass anymore like you said, 2. the a/c would have to work harder to keep me and my flask cool, 3. the cost, and 4. the weight. The only reason I said for taking out that section of roof would be to lighten the roof so not as much reinforcement would be needed to support the weight of the additional structures and 3-4,000 jumping fans. The 'fabric' option should be a lot lighter, cheaper (?) and would reflect a lot of the light (heat) away. Oh, and taking that chunk of roof off would make it easy to get the needed steel in.

Maybe we just rip the damn roof off of that place so new supports could be built for the upper deck outside of the current structure and the upper deck wouldn't have to be as steep! Put the metrodumps roof over the whole damn thing! (new fargodome could end up about 80' wider and 30' taller). Who could we pass these ideas onto???

OOOoops! Roughly it would be around 55% taller and 80-100' wider!!

[AKBison]

Here is how Fort Wayne raide the roof 40 feet on their arena to the tune of 30 Million.

http://www.modernsteel.com/Uploads/Issues/February_2003/2003_02_cbn.pdf

Before roof raising (can somebody paste this pic to the thread I cannot for some reason)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinafh/2526793158/

After raising roof

http://www.hagermangc.com/images/large/Allen-County-War-Memorial-1.jpg

[Thundering Herd]

Check out this option. The new seats are outside of the current roof on the sides and the roof is raised up level above them. It doesn't add too much in extra weight, but stucturally some different things would have to be done and drains would have to be added... To support the extra seatng structures and additional fans, new supports would be built outside of the current brick structure. It would add 3,960 seats and bring in $356,400 in additional ticket sales in 6 home games at $15/ticket. I don't know how much it would bring in for the local economy (impact), but I think it'd be worth the 40-60 million price tag (a GUESS). What do you think? We gotta think outside the box because ours is quickly becoming too small!!! :nod:

[bisonaudit]

Lets just chill on the expansion issue.

Instead think FargoDome = Fenway Park.

It's not a problem now, and it's a far distance to it becoming a big problem at some undetermined time in the hypothetical future. Mean while there are a lot of things that can be done to continue increasing revenues from football without spending $100 million on construction.

First and foremost, the market has exhibited exactly zero resistance to NDSU's pricing power to date. Also television revenues are basically zero.

[Herd]

When the Basketball arena is complete, let's talk. Until then, its Basketball Only on my mind. FB is fine, BB is not (yet).

[Bison"FANatic"]

I agree that it has to be the basketball arena first. Nothing wrong with discussing and thinking for the future but expanding the dome is not the priority at this time.

[A1pigskin]

With the expansion our student section could be increased, let's say by 1,000, if possible. We really need more students there.

I think the suspension idea would be more long term, but short term use portable bleachers.

[HerdBot]

I think we're a few years away from even looking at this but it's smart to have forward thinking.

The south endzone bleachers slide so it limits the options, but how about a horse shoe design? Make some permanant bleachers in the north corners. Yes, some will be obstructed but we could make it "student overflow tickets." We could probably get another 500-750 in each corner.

Other solutions are to put temporary bleachers on the field. I think that would be the coolest thing ever and I would be first in line. Problem is, do we have enough sideline space? There is not much but it's much more than USD and UND where you basically run into a wall at the endzone.

I was looking at pictures and there is space to set up temporary bleachers on the field in the 2 south end corners. Heck we could probably expand them so they are near the visitor sidelines. :) We got nearly 3 weeks to Southern Illinois... lets git r done!

[Bisonguy]

There's not enough room on the field as it currently sits. (especially behind the team areas) Additional seating would only make it worse.

[HerdBot]

There's not enough room on the field as it currently sits. (especially behind the team areas) Additional seating would only make it worse.

It's crammed but we have more space than other schools. I'm talking deep in the corners and really small bleachers. Probably only 200 fans per corner if that but if they are loud and near the visitor sideline I'm all for it! An extra 400 crazy f-ers can make a differnce.

After looking again I think your right... that is tight.

[Bisonguy]

FYI- 200 seats is a little more than one-third of a section in the Fargodome

[HerdBot]

FYI- 200 seats is a little more than one-third of a section in the Fargodome

It's a case of quality vs quantity. If they are 200 fans that actually cheer (students) than it's worth it. Many full sections are 90% full of corpses that like to read books or tell me to sit down. I'll take 200 extra loud fans any day of the week. Take 200 people and throw them in a room and see how much noise they can make. Heck, that's more than some bars hold. And it's even better if it's closer to the visitor sideline! (UNI has fans on top of the visitor)

[roadwarrior]

I can almost guarantee they will never add seats on the field level. Dead on arrival with that idea.

[HerdBot]

I can almost guarantee they will never add seats on the field level. Dead on arrival with that idea.

What about mini bleachers in standing room only corners?? I bet they could fit 150 in each corner with a decent view on bleachers.

[roadwarrior]

What about mini bleachers in standing room only corners?? I bet they could fit 150 in each corner with a decent view on bleachers.

They will never put spectators down on the field level. Room or no room.

[HerdBot]

They will never put spectators down on the field level. Room or no room.

What about in the standing room only corner on the main concourse? Bleachers, that is.

[roadwarrior]

I don't have a clue what they might do in the concourse level corners. My point was only about any seats on the field level.

[Bisonguy]

Maybe on concourse level, I thought that was one of the things they were looking at. I did look up at the northwest corner at the last game, and man, that would be really rough to get many people in bleachers without that huge column blocking their view. I thought there was more clearance, but it would take a lot of skill to get a decent amount of people in there that can view the field.

[SDbison]

Maybe on concourse level, I thought that was one of the things they were looking at. I did look up at the northwest corner at the last game, and man, that would be really rough to get many people in bleachers without that huge column blocking their view. I thought there was more clearance, but it would take a lot of skill to get a decent amount of people in there that can view the field.
I always thought they could build some custom wedge shaped bleachers with the exit aisle down the center (behind the column). Maybe get 200 to 300 seats in each corner max. Some of the seats next to the aisle would still have partial obstruction. Would be a great project for a company that is associated with NDSU. If done correctly the design could be replicated for all four corners and would bring capacity to just over 20,000. Hopefully these bleachers would blend well with the rest of the Fargodome and be easy to set up, take down and store. Also, with all the exits the dome has I can't believe there would be any fire code issues with adding 1200 seats. Next game I will go to the dome early and sketch something up. I would gladly volunteer my engineering project management skills to the task.

[BisBison]

I always thought they could build some custom wedge shaped bleachers with the exit aisle down the center (behind the column). Maybe get 200 to 300 seats in each corner max. Some of the seats next to the aisle would still have partial obstruction. Would be a great project for a company that is associated with NDSU. If done correctly the design could be replicated for all four corners and would bring capacity to just over 20,000. Hopefully these bleachers would blend well with the rest of the Fargodome and be easy to set up, take down and store. Also, with all the exits the dome has I can't believe there would be any fire code issues with adding 1200 seats. Next game I will go to the dome early and sketch something up. I would gladly volunteer my engineering project management skills to the task.

I thought that too, and as far as the fire code is concerned, the FFD seats way more for a concert than a f-ball game.

[imabison]

I thought that too, and as far as the fire code is concerned, the FFD seats way more for a concert than a f-ball game.
Keep in mind that will the field having seating, there are also more exits for the additional people in case of emergency on that level.

[Herd]

We could add 6000 seats for Football by building a basketball arena with jumbo screens with live video. $5 overflow seating for those that over-do-it at tailgating! The cops could just sort the people as they enter and route the drunks to the basketball arena, they might not know the difference.

Second thought, let's just build the basketball arena and let the football demand soar for a couple of years, then we'll worry about FB.

[AKBison]

Second thought, let's just build the basketball arena and let the football demand soar for a couple of years, then we'll worry about FB.

Amen, no sense in arguing about it but it is fun to kick around. Once we finsih up our athletic wish list of the indoor practice field, softball stadium, basketball arena, BSA expansion etc and have 14000 season ticket holders with a waiting list of 5000 Dome expansion will come to a head. It is either that or NDSU threatens to move out and build their own stadium and the city can never let that happen nor can NDSU afford that. Stadium expansion will happen. It is in the best interest of all parties.

[HerdBot]

I always thought they could build some custom wedge shaped bleachers with the exit aisle down the center (behind the column). Maybe get 200 to 300 seats in each corner max. Some of the seats next to the aisle would still have partial obstruction. Would be a great project for a company that is associated with NDSU. If done correctly the design could be replicated for all four corners and would bring capacity to just over 20,000. Hopefully these bleachers would blend well with the rest of the Fargodome and be easy to set up, take down and store. Also, with all the exits the dome has I can't believe there would be any fire code issues with adding 1200 seats. Next game I will go to the dome early and sketch something up. I would gladly volunteer my engineering project management skills to the task.


1200 looks to be a tough fit but even if they can only squeeze an extra 200 fans in each corner that would be cool. Especially if they are loud mofoz! The south corners seem to make the most sense

[lakesbison]

talked to a couple "BOOSTERS" tonight.

Said. some plans are already in place for NDSU football outdoor Stadium 35,000. to be put next to the BSA/tennis court's, etc.

Fargodome turned into basketball arena period.

thats' a 10 year wish list of course, but wow, lets do this.

WAC/MAC/Mountain West.... here we come!

[roadwarrior]

talked to a couple "BOOSTERS" tonight.

Said. some plans are already in place for NDSU football outdoor Stadium 35,000. to be put next to the BSA/tennis court's, etc.

Fargodome turned into basketball arena period.

thats' a 10 year wish list of course, but wow, lets do this.

WAC/MAC/Mountain West.... here we come!

I think construction starts next spring.;)

[imabison]

I think construction starts next spring.;)
And lakesbison is paying for the entire bill!!! Suites for all Team Makers, limo to and from the new stadium included. :)

[BisBison]

And lakesbison is paying for the entire bill!!! Suites for all Team Makers, limo to and from the new stadium included. :)

Now you guys are getting silly. :innocent: