SHAC Construction Updates

[SDbison]

This is what happens when only 3k go to the current arena, hard to justify building something more than twice its size. IMO having 6k at basketball games will be a good problem to have if it comes to fruition. Some fans may be left out for bigger games but we'll have a great home court advantage and it isn't like 6k is something to be embarrassed about...UNI and Gonzaga have similar sized venues.

I realize some here just have a tough time visualizing what a true basketball arena with a working AC system, audible sound system, comfortable seats and much better sight lines can do for attendance. Attendance at NDSU games is low primarily because the current venue is total crap. People don't want to pay to sit on bleachers and sweat while trying to hear a crackly muted sound system. The product on the floor can only do so much. Building a LESS THAN 6000 seat arena is a joke for DI STATE University. It would be OK for some 5000 student private school not a 15,000 student university. Who builds a venue that is the same capacity as the one it replaced that was built over 40 years prior. And the old one was not over capacity. Seems it filled to the rafters many times in the early 1980's when I was going to school. Again......this facility has no room for expansion.......no way to get to 8000. Apparently NDSU doesn't ever really think men's basketball will be a big deal EVER! Finally if the state could contribute 40% to the construction cost of the orginal BSA they could have kicked in 20% for this one. Of course, the state of ND gets nothing in return for the publicity DI university athletics bring to the state. How much money is the State of ND sitting on?

[SDbison]

In another thread we are complaining cause we can 't fill up the FFD. If we start to get more than 5900 regular BB attendees we can start to look at the FFD.

I'm all for looking ahead but I don't want to see a half empty facility for the next 10-15 years, either.

Its not a problem filling up the Fargodome........it is a problem getting the corporate turds and socialite fans to give up or sell their tickets when they have bigger and more important things to attend. Also apparently the students need a joy buzzer planted in their ass to get them to understand thereis a big game going on.
I think the Fargodome is doing just fine with Bison football games.........some could sell well over 19,000 capacity and others right at capacity and the rest within 15% of capacity. Again with no room for overflow that means NDSU will never know if a game like UNI would not draw 24,000. Sorry to disagree with you on this but you are wrong. And as I said about the BSA in another post, judging attendance there based on the crappy facility, seating and HVAC is unreasonable.

[EndZoneQB]

I'll be the first one to say it: I don't go to basketball games because the BSA is worse than my High School gym.

[Strommer10]

I'll be the first one to say it: I don't go to basketball games because the BSA is worse than my High School gym.

Agreed. This will change once the SHAC is finished.

[TheBisonator]

Even though I completely agree with SD about the current BSA, I actually think it may be a smart thing to have a 6,000 seat SHAC for a majority of the home games that aren't marquee names, hopefully average at least 5,000 at the SHAC for those lower games, then have the 12,000-seat FFD basketball configuration for big games vs. Power 6 schools. I really think that if our administration gets more proactive with selling our FFD basketball configuration, we can get the occasional Northwestern or Mississippi or Oklahoma State on the schedule coming to Fargo to play in front of maybe 9-10K at the FFD.

The big thing is that attendance will only increase once the arena is rebuilt. Gene told me personally there are a LOT of Bison hoops fans who don't go to most games just for the reason they cannot handle the BSA.

[Ferd]

First off, I'm biased. I've had season BB tickets since 1991.

I agree the BSA sucks. When I started attending The Men's teams sucked and the Women were great. That dynamic reversed itself and now I see both teams becoming contenders.

My point, however, is that I attend because I love the Bison and enjoy watching basketball... even in a "suckie", old fieldhouse. I compensate by listen to the game on the radio in one ear and to the crowd with the other an sit in the upper deck with chair-backs. It's not perfect but I get by.

The new stadium will be a tremendous improvement, even if it only seats 6,000. Better atmosphere, better sound, better seating.

Remember, we're having a tough enough time raising the money for a 6,000 seat facility. How long would we have to wait for 10,000 seats?

I guess I'm old enough to "take what I can get." And getting there is taking long enough.

[344Johnson]

No reason to build a 10,000 seat arena when right now we get around 3,000 tops. For basketball, its not about who has the biggest venue, its about who has a good homecourt advantage and overall nice facilities.

Cameron Indoor at Duke doesn't even seat 10,000 and they have perhaps the best advantage in all of basketball. 6,000 seats in Fargo sounds awesome for me.

[Thunder_Struck]

Agree with Ferd. If you are only going because of the arena you won't be going for very many years. I've been on the side of the FargoDome addition, but I'm willing to accept the current proposal, even though it's not my first choice. See you at the games!

[1998braves64]

Also limiting the number of seats will create a smaller supply which in turn will drive up the value which means NDSU will be able to charge more for the tickets. If they have a 10,000 seat fieldhouse they would rarely sell that out because the value of the ticket would be less. If people believe that a game will be sold out they're going to buy tickets sooner and possibly even more often and that eventually leads to season tickets. The second part of the equation is why we ended up getting season tickets is because we were buying so many it made sense to buy the season tickets rather than buy each game individually. Once season tickets have reached the upper limits then the value will go up, which allows NDSU to make more money. I believe there are those that do not attend due to the crappy seats, even for me the seats are uncomfortable and I'm only in my 30s, I can't imagine the comfort level of those that I've seen there since I've had season tickets that have one foot over the hill that usually are there for most of the games that I'm there!

With the making more money will lead to them in the future building something that is bigger more suitable? Twenty..Thirty years Fifty does it really matter? The SHAC renovation is achievable and doable so unless someone comes forth with a huge donation, the stand alone arena probably isn't going to happen.

[TheBisonator]

Also limiting the number of seats will create a smaller supply which in turn will drive up the value which means NDSU will be able to charge more for the tickets. If they have a 10,000 seat fieldhouse they would rarely sell that out because the value of the ticket would be less. If people believe that a game will be sold out they're going to buy tickets sooner and possibly even more often and that eventually leads to season tickets. The second part of the equation is why we ended up getting season tickets is because we were buying so many it made sense to buy the season tickets rather than buy each game individually. Once season tickets have reached the upper limits then the value will go up, which allows NDSU to make more money. I believe there are those that do not attend due to the crappy seats, even for me the seats are uncomfortable and I'm only in my 30s, I can't imagine the comfort level of those that I've seen there since I've had season tickets that have one foot over the hill that usually are there for most of the games that I'm there!

With the making more money will lead to them in the future building something that is bigger more suitable? Twenty..Thirty years Fifty does it really matter? The SHAC renovation is achievable and doable so unless someone comes forth with a huge donation, the stand alone arena probably isn't going to happen.

The WPG Jets follow that same theory/practice. Because of creating a bigger demand for less seats and being able to have the 4th highest average ticket prices in the NHL, they are in turn able to be in the middle of NHL team revenue despite playing in by far the smallest arena.

FOOTNOTE: PLEASE don't use the word "fieldhouse" when describing the future of NDSU basketball facilities. DI College BB teams in 2011-12 are supposed to play in arenas. College BB teams in 1972 and DII BB teams in 2011 are supposed to play in fieldhouses.