FBS? Doesn't the Fargodome need to be expanded first?

[scottietohottie]

All this FBS talk and I believe the fact is that the Fargodome is to small to go FBS. Doesn't the FBS have a minimum seating requirement of 35,000 or 40,000 or is that just the P5. What would be the options for NDSU to get to that requirement? I like being in the dome remember when they first moved in there people said they lost home field advantage. Does not seem to be the case at all. Think the playoff system kind of creates a demand for season tickets, but really do you think the dome would be full at 35,000 to 40,000? Is there anyway the current dome could be expanded by 3000 to 10,000 more seats and see what ticket demand is like? Building a new dome won't happen over night this ball will have to be rolling well before any FBS move will ever happen.

[BYZEN]

All this FBS talk and I believe the fact is that the Fargodome is to small to go FBS. Doesn't the FBS have a minimum seating requirement of 35,000 or 40,000 or is that just the P5. What would be the options for NDSU to get to that requirement? I like being in the dome remember when they first moved in there people said they lost home field advantage. Does not seem to be the case at all. Think the playoff system kind of creates a demand for season tickets, but really do you think the dome would be full at 35,000 to 40,000? Is there anyway the current dome could be expanded by 3000 to 10,000 more seats and see what ticket demand is like? Building a new dome won't happen over night this ball will have to be rolling well before any FBS move will ever happen.

There you go, trying to use logic again in an FBS thread again...

[scottietohottie]

Logic we only have one more month to get moved to the FBS just trying to get it going.

[HerdBot]

The annual expand the dome thread will kill a few weeks.

We need extra seating so teammakers can raise more money. It's tough to raise money when you can't guarantee seats. As far as size goes. In the short term we could sell 10,000 more early in the season just to accommodate students, people who want season tickets, and the big games like Homecoming and game #1. Montana fans, sdsu, and uni fans would buy up some tickets just by themselves and the big games Bison fans would buy them.

You don't need 35k seats to go fbs and we would have a tough time selling that many tickets in the short term but long term it is a good number. There are teams out there that average less than we do. To sell 35k it has to be indoors and a new stadium with a roof would probably cost 3 to 500 million. We live in one of the coldest places ever so outdoor would not work.

A small expansion could be done but things like fire coded would need some changes. The dome would likely have to pay since ndsu doesn't own the building. We could do a small corner expansion but it would still be spendy for a small number of seats. (Maybe 1000 in each corner?) A large expansion would require closing the dome for a minimum of 1 year and that will never happen. A new indoor stadium is way too spendy

The best opportunity is incorporating something into the events center. Add seats as part of it. Dave Piepkorn tossed the idea of building an ipf as part of the events center

In a perfect world they can share the cost of adding corner seating (probably 4 to 5 k max), an events center doubling as an ipf, added exits for fire code reasons, and build the bar that overlooks the field from the south endzone. And put a skyway to the shac. It's the best opportunity to add seats

I

[roadwarrior]

My head is spinning after reading that last post.....

[Bisonator98]

As an FBS team you must average 15,000 over a 2 year period so actually NDSU and the FD would qualify. However to be a money maker and a positive for an FBS conference invite NDSU would definitely have to have a larger stadium or an expandable stadium or at the very least a plan for one in the future. The FD would suffice for a few years with increased pricing but it will never be a long term FBS stadium.

I'm of the opinion that NDSU should be looking at an expandable outdoor stadium. This could be built for considerably less then an enclosed stadium. I just don't see Fargo ponying up for a FD replacement anytime soon. Especially when the FD is actually a very good facility for pretty much everything they want right now anyway. Also as an FBS team we wouldn't have any home games in December anyway so weather shouldn't be a huge factor.

[NodakBizon]

First thing the dome needs to do is get rid of the 13" RCA's in the concourse. What the hell, i bet they are original since the dome opened. Plus the video boards are terrible also. Time for an upgrade.

[BYZEN]

First thing the dome needs to do is get rid of the 13" RCA's in the concourse. What the hell, i bet they are original since the dome opened. Plus the video boards are terrible also. Time for an upgrade.

Butt, butt, the video boards in the corners will have to go away when we expand seating into the corners and remove the column supports...

[El_Chapo]

NDSU fargodome should be like Dukes cameron arena.

Duke keeps it at 8000 when it could be 15000
NDSU can keep it at 20000-25000 when it could be 40000 and make it a hard ticket for crazy fans and start charging the old teammakers in the 30 yard to 30 yard lines $100-$150/ticket that'll raise revenue

[scottietohottie]

Just don't think the average attedance will ever be much over 19,000 just not enough people in the area sure a game or two might draw a bigger crowd.