Fargodome officials consider adding seats/BEER for Bison games

[AKBison]

Behind und and minot? Really what venue would that be - softball, Track, FB, BB, man get a clue.

Basketball......

[HerdBot]

Basketball......

The SHAC isnt great but its way better than the Betty. That place doesn't even have seating at the end of the courts and no basketball scorecard

[HerdBot]

If that is really what their planning, wouldn't it make a lot more sense for NDSU to partner with this someway to include a new basketball arena? Why lock up space on campus for the next 99 years when we could think big? The SHAC is not an upper G5 level facility and never will be. It would however be a perfect home for Volleyball and Wrestling, along with continuing to house the rest of the athletic department. The facilities arms race is real and right now we are behind just about every regional school in terms of basketball facilities to include USD, SDSU, UNI, Minnesota State and Omaha. Heck, it could be argued that we are #3 in our own state behind UND and Minot State.

This is a long term on campus project and if expansion includes multiple convention centers then it only makes sense for us to be part of the discussion. The original basketball arena plan from 15 years ago didn't include convention space. Doesn't the Fargo area need an additional venue to host smaller concerts anyway? Hopefully ML isn't shortsighted here as this is a once in a generation opportunity and would have a significant impact on our conference realignment hopes. It would also basically "clear the deck" in terms of facilities so we could go all in on funding a transition to FBS.

The dome upgrades on the north west and east need to go through first. That's by far the most pressing need. Then it's deciding whether or not to do a convention center or arena on the south/south east.

NDSU has plenty of land for basketball. Really, a new arena would fit in perfectly where Dacotah Field is. Soccer would have to relocate but there is plenty of land, including land to the west of Ellig. A soccer field is really inexpensive to rebuild.

I don't know if we want a city owned basketball arena because it doesn't generate as much revenue. You have to pay rent. You don't get parking revenue. You have to share concession revenue. You also don't get priority scheduling. It just feels like you are a tenant. Also NDSU can use their own facility to host concerts and drive revenue.

A basketball arena holds more people, but the amount of floor space is very small. A basketball court isn't even 5K square feet and the convention center would be 40-45K square feet. I agree totally on the concerts, but you can build a convention center into one heck of a concert hall with GA seating and a mezzanine above it. You could build something similar in concept to the Armory in Minneapolis, which is one of the my favorite venues ever. Obviously smaller but more usable.

So we need a convention center? I say yes because the private sector can't build a 45K sq ft facilty. It's what is needed to get those massive conventions or grow big events. What I don't want to see happen is the dome building something smaller that competes with the private sector.

I think it would be awesome to have the dome connect to the convention center. Then the convention center connect to the SHAC via skyway. Then connect the hotel to the convention center. Then someday connect the SHAC to the new BB arena where Dacotah Field is now.

[Bison03]

The hell are you talking about….new basketball arena? Umm, they just spent 40 million on one. You may not like it, and you may not believe it, but it is a better facility then most low mid major programs, which ndsu is. NDSU will nit be building a new basketball arena for 30 years at least.

[HerdBot]

The hell are you talking about….new basketball arena? Umm, they just spent 40 million on one. You may not like it, and you may not believe it, but it is a better facility then most low mid major programs, which ndsu is. NDSU will nit be building a new basketball arena for 30 years at least.

They didn't spend 40 million on the basketball arena alone. They spent 80% of it on the SHAC portion that included adding 100k square feet. It houses all the coaching and administration offices (track, softball, mbb, wbb, golf, cross country) all of the olympic sports locker rooms and team meeting rooms, ticket office, Hall of Fame, the weight room (with brand new equipmen), speed and agility, fueling station, basketball practice courts, academic hall, medical rooms, golf putting center, wrestling training center etc

The building is inpressive but the basketball arena is mediocre by Missouri Valley standards. Its really nice for wrestling and WBB

We need a place that has permanent seating, suites, club seating, permanent vendors, better sightlines, no pillars at the worst spots, multi level, etc. It'd so bad for ADA laws, we got sued. The seats are nice.. if you're an asian gymist. The whole basketball area feels disconjoined

Right where Dacotah Field sits. Connect it to the SHAC with a skyway

[AKBison]

The hell are you talking about….new basketball arena? Umm, they just spent 40 million on one. You may not like it, and you may not believe it, but it is a better facility then most low mid major programs, which ndsu is. NDSU will nit be building a new basketball arena for 30 years at least.

Damn, so that's what we want to be compared to, low mid majors???? That's the UMKC and Southern Utah's of the world.

[CAS4127]

Damn, so that's what we want to be compared to, low mid majors???? That's the UMKC and Southern Utah's of the world.

when comparing to facilities and product on court, his comparison is spot on. What Is there really to disagree/argue about if dealing in reality?

[Bison03]

Say what you want, but I would bet 20 mil was spent on the basketball arena portion of the shac. And we arent in the Missouri Valley for basketball so you cant compare it to them. The Summit League is a low mid major, that is the reality. I guess we could play in a football stadium like Syracuse does if that make you feel better.

[EC8CH]

when comparing to facilities and product on court, his comparison is spot on. What Is there really to disagree/argue about if dealing in reality?

Why start dealing in reality now, you're on a role.

[HerdBot]

Damn, so that's what we want to be compared to, low mid majors???? That's the UMKC and Southern Utah's of the world.

Exactly... we will need to spend at least 50 million on a new basketball arena. The good news is we can connect it to the SHAC and we wont have to build all the other stuff since everything we need is in the SHAC. Just a true basketball arena with all the funds going towards the perfect fan experience.

What we have now is good enough for a conference like the Mountain West but we want to be near the top