NDSU looks at possible football game at Target Field

[JSUBison]

A G5 opponent could be possible, but it would take some wheelin and dealin by Larson to get it done. I think there have been times a school like Eastern Michigan would "host" Michigan but at Ford Field. That way they could count the attendance as their own since they average like 5,000 fans at a regular home game. Kent State or someone would host and be the home team against Northwestern, but at Soldier Field. I probably got my examples wrong, but you get the point. Now those are FBS/FBS matchups, so it would take a unique situation to get a FBS team to be the "home" team at a neutral site in a FCS teams backyard. There has to be some benefit to the other team to do this, and I don't see teams like Marshall, Boise State etc getting anything out of it. Plus there are conferences that have stated rules that you can't travel to an FCS, like the SunBelt for example so that eliminates GSU, Coastal Carolina and ASU. But after looking at the entire list of FBS teams, I did come up with 3 candidates. These three teams are Independents, and have no travel restrictions that I know of.

UMASS- Barely hanging on in FBS. They have $$ issues, and may be open to some sort of shared gate. Also fills a game since they have no conference schedule. I think they have attendance issues, so the NCAA would see this as a home game for them so the attendance #'s are counted as theirs.

NEW MEXICO STATE- Will be soon kicked out of the Sun Belt, I think this is their last year. Not sure of their financials, but unless you are Notre Dame, scheduling as an Indy has to suck.

ARMY- My favorite choice. Army doesn't have money issues or scheduling problems as an Indy, but their football team serves as a recruiting tool for the Army itself. I don't know if they've ever had a game in the MN/WI area. HC is Jeff Monken, he may like another shot at NDSU. Army did play at Yale in 2014.

I don't think the chances are good at all for an FBS school to agree to something like this, but you never know until you pick up the phone.

If NDSU has to bring in an FCS school, an Ivy team would sell some tickets for sure. But their dance card is always full, and they pretty much operate in their own little world. Georgetown out of the Patriot league is a big name in hoops, but they are horrible at FB. Still the name might fool some of the local guy off the street types into checking out the game. Villanova fits the same bill as Georgetown as far as name recognition, but unlike Georgetown they also have a good FB team year in and year out. Then you got Montana, JMU, Sam Houston type teams where there is a bit of a history along with name recognition, but probably would want a return game out of it. In the end if this does happen, I expect an Eastern Illinois or Central Arkansas type team. Not exactly a cupcake, but not anything really special either.

If Larson can pull this off successfully, I'll forgive him for the underwhelming opponent he has for this years home opening of the SHAC.

[SDbison]

What is this deal? Some sort of lame effort to show growth since ndsu is going nowhere, i.e. move to FBS, and the dome is not expanding? Not in favor at all.

[ndsubison1]

If most Fbs won't play us at their home venue, they sure won't in a road like venue at Target

[56BISON73]

The humidity plus no sun plus wind made it very cold the last two years down there.

Two years ago I was down there early and went over to watch them practice. The wind was blowing 30+ and the temps were in the 30s. My eyes were watering so bad I couldnt see anything. When I got back in the car I felt frozen. Good part was I didnt have to worry about the tailgate food getting warm.

[bisonfanette]

I agree. I have never felt as cold as I have down there.

It was so darn windy! We tried to use our signs to block the wind... didn't work well.

[NorthernBison]

What is this deal? Some sort of lame effort to show growth since ndsu is going nowhere, i.e. move to FBS, and the dome is not expanding? Not in favor at all.

I think there is also some energy being expended by the Twins organization to generate some more attention too.

I would bet there's a Hell of a lot of overhead cost involved in setting up the field and probably in repairing the surface. The Twins will NOT be doing this for free.

I wonder how it all pencils out if it replaces a home game as indicated in the article.



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[ptrBison]

Meh--taxing the pure and local fanbase too much IMO. Don't like the idea at all. All you people who bitch about teammaker members need to realize that most of us don't have unlimited $$ to donate AND spend a shit ton on traveling to watch the team. Maybe I'm an outlier, but this does nothing for me other than I'll miss a game that I could and would otherwise attend.


Sent from my iPhone.

Completely agree, why lose a home game.

[SDbison]

Goopher game at a packed USBank stadium (50% Bison fans) would work for me. First, Big Ten bunch of pussies so it won't happen. Second, this sounds like a DII / DIII move to play in a baseball stadium against anybody......who we playing? St Thomas? Please, this idea needs to go away unless it is against an FBS opponent. Hey NDSU cronies, under the current terms bad idea, like going backward.

[THEsocalledfan]

The more I think about this idea, the more I dislike it. I am all for thinking out of the box, but this is just a really bad idea. Think about it:

1. You can't get a FBS team to do it which would be the only good reason.
2. You don't want to lose a home game.
3. You can't lose a potential huge home field advantage to a Valley team.
4. And, if it is a really crappy non-con game against like a Morgan St., no one will come.

This whole thing needs a good flushing unless an FBS game.

[SDbison]

The more I think about this idea, the more I dislike it. I am all for thinking out of the box, but this is just a really bad idea. Think about it:

1. You can't get a FBS team to do it which would be the only good reason.
2. You don't want to lose a home game.
3. You can't lose a potential huge home field advantage to a Valley team.
4. And, if it is a really crappy non-con game against like a Morgan St., no one will come.

This whole thing needs a good flushing unless an FBS game.

Amen Brother! Time to get Matt Larsen on the phone.