Fargodome expansion meeting, Tuesday, April 18th @11:30, City Hall

[The_Sicatoka]

If they are spending 800k-1m on wifi and it literally never works during a game (along with no cell service) then I think they need to reevaluate their spends.

Bringing in temporary cell tower trucks would solve it (day rental).

[Professor Chaos]

But those stadiums also draw major concerts and events ... Or do they only literally get used 9-10 days a year????

Yeah, but those new stadiums aren't built because a place wants concerts - they're built because Mr Billionaire holds his empty palms out and threatens to move his team to LA if they're not filled with cash by the taxpayers. Minneapolis still got big-time concerts with the metrodome.

Just ranting at this point - I know it's not an apples-to-apples comparison with a college team.

[bisonaudit]

Tell the "it's only used 10 days a year for football" argument to billionaire NFL owners who get massive taxpayer subsidies every time they want to build a new stadium.

Is NDSU going to threaten to relocate?

[Professor Chaos]

Is NDSU going to threaten to relocate?

Maybe we should see what the Bismarck taxpayers would be willing to build???

[El_Chapo]

Maybe we should see what the Bismarck taxpayers would be willing to build???

or West Fargo??

[acf2]

or West Fargo??

Move it off campus. That will get the students involved...

[El_Chapo]

Move it off campus. That will get the students involved...

sorry grand forks idiots dont understand sarcasm.

[tjamz]

Yup - that was one of the dirty little (not so) secrets of the GA tailgate line before they torpedo'd GA tailgating by relegating it to the softball complex lot. People would line up Friday evening (sometimes late afternoon) and discreetly party in their rigs all night before the lots opened up in the morning. As far as I know nobody died from alchohol poisoning, no innocent children were emotionally harmed by witnessing the depravity, etc etc.

Are you sure about that? EndzoneQB and MNLonghorn haven't been seen on here in a long ass time. Perhaps they drank themselves to death in the Frisco Cruiser? I was on that bus, but my memory is fuzzy about what happened to those two.

Purple? You decide!

[Bison03]

If they are spending 800k-1m on wifi and it literally never works during a game (along with no cell service) then I think they need to reevaluate their spends.

They aren’t currently doing this to clarify. He said verizon is there to some capacity for phone service, but full wifi that you see in other large venues is not currently at the dome.

[BigHorns]

Rob Sobolik was on with Izzo this morning to talk about this. I encourage all to listen. He mentioned wifi and stated that it costs about 800k-1 million and need to be renewed every 4-5 years and that it need to be looked at as if it fits into budgets. Didnt say it is off the table, just stating the tacts. Also mentioned that updating seats was likely; please God at minimum get rid of the red seats. New seats (which should be green in my opinion) would cost 4-5 million. If you are going to spend 140 million, might as spend 4 more as this would really make it feel like and upgrade. What people need to realize is that this is not only about making the experience of Bison football games better, which it will, but to make all events there better. Bison football is there at most 9 days a year. There are 356 other days that events happen there. A lot of talk about increasing seats ad well. One, last I checked, we aren’t selling out anymore and there are plenty of seats available. And secondly, a potential FBS move would not require additional seating requirements. The Fargodome is not in the business of making NDSU an FBS team, and whatever the home of the Bison football tram looks like has zero, yes zero impact on if an FBS conference invites NDSU. Look at all the mediocre FBS stadiums out there. The new dome upgrades are well overdue to modernize an old building.

Agree with most of this. This is a massive upgrade for dome amenities. Bathrooms and concourse way past due, and Wifi would be a nice bonus if they can fit that in. Currently the seating is adequate. This does fit most of our needs and will modernize the structure and give it a new feel.

If we need a larger stadium for a FBS conference, that will have to be figured out separately. Fargo will never build that for us.
I sort of wonder if people are ready to sign up for $100m in taxes, but there's a good case for it. $300-500m for a new stadium won't fly.

As far as FBS invites go:
MAC would be perfectly fine, they are generally drawing around 15-20k or less.
MWC might want more capacity, but I don't see it as a deal breaker. We might need to expand later.
AAC required Charlotte to commit to stadium expansion (30k capacity) as an entry condition, so there it might be a no go. But I don't think we're likely in the mix there anyhow. Too many other schools they would invite first. They also want big cities/markets like Houston, New Orleans, Charlotte, etc.
P5 level would definitely require it, but thats not realistic for the next 20 years.