Fargo approves December 5th special election for Fargodome expansion, remodel

[HerdBot]

Indy is a big convention town at a higher tier than Fargo. The central location, great airport, abs walkable distances downtown make it desirable. We don't have the beautiful weather, sandy beaches, mountain views, casinos. But we have great restaurants and hotels all within walking distance (many via sky bridges and tunnels). It's corrected to Lucas Oil Stadium via a tunnel.

They hold some massive conventions with 60-70k people. Gen Con, Comic Con and a bunch of events like that attract a ton of people. Huge car shows, all the fan festivals for the major sporting events (B1G football championship this weekend), NFL Combine, massive volleyball tournaments. It seems there is always something going on.

They tore down the RCA Dome and built Lucas Oil to expand the convention center 15 years ago. We are still losing consideration for some conventions so they are getting ready to do another expansion that also includes an 800-room hotel!

I would think the Fargo people are aware of what they have to offer and what the convention market is like. It's a decent sized city with a good food scene. It's not the greatest for airports (especially cost), but it has frequent service from multiple airlines. It may host more regional conventions that national, but it makes sense the could be a good market for it. It would be nice to be waking distance to downtown food and hotels, but it's not that far away. A very quick Uber out shuttle ride.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, but I've lived in a city that had benefited from building a big convention model for economic development.

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You just illustratred what is very hard to articulate. Simply put, venues attract events. Sheet... Sioux Falls built the Pentagon and they host Big 10, SEC and Big 12 basketball games. Gonzaga played when they were #1 in the nation. They are hosting Auburn vs Baylor and Nebraska vs Oregon

They've hosted 8 D2 Basketball National Championships, D2 womens volleyball championships, D2 womens track championships and thr NAIA just to name a few.

You gotta have venues to play the game. And dont even get me started on the Denny Sanford and their sports complex. Nexf level

Fargo people tend to think small and have an aw shucks attitude

[AlumniGreen]

You just illustratred what is very hard to articulate. Simply put, venues attract events. Sheet... Sioux Falls built the Pentagon and they host Big 10, SEC and Big 12 basketball games. Gonzaga played when they were #1 in the nation. They are hosting Auburn vs Baylor and Nebraska vs Oregon

They've hosted 8 D2 Basketball National Championships, D2 womens volleyball championships, D2 womens track championships and thr NAIA just to name a few.

You gotta have venues to play the game. And dont even get me started on the Denny Sanford and their sports complex. Nexf level

Fargo people tend to think small and have an aw shucks attitude

Remember December 5 is fast approaching. If you are a Fargoan, please remember to vote. There is a myriad of information on why to vote YES. Please tell or remind people you know in Fargo about this vote.

[AlumniGreen]

Remember December 5 is fast approaching. If you are a Fargoan, please remember to vote. There is a myriad of information on why to vote YES. Please tell or remind people you know in Fargo about this vote.

Saturday's Fargo Forum had several VERY long letters to the editor, one from Mayor Mahoney and others with those having ties close to the DOME project as well as a civilian. All were YES letters. Worth the read. I am not sure if there will be NO letters in tomorrow' edition or not but in any case, the YES letters were all pretty impressive.

[AlumniGreen]

Saturday's Fargo Forum had several VERY long letters to the editor, one from Mayor Mahoney and others with those having ties close to the DOME project as well as a civilian. All were YES letters. Worth the read. I am not sure if there will be NO letters in tomorrow' edition or not but in any case, the YES letters were all pretty impressive.

Tomorrow December 5th is the day to vote. Please remember to vote.

[MankatoBison]

I support this, but I am disappointed it’s not more ambitious. Honestly this is a day late and a dollar short in my opinion. Of course this better than what we have but changing virtually nothing INSIDE the stadium is a huge and short sighted mistake. Fargo is quite literally double the size it was 30 years ago and we are going to drop 140MILLION$ and not 1 more person will be able to go to a game, and the seats are still blue. I hope it passes, but dang I think we’ll look back on this in less than 10 years and think “lol remember when we paid for a 142$M stadium expansion without expanding the stadium? What a brilliant move that was”

[AlumniGreen]

I support this, but I am disappointed it’s not more ambitious. Honestly this is a day late and a dollar short in my opinion. Of course this better than what we have but changing virtually nothing INSIDE the stadium is a huge and short sighted mistake. Fargo is quite literally double the size it was 30 years ago and we are going to drop 140MILLION$ and not 1 more person will be able to go to a game, and the seats are still blue. I hope it passes, but dang I think we’ll look back on this in less than 10 years and think “lol remember when we paid for a 142$M stadium expansion without expanding the stadium? What a brilliant move that was”

A few things I would like to comment on.
First of all, I am not affiliated with any FARGODOME committees or staff, etc. Not an expert on this. Just a regular person.
Because the FARGODOME is not JUST Bison football, the DOME really encompasses much more than that as it owned by the City of Fargo and has many, many more events than just Bison football. I am sure you know that but your focus seems to be on the football aspect. I also wish that the seats could be painted another color and I am not sure if any color changes are part of the plan. I also know others wish the seating could be increased but I am hearing that there would not be an increase in seating.
The $140 million is a huge amount but it also involves a convention center, a new west entrance, more tailgating space as well as many, many other things.

I just wanted to mention this.

A really good website and 16-minute video is listed at FARGODOME Reimagined. If you have time, I would suggest you look at it, as it answered many of my own questions. Even if you cannot vote (guessing you are from Mankato?) it is still a good idea to look at the big picture on all of this and the video/website are just excellent sources of information.

[El_Chapo]

Needs 60%
That’s gonna be the bugger. If ndsu fans show up. They can pass this on their own

[AlumniGreen]

Needs 60%
That’s gonna be the bugger. If ndsu fans show up. They can pass this on their own

You are correct! 60% is a tough one. I hope at recent NDSU events, there was a push to get out the vote Tuesday. It may come down to NDSU people showing up to vote.

[HerdBot]

Needs 60%
That’s gonna be the bugger. If ndsu fans show up. They can pass this on their own

Yep. Especially with a low turnout.

I've seen or heard ads at the Fargodome (wall advertisement boards), at the TM 50/50 raffle table, and Bison Illustrated. Saw a TV ad during the SDSU game. A podcast on Bison 1660 with a TM member. Heard some radio ads on the Bison games pregame and postgame shows. Saw an ad on the Bison football pregame show on WDAY Xtra. Kolpack did a nice article but it was back in August. They've been trying

I really hope Izzo talks about it tomorrow with McFeely. It's the last reminder and a target audience

Overall media had overwhelmingly supported it. The Chamber of Commerce support it. The Forum endorsed it. All of these media people support it. Heitkamp, Tyler Axness, Jay Thomas, Scott Hennen, Jim Shaw, Mike McFeely, Jeff Kolpack, & Dom Izzo. How often do Hennen and Jim Shaw agree?

The negativity is like hockey fans. Not many but very loud. But will they vote? Doubtful. Will Bison fans vote? We will see. With a big turnout it wins. With a small Bison turnout it doesnt even hit 50%

[Bison03]

Get out and vote yes on Tuesday. Anyone that has been to the dome knows that its outdated and need of an upgrade. Watch the video of the plans and tell me it wouldn’t be awesome! And remember, the amount that the sales tax is responsible for is not the full amount. 40 million the dome is paying, 40 million hotel tax, and 40 million sales tax. And its only 25 cents for every $100 you spend. So $2.50 every $1,000 you spend. Small price to pay for much needed upgrades.