EDT: Fargodome Expansion Vote vs Old Man Yells at Cloud (12-5-23)

[AKBison]

You would be shutting the dome down for what? 2 years? Don't think that would fly

Surely it could be done in stages that allowed for some games to be played. If needed, take the show on the road. The Bismarck bowl seats 6000, bring in another 6k of temp seating and play a couple pud games there early in the year. Maybe schedule a game in MPS again and then the last two at the Alerus. The Alerus might be home to UND but it would be the ultimate FU to roll out our tailgate and sell the building out for a couple weeks. We can find a way to make it work, especially when the status quo is unacceptable for FBS football and the Dome itself.

[GreenfieldBison]

If we start a 10 year fundraising and and savings plan so there is enough money stuffed away in 10 years to build what we want and keep playing in the the Fargo Dome during construction....would it be time to demo the dome at that point once the new dome is built?

Well just to throw a simplistic and gross model at it, what do you want? 30,000 seat fully enclosed stadium? Not NFL standard but land grant university quality. Let's call it $800M in today's $

At 4% annual inflation that number becomes $1.23B by the time construction starts in 2035. In order to have that number banked by then and ignoring any interest on the deposits we need to start saving $112M/yr or $306,740.53 per day.

Is that going to work?

Edit: oh yeah, you need to save some money for that demolition too. I don't think anybody does that for free.

[The_Sicatoka]

Expound, please. I am now sitting on the fence as to what to do. IMO, no matter what route is taken, there is risk.

That's the point: there's a risk with every process ... and especially so with cash at scottie's barn*.


*Show up with too big of a fat stack of cash and he and Kev will go all "Pesci in Casino" on ya in a cornfield.

[The_Sicatoka]

Edit: oh yeah, you need to save some money for that demolition too. I don't think anybody does that for free.

Didn't the NDUS or State require that kind of fund as part of the land lease agreement?

[23Bison]

Is it realistic to take corners out (one at a time) and replace with new open support structure to allow more seating, fix the bathroom and concourse areas in a summer? Done in stages like suggested earlier. I'm not saying replace all corners in a summer but say do 2 and while that is going on do some of the bathroom/concourse revamp. Call it a two year project. Is that worth it, idk.

[PattyBison]

Back to checks for a moment ... bigger risk: stolen check or online hackers.

Stolen checks
Online hackers can take over your account whether you use online payments or not. So that risk doesn't change. Also, depending on the bank, they have extensive fraud monitoring on digital interactions. Check fraud is a far bigger issue at the moment

[GreenfieldBison]

Didn't the NDUS or State require that kind of fund as part of the land lease agreement?

I have no idea. That would be a good stipulation to have in place though.

[EndZoneQB]

Can I ask you a favor, HerdBot (or anyone who is a subscriber?_. Can you somehow print it out as it kicks me out for obvious reasons. Thanks. I am EXTREMELY interested in the next plan.

Use archive.org or archive.vn to get around paywalls. You're welcome.

https://archive.vn/bWImL

[AlumniGreen]

Use archive.org or archive.vn to get around paywalls. You're welcome.

https://archive.vn/bWImL

And thank you.

[AlumniGreen]

And while I was in there, I read a letter to the letter by a guy named Todd Gross who said that the FARGODOME should be run like our households and businesses and put money aside for future expenditures. I think that is a simplistic answer as the DOME has always put money aside and was able to do some major improvements (according to memory) such as turf replacement and video boards and so forth. Plus they have had a surplus of $40 million and never had to dip into the General Fund.

In reading the article, I do think the DOME Authority and others are contrite but I felt really bad for Charlie Johnson and his comments as he is blaming himself for stuff that went wrong. How many people do that these days and assume responsibility for things when they go wrong?