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

[HerdBot]

These are seen as luxuries usually reserved for Club level seating, where they can give a little more space per seat.

I'd love to see it elsewhere, but the cost/benefit may not work, and it could reduce seating capacity.

You are correct. Modern stadium seats are wider and it would reduce capacity in each row. I'm sure they could custom make them, but at a cost

[LefseBison]

Jim shaw is a loser like all the rest of the media. haha. big guns...

listen it should pass especially if presented the right way. and yes Teammakers has 1000+ fargo members. w spouses and family. that should be 5000 slam dunks there

My understanding is Teamakers can campaign for the YES vote, then they should send out a mass mailing to all Teamakers with explicit reasons why they should vote "yes." Since you, El Chapo, are so well-connected, why don't you ask them to do that? And since you are so articulate, write a letter to the editor?

[CaBisonFan]

Will there be a significant increase in seating capacity? This most important issue is being skirted around.

[KSBisonFan]

My understanding is Teamakers can campaign for the YES vote, then they should send out a mass mailing to all Teamakers with explicit reasons why they should vote "yes." Since you, El Chapo, are so well-connected, why don't you ask them to do that? And since you are so articulate, write a letter to the editor?

Do newspapers accept Letters to the editor written in crayon?

[HerdBot]

Will there be a significant increase in seating capacity? This most important issue is being skirted around.

A small increase in seats. A big increase in revenue generating seats, fan amenities and fan experience. They arent skirting around it, they just dont want to spend a crazy amount of money. When I say crazy amount, I mean an extra 400 million to raise the roof to add a 2nd level on the west side. Then they would have to demolish the east dide addition and add a 2nd level, then rebuild the east side. It would shut the dome down for 2 football seasons and we would have to play our home games in Grand Forks, with a capacity of 12,283. Since UND plays Saturday games, many of our home games would have to be on a Friday or Sunday or 9 pm on Saturday. NDSU would lose a ton of money

Meanwhile the Fargodome would have 0 revenue for 2 years with 0 events and would operate in the red, draining the surplus. Grand Forks and Sioux Falls would get every concert and event. We would lose 16 concerts in 2 years, USA Wrestling (the largest wrestling event in the world) and the 8,000 wrestlers it attracts. No WWE, Monster Jam, Disney on Ice, Dakota Bowl, Rib Fest, Rodeo, Circus, Rumble on the Red, State High School wrestling tournament, etc

Hotels would be screwed. All the businesses near the dome would be screwed. The airport would see a 2 year decline during a time they are doubling the terminal and adding a parking ramp

The expansion they are planning would be done in phases.

We only sell out 2 games in 2 years. UND and SDSU. Homecoming is close to a sellout. Even the semi final game last year vs Incarnate Word drew 12,569.

We need to curb the trend of averaging less than 15,000. Yesterdays game was huge and it drew 14,191. Fan experience is a part of that. Women don't want to wait 10-15 minutes to pee, have mediocre choices for food and drinks, have concourses be jammed and bottlenecking food and bathroom lines, or waiting in the cold and wind to get through metal detectors. They want club seats, fancy drinks, cell phone charging stations, restaurants, etc

Although it hasnt been too bad this year because weve only averaged 14k. Murray State probably had 10k

[LefseBison]

A small increase in seats. A big increase in revenue generating seats, fan amenities and fan experience. They arent skirting around it, they just dont want to spend a crazy amount of money. When I say crazy amount, I mean an extra 400 million to raise the roof to add a 2nd level on the west side. Then they would have to demolish the east dide addition and add a 2nd level, then rebuild the east side. It would shut the dome down for 2 football seasons and we would have to play our home games in Grand Forks, with a capacity of 12,283. Since UND plays Saturday games, many of our home games would have to be on a Friday or Sunday or 9 pm on Saturday. NDSU would lose a ton of money

Meanwhile the Fargodome would have 0 revenue for 2 years with 0 events and would operate in the red, draining the surplus. Grand Forks and Sioux Falls would get every concert and event. We would lose 16 concerts in 2 years, USA Wrestling (the largest wrestling event in the world) and the 8,000 wrestlers it attracts. No WWE, Monster Jam, Disney on Ice, Dakota Bowl, Rib Fest, Rodeo, Circus, Rumble on the Red, State High School wrestling tournament, etc

Hotels would be screwed. All the businesses near the dome would be screwed. The airport would see a 2 year decline during a time they are doubling the terminal and adding a parking ramp

The expansion they are planning would be done in phases.

We only sell out 2 games in 2 years. UND and SDSU. Homecoming is close to a sellout. Even the semi final game last year vs Incarnate Word drew 12,569.

We need to curb the trend of averaging less than 15,000. Yesterdays game was huge and it drew 14,191. Fan experience is a part of that. Women don't want to wait 10-15 minutes to pee, have mediocre choices for food and drinks, have concourses be jammed and bottlenecking food and bathroom lines, or waiting in the cold and wind to get through metal detectors

Although it hasnt been too bad this year because weve only averaged 14k. Murray State probably had 10k

The more I read articles and posts SUCH AS THIS, the more I wonder if there is ANY ECONOMIC reason to vote "no."

[BigHorns]

The more I read articles and posts SUCH AS THIS, the more I wonder if there is ANY ECONOMIC reason to vote "no."

Well, Chapo was leading the 40k FBS stadium protest vote, but even he seems to have come around.
No way they are spending $400m, and this plan benefits both NDSU and the community. It's the only sensible plan there is.

[HerdBot]

The more I read articles and posts SUCH AS THIS, the more I wonder if there is ANY ECONOMIC reason to vote "no."

Well, Chapo was leading the 40k FBS stadium protest vote, but even he seems to have come around.
No way they are spending $400m, and this plan benefits both NDSU and the community. It's the only sensible plan there is.

I want to see both someday. I cant speak for Chapo but I think he just wants an outdoor NDSU stadium

I support an outdoor NDSU stadium, privately funded by NDSU but it would have to be a TCF Bank (Huntington) quality stadium. Something that makes the SDSU stadium look D2

The public will obviously never help fund it but its more realistic to fundraise than a new billion dollar indoor stadium. Outdoor works in Brookings and Minneapolis. It can work here. Make it 30-40k capacity. For the FCS playoffs (asuming we stay FCS where late season games happen), we could move indoors to the dome when the weather gets to be ridiculous. It would open up the dome for concerts/events for Sept, October and most of November which is big for the dome. In the late spring and summer, the new NDSU Football stadium could host concerts, even bigger than the dome could handle. Like a 50k capcity Taylor Swift / Garth Brooks show.

I bet they could even attract a pro soccer team or something big

I also support expanding the dome because duh, summer events are limited

[heffray]

I think an outdoor stadium for the Bison would be so badass.

[CaBisonFan]

A small increase in seats. A big increase in revenue generating seats, fan amenities and fan experience. They arent skirting around it, they just dont want to spend a crazy amount of money. When I say crazy amount, I mean an extra 400 million to raise the roof to add a 2nd level on the west side. Then they would have to demolish the east dide addition and add a 2nd level, then rebuild the east side. It would shut the dome down for 2 football seasons and we would have to play our home games in Grand Forks, with a capacity of 12,283. Since UND plays Saturday games, many of our home games would have to be on a Friday or Sunday or 9 pm on Saturday. NDSU would lose a ton of money

Meanwhile the Fargodome would have 0 revenue for 2 years with 0 events and would operate in the red, draining the surplus. Grand Forks and Sioux Falls would get every concert and event. We would lose 16 concerts in 2 years, USA Wrestling (the largest wrestling event in the world) and the 8,000 wrestlers it attracts. No WWE, Monster Jam, Disney on Ice, Dakota Bowl, Rib Fest, Rodeo, Circus, Rumble on the Red, State High School wrestling tournament, etc

Hotels would be screwed. All the businesses near the dome would be screwed. The airport would see a 2 year decline during a time they are doubling the terminal and adding a parking ramp

The expansion they are planning would be done in phases.

We only sell out 2 games in 2 years. UND and SDSU. Homecoming is close to a sellout. Even the semi final game last year vs Incarnate Word drew 12,569.

We need to curb the trend of averaging less than 15,000. Yesterdays game was huge and it drew 14,191. Fan experience is a part of that. Women don't want to wait 10-15 minutes to pee, have mediocre choices for food and drinks, have concourses be jammed and bottlenecking food and bathroom lines, or waiting in the cold and wind to get through metal detectors. They want club seats, fancy drinks, cell phone charging stations, restaurants, etc

Although it hasnt been too bad this year because weve only averaged 14k. Murray State probably had 10k

imo... the main issue is having more capacity... but also adding the things that you wrote about. Shutting down is not an option either. So the solution is...