What's Needed At The Alerus?

[northernraider]

18 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

It is just too amateur. The approach to UND football gameday operations is way too apathetic. No one cares enough. 

UND and/or the Alerus Center need to hire employees with an IQ at least over 50. At least have that as a prerequisite.

Also, UND’s athletic department headed by Chaves needs to better emphasize Alerus Center gameday operations as an area of much needed improvement.

Everyone who agrees with this needs to contact Chaves and voice your concern. In my limited experience speaking with Chaves thus far, count me unimpressed. 

Ya I'm wondering what's up with Chaves. I've haven't seen him make much of an impact at this point. Maybe the new basketball coach can change my mind. 

[LH Golfer]

Kudos to the young man in the student section that got the west side of the Alerus fired up and loud in the 4th quarter this past Saturday!!!

I don't understand the music selections coming from the booth. On Saturday, the team is fighting for its life and the PA plays "Sweet Caroline", how does that get the crowd fired up? I think the music playlist could be improved. Or let  the Band take care of it.

Is the Band mic'd? If not they should be.

[Cratter]

Pretty impressive new video screens in the Alerus concourse.

Nice touch.

[WiSioux]

1 hour ago, LH Golfer said:

Kudos to the young man in the student section that got the west side of the Alerus fired up and loud in the 4th quarter this past Saturday!!!

I don't understand the music selections coming from the booth. On Saturday, the team is fighting for its life and the PA plays "Sweet Caroline", how does that get the crowd fired up? I think the music playlist could be improved. Or let  the Band take care of it.

Is the Band mic'd? If not they should be.

People love Sweet Caroline because they get to participate and sing along....

[northernraider]

UMC Crookston FB game moved to Alerus Center. 

 http://www.kroxam.com/2019/10/07/umc-footballs-game-on-saturday-moved-to-the-alerus-center/

[F'n Hawks]

11 hours ago, LH Golfer said:

Kudos to the young man in the student section that got the west side of the Alerus fired up and loud in the 4th quarter this past Saturday!!!

I don't understand the music selections coming from the booth. On Saturday, the team is fighting for its life and the PA plays "Sweet Caroline", how does that get the crowd fired up? I think the music playlist could be improved. Or let  the Band take care of it.

Is the Band mic'd? If not they should be.

I also don’t get why they play music on 3rd down when we are on offense...

[YourInSiouxCountry]

1 hour ago, F'n Hawks said:

I also don’t get why they play music on 3rd down when we are on offense...

I ask myself that same question Everytime UND has a 3rd down.  

[Mama Sue]

7 hours ago, YourInSiouxCountry said:

I ask myself that same question Everytime UND has a 3rd down.  

Well in old days there was an awesome announcer who called out, ”Alright Sioux fans on your feet for the third down( both offense and defense??).” And your eyes were glued to the field. Now there is music and the monitors have a flashing g sign “On your feet!” The ambiance has changed. Ditto for no one announcing tackles or runs... the announcer saying a name a certain way with a certain pitch to his voice...”Tackled by Travissssss Oooo’Neil. (R.I.P.) 

I might be old but a computerized monitor screen does not motivate me!

Could improve the experience at the Alerus....

[LH Golfer]

20 hours ago, WiSioux said:

People love Sweet Caroline because they get to participate and sing along....

At that point in the game it was do or die and the team needed energy from the fans. Not the time for a campfire sing along waiting for the s'mores to get done.

 

[geaux_sioux]

1 hour ago, LH Golfer said:

At that point in the game it was do or die and the team needed energy from the fans. Not the time for a campfire sing along waiting for the s'mores to get done.

 

Context context context. There’s a time and a place for that song and it wasn’t then.

[bincitysioux]

Again, what the Alerus needs is competent production team in the control room.  They continually botch the intro/run-out.

And if we are going to enter to a Metallica song, I say we ditch For Whom the Bell Tolls, rip off Virginia Tech, and get Enter Sandman thumping through the sound system........

[jdub27]

Having the UND staff member who helped with that stuff at the Alerus leave their job on August 30th has been a big part to some of the gameday issues that are popping up.

[UND-FB-FAN]

17 hours ago, bincitysioux said:

Again, what the Alerus needs is competent production team in the control room.  They continually botch the intro/run-out.

And if we are going to enter to a Metallica song, I say we ditch For Whom the Bell Tolls, rip off Virginia Tech, and get Enter Sandman thumping through the sound system........

The Alerus Center could be a much better gameday environment if the right people for UND and the Alerus Center were involved. 

Without going into a huge list which I have posted on this website numerous times over the years, the gameday environment has potential if the right amount of emphasis and dedication is placed. 

The gameday committee UND had a couple years back - following the Big Sky Championship which no doubt had an impact - was the right idea to get things going. Unfortunately that committee dissolved and UND is back to lackluster gameday production and management.  

The seating situation in the Alerus Center is another issue that I won’t again bring up at this time, but it also does contribute to a gloomy empty atmosphere, especially in the second half. 

[CMSioux]

On 10/7/2019 at 10:22 PM, F'n Hawks said:

I also don’t get why they play music on 3rd down when we are on offense...

This - whoever is running the audio has obviously no clue about how to make music a home field advantage. Hint: when UND is in their huddle and especially when they are within 10 seconds of hiking the ball we don't want any music! 

[nodak651]

23 minutes ago, CMSioux said:

This - whoever is running the audio has obviously no clue about how to make music a home field advantage. Hint: when UND is in their huddle and especially when they are within 10 seconds of hiking the ball we don't want any music! 

Haven't made it to a game this year or last year, but I'd agree with this.  What really got me was that when they did play music, they were always really slow with getting it started after the play is blown dead.  It would start like half way between the whistle and snap of the ball, and you could hear all of like 10 seconds of the song.  Not a huge deal but another one of those little things that add up.  Guessing that hasn't changed.  

Also, why did that committee dissolve?  Chaves?

[UND-FB-FAN]

13 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Haven't made it to a game this year or last year, but I'd agree with this.  What really got me was that when they did play music, they were always really slow with getting it started after the play is blown dead.  It would start like half way between the whistle and snap of the ball, and you could hear all of like 10 seconds of the song.  Not a huge deal but another one of those little things that add up.  Guessing that hasn't changed.  

Also, why did that committee dissolve?  Chaves?

Winning (2016 Big Sky Championship) seemed to jump start the idea that UND football deserved a consistent top tier game day experience. 

Here is the article initially describing the aims of the committee: http://blogs.und.edu/und-today/2017/07/fan-tastic-experience/

The committee was also headed by former President Kennedy. His absence - along with the presence of Chaves as you said - has changed the dynamics of the UND Athletics Department along with their goals. Apparently, per Chaves, the game day experience/atmosphere of the Alerus Center on UND football game days is less of an emphasis. 

Perhaps, with consistent winning, the idea of a more elaborate game day for UND football will return. I heavily, heavily caution people who think winning is all that matters to re-consider their stance. There are winning programs with poor game day presentations and alternatively losing programs with awesome game day experiences around the country. Of course, though, winning programs do tend to have positive game day experiences because they go hand in hand (winning yields motivation for ancillary staff to pay attention to the details). 

[jdub27]

13 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Apparently, per Chaves, the game day experience/atmosphere of the Alerus Center on UND football game days is less of an emphasis. 

Unless you can show me something where he specifically said that, I'm going to say that is not accurate at all. They work a ton with the Alerus to improve the game-day experience. Still a ton of room for improvement but to imply they emphasizing making it better is BS.

As for the committee, it was never meant to be a standing committee. They came up with a bunch of ideas, figured out which ones they could implement and did so. That being said, I'm fine with the argument that it is something that should be considered as a longer-term committee (I'm sure you'd be willing to reach out to Chaves and put your name in the hat?).

[UND-FB-FAN]

3 hours ago, jdub27 said:

Unless you can show me something where he specifically said that, I'm going to say that is not accurate at all. They work a ton with the Alerus to improve the game-day experience. Still a ton of room for improvement but to imply they emphasizing making it better is BS.

As for the committee, it was never meant to be a standing committee. They came up with a bunch of ideas, figured out which ones they could implement and did so. That being said, I'm fine with the argument that it is something that should be considered as a longer-term committee (I'm sure you'd be willing to reach out to Chaves and put your name in the hat?).

Thanks for your info and speculation? Picking out one line and focusing on that is petty. Chaves still has his work cut out for him. 

UND and the Alerus Center, along with outside help, need to work together to improve the UND football gameday experience. A lot of potential for bigger and better things which is what should make it exciting for anyone with drive and initiative.  

And that wouldn’t be you since you’re content with the status quo? 

[jdub27]

26 minutes ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Thanks for your info and speculation? Picking out one line and focusing on that is petty. Chaves still has his work cut out for him. 

UND and the Alerus Center, along with outside help, need to work together to improve the UND football gameday experience. A lot of potential for bigger and better things which is what should make it exciting for anyone with drive and initiative.  

And that wouldn’t be you since you’re content with the status quo? 

You specifically stated "per Chaves" there was going to be less emphasis on gameday experience. It should be easy to cite a direct claim like that. I've heard nothing but the opposite from the athletic department and Chaves himself.

And again, I specifically stated there is plenty of room for improvement, so other than making things up, I'm not sure how you would come to the conclusion that I'm satisfied with how it is (hint - I'm not). We both agree that there is a lot of potential there. 

As always, if you don't agree with the most aggressive line of thinking out there, regardless of reality/rationality/reasonableness, you are obviously content, satisfied or happy with the status-quo because there is no middle ground to be had. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

18 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

You specifically stated "per Chaves" there was going to be less emphasis on gameday experience. It should be easy to cite a direct claim like that. I've heard nothing but the opposite from the athletic department and Chaves himself.

And again, I specifically stated there is plenty of room for improvement, so other than making things up, I'm not sure how you would come to the conclusion that I'm satisfied with how it is (hint - I'm not). We both agree that there is a lot of potential there. 

As always, if you don't agree with the most aggressive line of thinking out there, regardless of reality/rationality/reasonableness, you are obviously content, satisfied or happy with the status-quo because there is no middle ground to be had. 

Happy to hear you agree there is room for improvement. 

[Ozzie82]

2 hours ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

And that wouldn’t be you since you’re content with the status quo? 

Please stop with these types of posts. Please. Anyone who disagrees with you "accepts average," "content with the status quo," or other such garbage. Aside from the fact that it's rarely true, there are many ways to skin a cat - and guess what - sometimes it may differ from your opinion. This line of thinking is so tiresome.

[jdub27]

1 hour ago, UND-FB-FAN said:

Happy to hear you agree there is room for improvement. 

Too bad you missed it the first time and instead decided to trot out the old "happy with the status quo" argument, which I suppose is easier than responding with substance.

[UND-FB-FAN]

2 hours ago, jdub27 said:

Too bad you missed it the first time and instead decided to trot out the old "happy with the status quo" argument, which I suppose is easier than responding with substance.

Responding with substance? I certainly wouldn’t rely on you to be the judge of that. 

My assessments have been right more often than not and I’m not changing my stance because one or two homers can’t see straight. 

[bincitysioux]

I will also say that obviously winning regularly would be the largest driver an exciting atmosphere.  The atmosphere was fantastic from 2001-2008 or so, and also at various points in between.  It's a wonderful venue when the crowd is raucous and engaged.  I fully expect to get to that point again sooner rather than later.  In the meantime, there are just some small things that the event staff could do to foster an exciting environment.

[UND-FB-FAN]

1 hour ago, bincitysioux said:

I will also say that obviously winning regularly would be the largest driver an exciting atmosphere.  The atmosphere was fantastic from 2001-2008 or so, and also at various points in between.  It's a wonderful venue when the crowd is raucous and engaged.  I fully expect to get to that point again sooner rather than later.  In the meantime, there are just some small things that the event staff could do to foster an exciting environment.

Most recently, the 2016 playoff game versus Richmond was a fabulous atmosphere. If UND hockey wasn’t playing in Madison Square Garden that same weekend, it would have been even more exciting. Unfortunately, after UND lost that game in disappointing fashion, the excitement in the Alerus Center has steadily decreased. 

The 2017 regular season was the most focused and emphasized season I’ve seen from UND and Alerus Center in terms of amping up the gameday atmosphere. Unfortunately, the team didn’t produce (3-8) and the hype inevitably died. 

I’m just hoping for several small changes, like @bincitysioux stated. Examples include good tailgating setup with vendors, great pre-game videos on the video boards including previous week highlights, well designed and planned team intro with pump up music and pyrotechnics, in-game features, and midfield seating on both west and east sides for fans who will stay the entire game  (Champions Club seating both midfield sections).

Not one huge change (other than maybe seating) but rather just a collection of many detailed changes.