What's Needed At The Alerus?

[fightingsioux4life]

Two years ago you could find maybe two bison things tucked away in the gf scheels. Winning 4 in a row and gf expanding their stoor in a new location = more space and more everything, including bison gear. Once we get really good at football again and maybe once the hockey team stops choking there will be even more UND stuff. A new nickname and logo may help as well.

I think us not having a logo makes a huge difference.  Most generic und clothing looks pretty bland.

Agree 100% with all of this.

[siouxfan512]

What the Alerus Center needs:

To be gone.

Obviously this isn't going to happen, at least not anytime soon. But what UND needs is a stadium that is on campus, a place where the student can walk over and tailgate. Never been a fan of the Alerus. Its like watching football in a big Pole Barn. Hate that there are no seats behind the end zones, and it just doesn't make for a great environment.

[fightingsioux4life]

What the Alerus Center needs:

To be gone.

Obviously this isn't going to happen, at least not anytime soon. But what UND needs is a stadium that is on campus, a place where the student can walk over and tailgate. Never been a fan of the Alerus. Its like watching football in a big Pole Barn. Hate that there are no seats behind the end zones, and it just doesn't make for a great environment.

Our teams of 2001-2005 would disagree with you. I'll take their word over yours (or mine for that matter) on this topic every day and twice on Sundays.

[ericpnelson]

What happened to the shop in the concourse? I was on a mission to find something that I would actually wanna buy, but to no avail.

[NoiseInsideMyHead]

What happened to the shop in the concourse? I was on a mission to find something that I would actually wanna buy, but to no avail.

Too few sales.  High labor costs.  Owner got bored.  Alerus got greedy with the rent.  I don't know the answer, but take your pick.

[Irish]

The PA announcer sounds like the William Macy character in Fargo.  

[siouxfan512]

Our teams of 2001-2005 would disagree with you. I'll take their word over yours (or mine for that matter) on this topic every day and twice on Sundays.

I was at the games in that time frame. Yes the environment was better, because there were more fans. But overall, the building kind of sucks, and the locations isn't that great. There are certainly worse venues, but there are definitely better ones too.

 

[fightingsioux4life]

I was at the games in that time frame. Yes the environment was better, because there were more fans. But overall, the building kind of sucks, and the locations isn't that great. There are certainly worse venues, but there are definitely better ones too.

 

The 2001 Division II National Semifinal game vs. UC-Davis proves that the building is a great home field advantage for our team. And of course there are more fans when you are winning, which I think we will get back to in the next couple of years when we are playing meaningful games again.

[82SiouxGuy]

What happened to the shop in the concourse? I was on a mission to find something that I would actually wanna buy, but to no avail.

The company that operated it is going through some major staff changes. I don't know if that is the reason they don't have the shop this year, but it is probably at least part of the reason.

[Ozzie82]

Please replace the PA guy.  I enjoy the enthusiasm but his voice is too high pitched for my taste.  

 

I'm just not sure exactly what to do to improve the atmosphere other than having a winning team and getting more fans in the seats.  Watching a game there is sterile and boring.  It's a real shame because it's a great facility overall.  It's just an average football venue.

 

To echo what others have said it's frustrating to have no football specific clothing options at the bookstore or elsewhere, and there can't be too many football venues (I include high schools) that don't sell merchandise at the stadium.  There are some tables in the tailgate area but it's flummoxing why there isn't stuff to buy inside.

[geaux_sioux]

The PA guy is a joke. The guy before was awesome. He had the perfect voice. We need someone with bass.

[Matt]

The 2001 Division II National Semifinal game vs. UC-Davis proves that the building is a great home field advantage for our team. And of course there are more fans when you are winning, which I think we will get back to in the next couple of years when we are playing meaningful games again.

 While there's no arguing the environment at that game, or any of the playoff games for that matter, I'm not sure you take that game and position it as representative of the general gameday experience of the building at your average home game like this last weekend for a conference home opener when the team is 2-1.

[fightingsioux4life]

 While there's no arguing the environment at that game, or any of the playoff games for that matter, I'm not sure you take that game and position it as representative of the general gameday experience of the building at your average home game like this last weekend for a conference home opener when the team is 2-1.

When we start winning games again, the atmosphere will improve. What part of that do people not understand? Do you really want to go back outside so we can have 2,000 people for a November home game with a game time temp of 28 degrees?

[siouxfan512]

The 2001 Division II National Semifinal game vs. UC-Davis proves that the building is a great home field advantage for our team. And of course there are more fans when you are winning, which I think we will get back to in the next couple of years when we are playing meaningful games again.

Hope you are right. I know winning and adding some fans would certainly solve a lot of problems. Tough to have energy in a place, when we have been so irrelevant for so long. 

That being said, I would love to see a nice football stadium on campus. I know when I was in college, I would have loved to be able to just walk over to tailgating (the years that I didn't play in the band). Memorial Stadium is such a perfect location too, right across from the fraternities, there is a bunch of parking for tailgating. You could have people park over the the Ralph too, and take a quick bus over. I just think being on campus really adds to the game day experience.

Of course a new stadium is a totall pipe dream, but still, nothing wrong with that kind of request on a forum thread.

Who wants to start a Go Fund Me campaign?

[UNDBIZ]

When we start winning games again, the atmosphere will improve. What part of that do people not understand? Do you really want to go back outside so we can have 2,000 people for a November home game with a game time temp of 28 degrees?

Agreed.  Even during the down years, we've still had 7-8,000 people at games.  Put the games outside where it's cold, windy, and rainy and there would be 3,000.

[82SiouxGuy]

Hope you are right. I know winning and adding some fans would certainly solve a lot of problems. Tough to have energy in a place, when we have been so irrelevant for so long. 

That being said, I would love to see a nice football stadium on campus. I know when I was in college, I would have loved to be able to just walk over to tailgating (the years that I didn't play in the band). Memorial Stadium is such a perfect location too, right across from the fraternities, there is a bunch of parking for tailgating. You could have people park over the the Ralph too, and take a quick bus over. I just think being on campus really adds to the game day experience.

Of course a new stadium is a totall pipe dream, but still, nothing wrong with that kind of request on a forum thread.

Who wants to start a Go Fund Me campaign?

More students live off campus than on campus. Considering the fact that they are now renting dorm space to students from Northland, there are probably fewer students living on campus right now than there have been in many years. An on campus stadium might have some advantages, but students access probably isn't a major advantage compared to the Alerus Center.

And those temperatures under 32 degrees can happen in October, or possibly even the end of September in Grand Forks. Weather is a major reason that the Alerus Center is a much better option than an open air stadium on campus.

[siouxfan512]

More students live off campus than on campus. Considering the fact that they are now renting dorm space to students from Northland, there are probably fewer students living on campus right now than there have been in many years. An on campus stadium might have some advantages, but students access probably isn't a major advantage compared to the Alerus Center.

And those temperatures under 32 degrees can happen in October, or possibly even the end of September in Grand Forks. Weather is a major reason that the Alerus Center is a much better option than an open air stadium on campus.

C'mon man, I said its a pipe dream. Given the sincerity of the conversation, lets talk retractable roof!

Edited September 28, 2015 by siouxfan512

[jdub27]

Hope you are right. I know winning and adding some fans would certainly solve a lot of problems. Tough to have energy in a place, when we have been so irrelevant for so long. 

That being said, I would love to see a nice football stadium on campus. I know when I was in college, I would have loved to be able to just walk over to tailgating (the years that I didn't play in the band). Memorial Stadium is such a perfect location too, right across from the fraternities, there is a bunch of parking for tailgating. You could have people park over the the Ralph too, and take a quick bus over. I just think being on campus really adds to the game day experience.

There is?

I'd love to have football move on campus but the parking situation would be terrible, especially tailgating, as it currently sits.  Agree to disagree on that one.

[fightingsioux4life]

C'mon man, I said its a pipe dream. Given the sincerity of the conversation, lets talk retractable roof!

Fair enough, but I think we should work on filling up the stadium we have now before we talk about a big-time upgrade to Memorial Stadium.

[UNDBIZ]

C'mon man, I said its a pipe dream. Given the sincerity of the conversation, lets talk retractable roof!

I struggle to even dream of a retractable roof.  I've heard the "glass" being used for the Vikings new stadium is relatively cost effective though.

[82SiouxGuy]

C'mon man, I said its a pipe dream. Given the sincerity of the conversation, lets talk retractable roof!

Why not? I'm sure that everyone has a couple of hundred million dollars laying around and can donate some of it to build the stadium.

[geaux_sioux]

Retractable roof in this climate would be a huge waste of a ton of money. A nice permanent roof would do much better. Also, I don't care where the students are living, on campus has a certain feel to it that we are lacking at the Alerus. Also it would be a hell of a lot less windy on campus.

[siouxfan512]

Retractable roof in this climate would be a huge waste of a ton of money. A nice permanent roof would do much better. Also, I don't care where the students are living, on campus has a certain feel to it that we are lacking at the Alerus. Also it would be a hell of a lot less windy on campus.

Agreed, now if a Ralph like donor wanted to pay for it, I'd be happy to see it happen. That being said, I completely agree, a campus stadium would be better, it would be less windy, tailgating would be better, and I just see it being a better experience. Not saying the school should just go commit to dropping that much money on a stadium, but maybe at some point in the future.

What was the cost of the IPF? Phase 1 and Phase 2? Just curious how much that cost in comparison to a stadium (which I would have to imagine would be, at least, 80 myn (and that number could be way way off)

[geaux_sioux]

3-400 Million is what I think a new nice stadium would cost. If we were in Cali would could do a great one for 70-80 million or even less. SDSU is renovating their open air place from a !@#$ hole to one of the best in the country for 66 million. Here's how they did it. http://danajdykhousestadium.com/project-details/ 

[tnt]

Well South Dakota State added on to their Stadioum so the seating capacity is 25,000.  Are they setting themselves up to be ready for some sort of move.  What would UND have to do to be ready in case things move in a different direction with the Big Sky or making a different move with some of the Dakota schools? 25,000 seats for a small town like Brookings seems like a lot.