What's Needed At The Alerus?

[Mama Sue]

Is the PA no longer allowed to say: "On your feet UND fans....Its third down!!"?

Best damn post in months.....who can answer it???  When did it ever quit???

[nodak651]

Best damn post in months.....who can answer it???  When did it ever quit???

Like turning out the lights, maybe the Alerus just didn't feel like doing it anymore.

[UND-FB-FAN]

Like turning out the lights, maybe the Alerus just didn't feel like doing it anymore.

Then the Alerus Center needs to realistically adjust their expectations and actually support their tenant. Remember when Alerus Center denied the UND logo at mid-field of the field turf because they desired advertising rights? In my opinion, the Alerus Center has hurt their reputation rather then enhance it with their treatment of UND football.

Its this kind of thing that perhaps justifies a move back to campus for UND football. I hope the Alerus Center eventually comes to their senses and better supports UND football.  

[geaux_sioux]

Then the Alerus Center needs to realistically adjust their expectations and actually support their tenant. Remember when Alerus Center denied the UND logo at mid-field of the field turf because they desired advertising rights? In my opinion, the Alerus Center has hurt their reputation rather then enhance it with their treatment of UND football.

Its this kind of thing that perhaps justifies a move back to campus for UND football. I hope the Alerus Center eventually comes to their senses and better supports UND football.  

The Alerus sucks. Can have a good loud atmosphere with fans in the place but other than that I absolutly hate the place. It's mostly to due with how they treat the football team. They could get so much more out of Saturday's and leave a better impression if they gave 1 shite about the football team.

[southpaw]

Like turning out the lights, maybe the Alerus just didn't feel like doing it anymore.

this is a gameday thing so it's a und athletic department thing. 

Fyi, a lot of conferences have rules saying the announcer must appear to be impartial. You won't hear any of that type of stuff at a decent number of schools. 

[siouxfan512]

The Alerus sucks. Can have a good loud atmosphere with fans in the place but other than that I absolutly hate the place. It's mostly to due with how they treat the football team. They could get so much more out of Saturday's and leave a better impression if they gave 1 shite about the football team.

this! Alerus center sucks, take the noise and the fans and move back on campus.

[fightingsioux4life]

this! Alerus center sucks, take the noise and the fans and move back on campus.

Well, first we need to raise a crap load of money because Memorial Stadium as it is won't cut it.

[southpaw]

Well, first we need to raise a crap load of money because Memorial Stadium as it is won't cut it.

We never should have gone D1 if we can't afford a 100 million dollar retractable roof stadium in campus. Might as well drop all sports. 

 

I don't remember these issues when und was winning big in the early 2000s. 

[fightingsioux4life]

We never should have gone D1 if we can't afford a 100 million dollar retractable roof stadium in campus. Might as well drop all sports. 

 

I don't remember these issues when und was winning big in the early 2000s. 

I agree with you, I was just pointing out the one obvious obstacle to moving back to campus. SDSU has gone from a crap hole stadium to facilities that should rank in the top 10 of FCS. If we want to do that in Grand Forks, we will need to raise a lot of money.

But again, we have to ask ourselves the $1 million question: Will people go to home games when the temperature is below 40 degrees? I would hate to have a crucial late season game at home in front of 3,000 people; we cannot give up our home field advantage purely for the nostalgia of playing outdoors again.

[UND-FB-FAN]

I don't remember these issues when und was winning big in the early 2000s. 

There's no question - winning covers up many deficiencies. The effort put forth by the Alerus Center is certainly one of those deficiencies. 

[WeAreNorthDakota]

A few years ago I worked on the marketing team for the athletic department and was actually the guy in the production booth cuing a lot of the timing for videos and music and what not. The setup then, and I can't imagine it has changed much, was far from ideal. I would receive feedback and instructions on things like music volume from the director of marketing who was on field level. I would then relay those to Alerus employees actually controlling the video boards and sound system. I specifically remember an instance where I was told to turn up the music on 3rd downs on defense by the guy on the field, relayed that to the guy running the sound and his boss told him not to turn it up because it was already loud enough. It was constantly a battle with the Alerus staff to try get things where we wanted them and we often were forced to settle for less than what we thought was best for the game day experience. As far as the lights go, I do remember it taking quite a long time to get the lights back up to game time brightness and we squeezed that time into our pre game script with less than 5 seconds of leeway. A lot of the pregame script timing was dictated to us by the Big Sky and we would have to build the video and intros around those times. If the Big Sky cut a minute or even 30 seconds from the time allotted then the lights would not be able to be back up to the required brightness and kickoff would be delayed, tv broadcast would be screwed up, etc. that's my guess as to why the lights no longer go off. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

A few years ago I worked on the marketing team for the athletic department and was actually the guy in the production booth cuing a lot of the timing for videos and music and what not. The setup then, and I can't imagine it has changed much, was far from ideal. I would receive feedback and instructions on things like music volume from the director of marketing who was on field level. I would then relay those to Alerus employees actually controlling the video boards and sound system. I specifically remember an instance where I was told to turn up the music on 3rd downs on defense by the guy on the field, relayed that to the guy running the sound and his boss told him not to turn it up because it was already loud enough. It was constantly a battle with the Alerus staff to try get things where we wanted them and we often were forced to settle for less than what we thought was best for the game day experience. As far as the lights go, I do remember it taking quite a long time to get the lights back up to game time brightness and we squeezed that time into our pre game script with less than 5 seconds of leeway. A lot of the pregame script timing was dictated to us by the Big Sky and we would have to build the video and intros around those times. If the Big Sky cut a minute or even 30 seconds from the time allotted then the lights would not be able to be back up to the required brightness and kickoff would be delayed, tv broadcast would be screwed up, etc. that's my guess as to why the lights no longer go off. 

Essentially, UND is butting heads with the Alerus Center staff, and I think most long-term UND football fans have noticed that. Thank you for your insight on this matter.

The most important thing is to win, but you have to wonder what it would be like if UND didn't have to rely on a secondary staff to promote a game day atmosphere. That is, what would it be like if UND had full control at an on-campus facility? The Alerus Center - like the Fargodome for NDSU - should embrace the atmosphere potential; instead, they undermine it. For this reason, renovating Memorial Stadium should still be on the table for the distant future. 

[Irish]

I know we are stuck here in the short term, but we can't get out of this uncooperative crap hole fast enough,  They just don't get it and have shown no signs of wanting to get it.  Let them sit with wedding dances and a concert every 4th year.  Sadly, this could have been a pretty good home for Sioux football with a little cooperation.  

[fightingsioux4life]

I know we are stuck here in the short term, but we can't get out of this uncooperative crap hole fast enough,  They just don't get it and have shown no signs of wanting to get it.  Let them sit with wedding dances and a concert every 4th year.  Sadly, this could have been a pretty good home for Sioux football with a little cooperation.  

Well, they did have two big-time concerts this past summer (The Eagles and Def Leppard). But yes, they need to start treating UND football better.

[Siouxperfan7]

Time for the Alerus to prove what they claim on the outside of the building!!

[Siouxper Slam 29]

I'll throw my two cents in here.  This is what I think needs to change at the Alerus Center:

1. Winning (duh)

2. Student Involvement: Sad as it is to say, the students (and all students) seem to have ADD and can't keep their attention on one thing for too long.  It's a nation-wide problem to get to students to go to games and then keep them there.  Free t-shirts, TVs, and prizes given away at the end of the game help, but they have to be passionate about the team.  I've always wondered how the traditions at men's hockey get passed down to the freshmen?  They need to do the same thing for football. 

3. Green the place: Everything is bare-bones, basic, and boring.  There's nothing that is even remotely pleasant about the concourses or the seating sections.  There's no UND pride in the building.

Natural lighting would certainly help, some better quality or better priced concessions, and just a better overall atmosphere.  Outside tailgating is great & vibrant...then everyone is pushed inside the arena (I think someone described it as a pole barn, which is very accurate), and they're forced to watch the same commercials and same promotions every game.  There's nothing to get excited about until the team continues to perform well on a consistent basis or fans take this issue by the throat and make the change themselves.

[ericpnelson]

I'll throw my two cents in here.  This is what I think needs to change at the Alerus Center:

1. Winning (duh)

2. Student Involvement: Sad as it is to say, the students (and all students) seem to have ADD and can't keep their attention on one thing for too long.  It's a nation-wide problem to get to students to go to games and then keep them there.  Free t-shirts, TVs, and prizes given away at the end of the game help, but they have to be passionate about the team.  I've always wondered how the traditions at men's hockey get passed down to the freshmen?  They need to do the same thing for football. 

3. Green the place: Everything is bare-bones, basic, and boring.  There's nothing that is even remotely pleasant about the concourses or the seating sections.  There's no UND pride in the building.

Natural lighting would certainly help, some better quality or better priced concessions, and just a better overall atmosphere.  Outside tailgating is great & vibrant...then everyone is pushed inside the arena (I think someone described it as a pole barn, which is very accurate), and they're forced to watch the same commercials and same promotions every game.  There's nothing to get excited about until the team continues to perform well on a consistent basis or fans take this issue by the throat and make the change themselves.

are you a student?

[Wildfan]

I'll throw my two cents in here.  This is what I think needs to change at the Alerus Center:

1. Winning (duh)

2. Student Involvement: Sad as it is to say, the students (and all students) seem to have ADD and can't keep their attention on one thing for too long.  It's a nation-wide problem to get to students to go to games and then keep them there.  Free t-shirts, TVs, and prizes given away at the end of the game help, but they have to be passionate about the team.  I've always wondered how the traditions at men's hockey get passed down to the freshmen?  They need to do the same thing for football. 

3. Green the place: Everything is bare-bones, basic, and boring.  There's nothing that is even remotely pleasant about the concourses or the seating sections.  There's no UND pride in the building.

Natural lighting would certainly help, some better quality or better priced concessions, and just a better overall atmosphere.  Outside tailgating is great & vibrant...then everyone is pushed inside the arena (I think someone described it as a pole barn, which is very accurate), and they're forced to watch the same commercials and same promotions every game.  There's nothing to get excited about until the team continues to perform well on a consistent basis or fans take this issue by the throat and make the change themselves.

UND students learn the Hockey traditions by going to the games and having the same thing happen every game. After a couple of games they catch on. The first few games every year the freshman aren't involved but then they learn. Football has no traditions to start with it seems for students any more. It needs to start with gameday production. If every year the intro song and things are different its hard for students to get a tradition in for that similar to what they do with In the Air Tonight at the Ralph. They get pumped up to it because they know its time for UND HOCKEY, just like VT gets pumped to Enter Sandman. 

[nodak651]

UND students learn the Hockey traditions by going to the games and having the same thing happen every game. After a couple of games they catch on. The first few games every year the freshman aren't involved but then they learn. Football has no traditions to start with it seems for students any more. It needs to start with gameday production. If every year the intro song and things are different its hard for students to get a tradition in for that similar to what they do with In the Air Tonight at the Ralph. They get pumped up to it because they know its time for UND HOCKEY, just like VT gets pumped to Enter Sandman. 

Football should just steal that song and play it before games in a similar fashion.  Same with Chelsea Dagger - play it after touchdowns.

[geaux_sioux]

Football should just steal that song and play it before games in a similar fashion.  Same with Chelsea Dagger - play it after touchdowns.

Its so unoriginal that it just might work.

[UNDBIZ]

Where is the sack city sign? That needs to come back. 

[jdub27]

Its so unoriginal that it just might work.

Maybe UND could just pass out a Chicago Blackhawks fan guide at freshman orientation? 

[SWSiouxMN]

Where is the sack city sign? That needs to come back. 

probably in some frat.  Havent seen since Poly in 2012

[Wildfan]

Where is the sack city sign? That needs to come back. 

That really does need to come back. I haven't seen the intro yet this year, but I think it should be built into the intro.

 

 

But my thoughts are that a intro is alot more dramatic when the atmosphere quickly changes, for example lights go off, music gets louder, and video goes on. It needs to be coordinated well to work.

[jjensen]

Where is the sack city sign? That needs to come back. 

Maybe this week it will show up.  Had to educate a couple students on it but hopefully will be back soon