The BETTY - less than 6 weeks away!

[SiouxMeNow]

[/quote}The event will feature Short

[pentaxman46]

During Phil Jackson's tenure at UND it was not uncommon to have 6,000-7,000attend games at the Hyslop. Because we are lucky to get 3,000 to games now doesn't mean they should have planned a facility that only seats 3,500. The Betty should have been built to accomadate at least 5,000-6,000 with all games being played there. I think the chances of UND going D-1 in the future are better than fair and the facility should have been planned with that in mind. To put all conference basketball games in the Ralph severely limits the hockey teams scheduling flexiblity. By the way if they want to create that close environment for bb in the Ralph they need to bring the seating all the way down from the hockey boards to coart side and take the plexiglass out, like they do in NBA/NHL arenas.

DG

[bigmrg74]

[dakotadan]

During Phil Jackson's tenure at UND it was not uncommon to have 6,000-7,000attend games at the Hyslop. Because we are lucky to get 3,000 to games now doesn't mean they should have planned a facility that only seats 3,500. The Betty should have been built to accomadate at least 5,000-6,000 with all games being played there. I think the chances of UND going D-1 in the future are better than fair and the facility should have been planned with that in mind. To put all conference basketball games in the Ralph severely limits the hockey teams scheduling flexiblity. By the way if they want to create that close environment for bb in the Ralph they need to bring the seating all the way down from the hockey boards to coart side and take the plexiglass out, like they do in NBA/NHL arenas.

I could not agree anymore. Hopefully this is a facility that will be around for quite some time. With Grand Forks and UND growing, I just fell that in the future it is going to be too small. And I highly doubt that Ralph envisioned his beautiful hockey arena being shared with the basketball teams, and having it only a quarter full for basketball games. Look at the MSU Dome in Minot. We don't need something that big but there is no reason they had to build the betty so small.

[The Sicatoka]

Gonzaga played the 2002-2003 season in a 4000 seat arena.

Wisconsin and Ohio State seem to make a common arena work.

And if need be, you can play basketball in Alerus Center (~9000).

[sioux goo]

if the plan is to go everywhere else to play...why build the Betty??? it doesnt make any sense, at least have it flexible so you could bring bleachers in and have the range of attendance, that would make the most sense, but then again..why do it if it makes sense.

[sioux goo]

also the Kohl center was built with basketball in mind, with the ice being lower than the first row of bleachers, so when basketball is in the Kohl center the bleachers they move in go right to the floor, big difference than what UND's current set up is like at the Ralph.

[The Sicatoka]

I hope the folks that say The Betty is too small turn out to be right.

Why?

That would mean attendance (and revenues) would be up compared to recent history and UND has the benefit of not one but two larger venues readily available.

Until then, The Betty, based on recent average attendance, seems about the right size.

[airmail]

also the Kohl center was built with basketball in mind, with the ice being lower than the first row of bleachers, so when basketball is in the Kohl center the bleachers they move in go right to the floor, big difference than what UND's current set up is like at the Ralph.

Very true. The fact is, REA was not built with basketball in mind. Hell, it wasn't even a twinkle in anyone's eye during the design phase. Could it be it was designed for hockey, and hockey only? Hmmmm...

I say they should have made The Betty bigger. Then we could have really screwed with home field advantage and played some football games there too.

***Of note, I think The Betty is the right size. My beef is not with the new facility, but the fact that they don't play all of their games there. Sorry, I just can't figure it out.

Edited August 12, 2004 by airmail

[The Sicatoka]

If they really do want to play some BB in The Ralph they should look at what they did in Buffalo during March Madness.

HSBC Arena was built for the Sabres. They came up with a pretty good floor seating plan to make it better to watch BB in.

[SiouxMeNow]

[bigmrg74]

[SiouxMeNow]

I have a fully filled zippo at my disposal

[nickelboy]

Anyone know if they are selling alcohol at the Betty, and if they are, can you take them to your seats?

[star2city]

Anyone know if they are selling alcohol at the Betty, and if they are, can you take them to your seats?

Nickelboy:

I believe the city council approved a revised ordinance that allows alcohol sales in all three venues: Ralph, Betty, and the Olympic arena.

From GFHerald:

The current provision that provides a license to the arena does not refer to multiple arenas, such as the main arena, the Olympic arena, or the Betty Engelstad Athletic Facilities. The amended ordinance will clarify that alcoholic beverages may be sold at all of the Ralph Engelstad Sports Facility Complex.

[dakotadan]

I was looking at the pix of Betty on theralph.com and noticed something. I have said on here many times that I think they should have made it bigger so that we have room for growth. If you look at the pix of the end seating, they look rather small. The blue prints show that they are going to pull the bleachers close to the court and have concesions behind them. It dawned on me that in the future, they can add much larger end seating if they choose to. They could easily probably add close to another 1000 if they filled the whole space that they have with seating.

[dakotadan]

Still wouldn't be quite as big as I would have liked to have seen it though.

[redwing77]

Need some clarification here on the Betty:

Are they still planning on playing most of the BB games in the Ralph and just having practices in the Betty? Or are they doing the sane thing in having a few games in the Ralph, but the majority in the Betty?

It seems to me that, if you build a new aena, you should PLAY IN IT. From what I've heard, this isn't the case.

[dmksioux]

All non-conference mens and womens basketball games are scheduled to be played in the Betty.

[BigGreyAnt41]

http://www.UND.edu/dept/undmusic/ensembles...e/schedule.html

Go there and scroll to the bottom. You can see the entire mens and womens basketball schedules.

[airmail]

All non-conference mens and womens basketball games are scheduled to be played in the Betty.

That's great, but how about the conference games? You know, the one's that matter for conference titles, playoff positions, and the like? Maybe a home court advantage would be advantageous for such games.

It seems to me that, if you build a new aena, you should PLAY IN IT.

What a novel idea. I vote RW77 for BESC general manager.

[Cratter]

It seems weird to have no center hung scoreboard. There only seems to be two little scoresheets on the ends. I was hoping for some tvs or something to show replays.

[dakotadan]

I went to the last V-ball game tonight and have quite a few statements about the arena. First of all, I have said that I thought it should be bigger. The sides are plenty big but the end seating could have been much bigger, and like I said before, if it comes to it, UND can add larger seating at the ends. I understand it was a v-ball game but the end seating just looks like it is sitting in the middle of no-where from the main stands. The Fighting Sioux "Club" on the main side takes up alot more room than it really needs to. They could have added many seats in that area. The place is very nice looking but I seriously it could have been planned out alot better. But considering they only plan on playing one or two games there for basketball who should give a !@$!? Aparrently even though the Betty is the new basketball arena, no basketball games of importance will be played there!!!!!!!

[sioux goo]

i believe next year all WBB for sure will be played in the Betty.

[JESUS,family,rutgers]

I keep seeing people talk about the main arena and the olympic rink. Which one does the hockey team play in ? Thanks.