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Posted
1 hour ago, UND Fan said:

The Ralph was built with little planning and forethought.  They wanted to make sure it was complete prior to The Ralph hosting the World Junior hockey tourney in 2004 and they didn't want to spend any more than necessary. In fact, it was Coach Glas' understanding that that the capacity of the arena would be 4,000.  It wasn't until the construction was well underway that he learned that it would hold only 3,100.  

You are correct that meeting rooms and a weight room were not included in the original plans.  

Do you remember if the Herald covered this?  Kinda want to see if I can find an old article about this.  Seems to have been common knowledge.  Would also love to see the original plans, and it would be interesting to know if UND had any say in that change.

  • Upvote 1
Posted
1 hour ago, gfhockey said:

Well we put over 2500 for one game each team all year. I don’t think capacity is the issue

It can be built up with a winning team

the Hyslop held 5 to 6 thousand and many games were well above the 3100 the Betty holds, getting a ticket for the bison game wasn’t easy and you had to call to get tickets and they didn’t go on sale until game week.

Posted
5 minutes ago, Kab said:

It can be built up with a winning team

the Hyslop held 5 to 6 thousand and many games were well above the 3100 the Betty holds, getting a ticket for the bison game wasn’t easy and you had to call to get tickets and they didn’t go on sale until game week.

USD built a huge arena that probably can hold 5K... they get nowhere close to anything like that... even NDSU has a bigger arena and most nights it's not close to full... I like that the Betty is "Smaller" and more intimate... I think that is an advantage... As good as SDSU has been the last decade... their crowds haven't been anywhere close to what people would think...

 

With all these games being streamed and on the internet.. i would argue that smaller arenas are better right now.

 

Posted
1 minute ago, SD UND said:

USD built a huge arena that probably can hold 5K... they get nowhere close to anything like that... even NDSU has a bigger arena and most nights it's not close to full... I like that the Betty is "Smaller" and more intimate... I think that is an advantage... As good as SDSU has been the last decade... their crowds haven't been anywhere close to what people would think...

 

With all these games being streamed and on the internet.. i would argue that smaller arenas are better right now.

 

Yeah I don’t think there’s any reason to necessarily increase the size of the Betty but I do wish the bleachers were replaced with something more permanent and moved closer to the play. Feel like we could make the Betty a more on top of you feeling. I know the practice facility would have to come first for this though. 

  • Upvote 2
Posted
2 hours ago, HoopsFan03 said:

Agree, the Betty capacity isn't an issue. Practice facility should be #1 priority for basketball. If you don't have a practice facility as a D1 program you are already significantly behind when it comes to recruiting good talent. 

In explaining what happened when the Betty was built, I didn't say anything about the 3,100 capacity being an issue today (hopefully, it is an issue again someday soon).  But it was a big issue back then...

Year              Attendance                   Rank in DII     

2001-2              2,987                              4th

2002-3             3,857                              2nd

2003-4             3,423                              3rd

2004-5*            2,550                              11th

* First year playing in The Betty.

You can see why Rich Glas (and many others) were blindsided by the lack of planning and communication that took place when The Betty was built! 

A friend and I funded the weightroom!  I could tell you more stories but you get the drift!!

  • Upvote 1
Posted
56 minutes ago, SWSiouxMN said:

When UND played NDSU in 2012, there was atmosphere, fun and a court storm!

Yeah that game was pretty awesome.  Something like 7.5K in attendance if I remember correctly.  I think pushing the court to one end could work best for size/environment if a curtain could be rigged up behind the scoreboard somehow.  Would likely look bad when stored up in rafters though.  D1k7QQoX4AEdgis.jpg:large

Posted
2 hours ago, Und246 said:

Except Ralph has zero atmosphere for basketball. 

You must not have been at the UND Kansas (Boschee) game. It can rock given the correct circumstances. They introduced one of our HOF teams, they had the Wizard of Oz “we’re not in Kansas anymore”  video and UND went up on Kansas early. 
 

Posted

Yes. If you get 13,500 to a game the Ralph can rock. 95 per cent of the games the sound would be up by the suites. Anybody that went to those games at the Ralph would admit you don’t feel the crowd hardly at all except for those unique games. That is the reality of it. 

Posted
30 minutes ago, Und246 said:

Yes. If you get 13,500 to a game the Ralph can rock. 95 per cent of the games the sound would be up by the suites. Anybody that went to those games at the Ralph would admit you don’t feel the crowd hardly at all except for those unique games. That is the reality of it. 

Yeah I know. Even if we were battling for conference titles and playoffs I doubt we would get 5000 except maybe Bison game.  It’s tough to re-engage the fans especially the students. 

Posted
33 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Free beer would attract many 

Would be cool if they did a happy hour thing or some sort of beer/drink special. Could help create a rowdier environment too, just can’t get too rowdy. 

Posted
2 hours ago, SWSiouxMN said:

Swinging this thread back to our committed recruits, I see Bothun dropped 40 points and grabbed 15 rebounds on Friday Night. 

I need to watch a full game of his. Have only seen highlights but seems very skilled 

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