2025 UND football

[forksandspoons]

Let’s go!!! New weight room looks amazing! Can’t wait to see more posts about the new facilities! 

 

[southpaw]

5 hours ago, CMSioux said:

All good - did anyone bring up:

- by only inviting those on the current active list they are missing those who quit tailgating and why they quit - they could have been reached by posting something on social media or sharing a survey to everyone on social media

It's really unfortunate that the only way UND accepts feedback is through this one poll only sent to the single name on a tailgate pass. 

 

Oh, wait that's not true at all. So many people upset they're not included on a targeted survey. There are plenty of other ways to share your input.

[forksandspoons]

5 hours ago, forksandspoons said:

Let’s go!!! New weight room looks amazing! Can’t wait to see more posts about the new facilities! 

 

Also, Paye looks the part for sure. Hope he has a great spring! 

[CMSioux]

14 hours ago, southpaw said:

It's really unfortunate that the only way UND accepts feedback is through this one poll only sent to the single name on a tailgate pass. 

 

Oh, wait that's not true at all. So many people upset they're not included on a targeted survey. There are plenty of other ways to share your input.

Not reading anyone is "upset". Fan boards are for discussions. That's all. How hard would it have been for UND to post a short survey on their website or X where anyone could share thoughts? This topic has run its course. We shall see if anything tangible comes out of this myopic study.

[southpaw]

3 hours ago, CMSioux said:

How hard would it have been for UND to post a short survey on their website or X where anyone could share thoughts? 

It would have actually made it incredibly hard because then anyone can share their thoughts. You want UND taking input from NDSU fans? From people who show up for one game every few years? From people posting joke comments? 

[HoopsFan03]

1 hour ago, southpaw said:

It would have actually made it incredibly hard because then anyone can share their thoughts. You want UND taking input from NDSU fans? From people who show up for one game every few years? From people posting joke comments? 

This is sarcasm right? Please tell me it is

[SiouxFan100]

Is there anything stopping emailing Eric and saying your thoughts and input?

[GoodGood]

7 minutes ago, SiouxFan100 said:

Is there anything stopping emailing Eric and saying your thoughts and input?

An ndsu fan might email him and give him some bad ideas 🤣

[Hawkster]

16 minutes ago, GoodGood said:

An ndsu fan might email him and give him some bad ideas 🤣

If he's that easily influenced, we have problems.  

[Siouxperman8]

6 hours ago, CMSioux said:

Not reading anyone is "upset". Fan boards are for discussions. That's all. How hard would it have been for UND to post a short survey on their website or X where anyone could share thoughts? This topic has run its course. We shall see if anything tangible comes out of this myopic study.

I wouldn't feel left out if there was a survey that went out to season ticket holders of men's or women's basketball, hockey or Champions Club Legend level ($50k+/year) or any other group that I'm not a part of.   I don't understand why a survey of tailgating season ticket holders should be an issue for anyone. 

[Hans8891]

There was discussion of many of the issues being raised.  With respect to cost, it is not common to have tailgating prices close to regular parking costs.  They are usually at a premium.  Sometimes a very steep premium.  What we have just doesn’t happen anywhere else.  There are added costs to tailgating with bathrooms, patrol, cleanup, etc.  it did go up from 60 to 100 bucks per spot - and yes, it is per spot.  However parking also rose from 5 to 10 to now 15 per spot per game.  Do the math.  If we make home playoffs (and I believe with Schmitty we will), it is cheaper to have a tailgate spot than pay parking for each game.  That is not realistic.

there was also discussions of other things that make tailgating exciting like bands, fireworks, etc.  those all cost money to create.  Raising it to 100 per game per spot is idiotic and would kill it.  But I do expect it will go up some over the next few years - and I think it realistically should.  I am a tailgater that has 5 spots that will be affected but understand it is the right decision.

you are correct that some who bring cars are part of a group and tailgate elsewhere.  That is part of the balancing they are trying to evaluate.  When the players and recruits come through, they want that to generate excitement.  In the portal world, you recruit new players but you continue to recruit the ones you have.  Some of that is the vitality they get from the atmosphere created.

there was discussion of students and the mess associated.  It was noted that this was one of the first years in a long time that students stayed past halftime.  We want students there - period.  That is part of creating that atmosphere.  If that means we all have to take a step back and remember what we were like in college and not through the rose colored glasses of “we never did that”, then that is what we need to do.  It is amazing to me how many of my rowdiest college friends forget what they were like in college.    They always encourage students to use the garbages.  Unfortunately that does not work very well.  I for one will accept the trade off if we get kids to games and they stay and help the game day atmosphere we want in the Alerus.

[F'n Hawks]

2 minutes ago, Hans8891 said:

There was discussion of many of the issues being raised.  With respect to cost, it is not common to have tailgating prices close to regular parking costs.  They are usually at a premium.  Sometimes a very steep premium.  What we have just doesn’t happen anywhere else.  There are added costs to tailgating with bathrooms, patrol, cleanup, etc.  it did go up from 60 to 100 bucks per spot - and yes, it is per spot.  However parking also rose from 5 to 10 to now 15 per spot per game.  Do the math.  If we make home playoffs (and I believe with Schmitty we will), it is cheaper to have a tailgate spot than pay parking for each game.  That is not realistic.

there was also discussions of other things that make tailgating exciting like bands, fireworks, etc.  those all cost money to create.  Raising it to 100 per game per spot is idiotic and would kill it.  But I do expect it will go up some over the next few years - and I think it realistically should.  I am a tailgater that has 5 spots that will be affected but understand it is the right decision.

you are correct that some who bring cars are part of a group and tailgate elsewhere.  That is part of the balancing they are trying to evaluate.  When the players and recruits come through, they want that to generate excitement.  In the portal world, you recruit new players but you continue to recruit the ones you have.  Some of that is the vitality they get from the atmosphere created.

there was discussion of students and the mess associated.  It was noted that this was one of the first years in a long time that students stayed past halftime.  We want students there - period.  That is part of creating that atmosphere.  If that means we all have to take a step back and remember what we were like in college and not through the rose colored glasses of “we never did that”, then that is what we need to do.  It is amazing to me how many of my rowdiest college friends forget what they were like in college.    They always encourage students to use the garbages.  Unfortunately that does not work very well.  I for one will accept the trade off if we get kids to games and they stay and help the game day atmosphere we want in the Alerus.

The game-day experience from the Ralph is tough to beat but have to try to make it more appealing at the Alerus. Even when the hockey team isn’t as good (like this year) the Ralph is nearly sold out and the student section is full. 
 

Getting on that level probably isn’t realistic, but I think we can start to get there.

[fightingsioux4life]

3 minutes ago, F'n Hawks said:

The game-day experience from the Ralph is tough to beat but have to try to make it more appealing at the Alerus. Even when the hockey team isn’t as good (like this year) the Ralph is nearly sold out and the student section is full. 
 

Getting on that level probably isn’t realistic, but I think we can start to get there.

This isn't an either/or thing. We can have great gameday experiences for both programs. We must stop limiting ourselves with false choices.

And if hockey doesn't turn it around quickly, we'll have an attendance problem there too. There is only so much scoring on yourself you can get away with before people stop coming.

[F'n Hawks]

16 minutes ago, fightingsioux4life said:

This isn't an either/or thing. We can have great gameday experiences for both programs. We must stop limiting ourselves with false choices.

And if hockey doesn't turn it around quickly, we'll have an attendance problem there too. There is only so much scoring on yourself you can get away with before people stop coming.

I know it isn’t an either/or thing. To be more clear I guess I’m saying that there is no reason we can’t make the experience at least somewhat comparable to what hockey has.
 

Obviously, it all starts with winning. Hell, even last year when we had the stretch of home games in September, they were attended pretty well except for the San Diego game. The biggest crowd of the year numbers wise was against UNI in October, which is surprising but winning all those games in Sept and getting some of the casual fans to come back made a difference.

[CMSioux]

On 2/8/2025 at 11:59 AM, Hans8891 said:

There was discussion of many of the issues being raised.  With respect to cost, it is not common to have tailgating prices close to regular parking costs.  They are usually at a premium.  Sometimes a very steep premium.  What we have just doesn’t happen anywhere else.  There are added costs to tailgating with bathrooms, patrol, cleanup, etc.  it did go up from 60 to 100 bucks per spot - and yes, it is per spot.  However parking also rose from 5 to 10 to now 15 per spot per game.  Do the math.  If we make home playoffs (and I believe with Schmitty we will), it is cheaper to have a tailgate spot than pay parking for each game.  That is not realistic.

there was also discussions of other things that make tailgating exciting like bands, fireworks, etc.  those all cost money to create.  Raising it to 100 per game per spot is idiotic and would kill it.  But I do expect it will go up some over the next few years - and I think it realistically should.  I am a tailgater that has 5 spots that will be affected but understand it is the right decision.

you are correct that some who bring cars are part of a group and tailgate elsewhere.  That is part of the balancing they are trying to evaluate.  When the players and recruits come through, they want that to generate excitement.  In the portal world, you recruit new players but you continue to recruit the ones you have.  Some of that is the vitality they get from the atmosphere created.

there was discussion of students and the mess associated.  It was noted that this was one of the first years in a long time that students stayed past halftime.  We want students there - period.  That is part of creating that atmosphere.  If that means we all have to take a step back and remember what we were like in college and not through the rose colored glasses of “we never did that”, then that is what we need to do.  It is amazing to me how many of my rowdiest college friends forget what they were like in college.    They always encourage students to use the garbages.  Unfortunately that does not work very well.  I for one will accept the trade off if we get kids to games and they stay and help the game day atmosphere we want in the Alerus.

Just two cents worth:

Make the spring game more than it is. Yes, I understand this was a Bubba thing to downplay it, but remember back in the day when they at least tried some things - a burger competition, free tailgating. I understand having a real game doesn't work in the spring and there is never gonna be a big crowd but marketing the team is a year-round thing. 

Game day: letting tailgaters know when the players buses are coming. Yes I know the general rule is two hours before the game but there were plenty of times when tailgaters missed the Hawk Walk because the buses were early. All it would take is to have someone on staff blow a horn from the Champions Club tent. I often heard player's parents lamenting that they did not know when it would arrive - and yes they understood the irony that their own son wasn't communicating the arrival time. Would be great if we could subscribe to a text message blast.

 

 

[Kab]

Montana state tailgate cost 

[jdub27]

44 minutes ago, Kab said:

Montana state tailgate cost 

When you own the facility, things are a bit different... 

[forksandspoons]

 

[Kab]

On 2/10/2025 at 6:30 PM, jdub27 said:

When you own the facility, things are a bit different... 

does UND set the tailgate fees or the city

Does Engelstad get any of the parking fees

seems to me UND can put any fee they want on tailgate fees just as Montana state does

[jdub27]

1 hour ago, Kab said:

does UND set the tailgate fees or the city

Does Engelstad get any of the parking fees

seems to me UND can put any fee they want on tailgate fees just as Montana state does

UND has to pay the Alerus Center for all tailgating, Champions Club and any other parking spots they control access to. No clue what that is, but I'm assuming it is defined through the usage agreement. They then work backwards from there to come up with a balance that encourages tailgating and rewards donors with not losing money.

The Alerus Center chooses the rates and collects the parking fees for the rest of the lots and also control the Suite/VIP parking.

[nodak651]

2 hours ago, jdub27 said:

UND has to pay the Alerus Center for all tailgating, Champions Club and any other parking spots they control access to. No clue what that is, but I'm assuming it is defined through the usage agreement. They then work backwards from there to come up with a balance that encourages tailgating and rewards donors with not losing money.

The Alerus Center chooses the rates and collects the parking fees for the rest of the lots and also control the Suite/VIP parking.

Yeah, it's actually really complicated - much more so than it needs to be.  The word parking is used 116 times in the usage agreement.... For single game tickets, UND gets a percentage of net profit from parking based on scanned attendance.  Based on the usage agreement, the Alerus Center must have needed UND's permission to raise the single game parking prices from $10 to $15.  

[F'n Hawks]

What happened with Markell Pete?

[forksandspoons]

2 hours ago, F'n Hawks said:

What happened with Markell Pete?

I’d like to know that as well 

[Sioux94]

Was looking at the schedule this fall. Our away games are

Kansas State

Montana

UNI

SIU

South Dakota

Murray State

That would have been a guaranteed at least 5 losses with previous staff, and then have NDSU and SDSU at home. Need to get through those road games with only 3 losses at the most, only 2 would be better. 

Tough start to our schedule but November home games against NDSU and SDSU could have the Alerus rocking if we are still in it. 

[UND-FB-FAN]

6 hours ago, Sioux94 said:

Was looking at the schedule this fall. Our away games are

Kansas State

Montana

UNI

SIU

South Dakota

Murray State

That would have been a guaranteed at least 5 losses with previous staff, and then have NDSU and SDSU at home. Need to get through those road games with only 3 losses at the most, only 2 would be better. 

Tough start to our schedule but November home games against NDSU and SDSU could have the Alerus rocking if we are still in it. 

UND goes 12-0 and gets the #1 seed in the playoffs 

UND by a million over school down south 

Gonna be fun