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Facilities Master Plan


The Sicatoka

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Find the basketball fans in this town. Give discounted tickets to all the old timer rec leagues. I'm a supporters of hockey, football, and then finally basketball. But I rarely know/knew when the games are/were. Can't get my buddies to football games anymore let alone basketball.

Need to do a 3-1 and or offer big money to a big name school to come play in the Ralph to build interest and say hey look were in the same league. NDSU ain't going to cut it.

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use our hockey connections and once a year have a "Wisconsin Weekend"....

friday 6pm mens bball versus wisconsin followed by mens hockey at 8 versus wisconsin

sat at 2pm have a womens bball game versus wisconsin followed by mens hockey at 7 versus wisconsin

have the womens hockey team play at 7:30 on friday and 6:30 on saturday against wisconsin in the olympic rink and one hockey ticket to the ralph gets you into both mens and womens games so fans can mingle between the mens and womens game...

if it takes a 2 or 3 or 4 for 1 to get this done with either wisconsin, notre dame, minnesota, boston college...get it done!!!!

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use our hockey connections and once a year have a "Wisconsin Weekend"....

friday 6pm mens bball versus wisconsin followed by mens hockey at 8 versus wisconsin

sat at 2pm have a womens bball game versus wisconsin followed by mens hockey at 7 versus wisconsin

have the womens hockey team play at 7:30 on friday and 6:30 on saturday against wisconsin in the olympic rink and one hockey ticket to the ralph gets you into both mens and womens games so fans can mingle between the mens and womens game...

if it takes a 2 or 3 or 4 for 1 to get this done with either wisconsin, notre dame, minnesota, boston college...get it done!!!!

Have 1 ticket (each night) get you into all 3 games. Might have a problem with lack of seating in the Betty for that one! Personally, I guess I'd leave out the women's hockey games (maybe it's just me but I think it would look pretty terrible to stick them on the olympic ice with only a couple hundred bleacher seats available..... especially since those couple hundred seats would probably still be empty ??? ).

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use our hockey connections and once a year have a "Wisconsin Weekend"....

friday 6pm mens bball versus wisconsin followed by mens hockey at 8 versus wisconsin

sat at 2pm have a womens bball game versus wisconsin followed by mens hockey at 7 versus wisconsin

have the womens hockey team play at 7:30 on friday and 6:30 on saturday against wisconsin in the olympic rink and one hockey ticket to the ralph gets you into both mens and womens games so fans can mingle between the mens and womens game...

if it takes a 2 or 3 or 4 for 1 to get this done with either wisconsin, notre dame, minnesota, boston college...get it done!!!!

Good luck getting Wisconsin to come to GF for Basketball. Possibly the women's team would come, but that's it...unless we have a local kid playing for the Badgers and the coach brings his team up so he can play in front of them as Williams did with Boschee.

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It's a great concept, but would likely never get off the ground. Alot of us, myself included, proclaimed scheduling would be a piece of cake for UND during the transition because of our hockey ties, and our schedules for other sports would be be full of teams like Maine, Denver, New Hampshire, etc. Well that didn't quite pan out.

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Your post got me thinking, so I crunched some numbers:

Alerus Center Total home attendance:

2011-12 2012-13

49,169 53,770

Diff. = 4,601

Avg. game attendance:

2011-12 2012-13

8,194.83 8961.6

True, there was an increase, but I was hoping for a bit steeper incline on the upward trajectory given we had something to play for in a real conference against solid competition, for the most part. ???

The SDSU game will have great attendance. If Montana doesn't suck next year that game will be close to a sellout with how entertaining last years game was. The opener always has good numbes and with a new fr qb starting the fans are going to want to see the face of the program for the 4 years and see what all the hype was about.

If we win those first three then attendance for Montana St should be huge. Not saying we will win that game but we'll have a better chance than last year and if we do the ball will be officially rolling and we will go to Idaho and whoop Idaho St. But that's the ideal start.... Attendance would be fixed though

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The average attendance next year should get a bump simply due to the fact that there are 4 home games before the start of the hockey season. The first 3 games could all touch 10,000.

Anyone know when homecoming is? The later the better as far as I am concerned. They should have it for either Sac St. or UNC. UNC is probably too late in the year though. That game will be poorly attended.

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I have wondered about UNC. It is later in the year so attendance will likely dip but being an old NCC school may help. I think the thing lacking with the Big Sky teams right now is recognition. It will take some time, and a few incidents or close games (like Montana) last year to build some recognition with fans. They also need to understand the conference so they get next year we have all the traditional conference powers coming to the Alerus. Thats a big deal.

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Anyone know when homecoming is? The later the better as far as I am concerned. They should have it for either Sac St. or UNC. UNC is probably too late in the year though. That game will be poorly attended.

Per UNDSports.com:

Aug 29th vs Valpo is Military Appreciation

Sept 7th vs SDSU is the Potato Bowl

Sept 14th vs UM is the Hall of Fame Game

Sept 28th vs MSU is Family Weekend

Oct 12th vs EWU is Homecoming

Oct 19th vs Sac St is ND Strong/Band Day (??)

Nov 9th vs UNC is Senior Day

Also shows updated pricing on seats.

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The average attendance next year should get a bump simply due to the fact that there are 4 home games before the start of the hockey season. The first 3 games could all touch 10,000.

Anyone know when homecoming is? The later the better as far as I am concerned. They should have it for either Sac St. or UNC. UNC is probably too late in the year though. That game will be poorly attended.

Regardless of the attendance the UNC game is going to be a blood bath. 4th and 1 with 12 men on the field for the defense will be fresh in their minds and UNC will get pounded.

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The average attendance next year should get a bump simply due to the fact that there are 4 home games before the start of the hockey season. The first 3 games could all touch 10,000.

Anyone know when homecoming is? The later the better as far as I am concerned. They should have it for either Sac St. or UNC. UNC is probably too late in the year though. That game will be poorly attended.

I am sick of hearing about attendance woe's due to hockey. Football games are not on Friday nights, and they don't play during a hockey game. So why can't people attend football games in the afternoon then go to the hockey game at night? I know hockey is king, but to keep using hockey as an excuse for people not showing up is getting pretty damn old. I know there are hockey only fans, and there are UND sports fans. We need more UND sports fans in that Alerus supporting UND football. Hockey gets attention above and beyond everything at UND but can't football get some spotlight? I hope with winning more games and a DI schedule more people will be at the Al this season.

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I am sick of hearing about attendance woe's due to hockey. Football games are not on Friday nights, and they don't play during a hockey game. So why can't people attend football games in the afternoon then go to the hockey game at night? I know hockey is king, but to keep using hockey as an excuse for people not showing up is getting pretty damn old. I know there are hockey only fans, and there are UND sports fans. We need more UND sports fans in that Alerus supporting UND football. Hockey gets attention above and beyond everything at UND but can't football get some spotlight? I hope with winning more games and a DI schedule more people will be at the Al this season.

I live in Colorado and I was even able to attend football and hockey in the same day: SUU in afternoon and BU at night. I had plenty of time to relax in between games. Makes for an awesome sports day!

Marketing- If you are reading this have you guys ever thrown around the idea of marketing hockey and football together on those days that they play in GF on the same day?

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I am sick of hearing about attendance woe's due to hockey. Football games are not on Friday nights, and they don't play during a hockey game. So why can't people attend football games in the afternoon then go to the hockey game at night? I know hockey is king, but to keep using hockey as an excuse for people not showing up is getting pretty damn old. I know there are hockey only fans, and there are UND sports fans. We need more UND sports fans in that Alerus supporting UND football. Hockey gets attention above and beyond everything at UND but can't football get some spotlight? I hope with winning more games and a DI schedule more people will be at the Al this season.

You're preaching to the choir, bud.

But the fact remains, that once the puck drops, football attendance dwindles, particularly in the student section.

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I am sick of hearing about attendance woe's due to hockey. Football games are not on Friday nights, and they don't play during a hockey game. So why can't people attend football games in the afternoon then go to the hockey game at night? I know hockey is king, but to keep using hockey as an excuse for people not showing up is getting pretty damn old. I know there are hockey only fans, and there are UND sports fans. We need more UND sports fans in that Alerus supporting UND football. Hockey gets attention above and beyond everything at UND but can't football get some spotlight? I hope with winning more games and a DI schedule more people will be at the Al this season.

Neither time nor money are unlimited. Haven't you said that is why you can't make it to every football game? I'm not saying I agree with people's reasoning or that I don't wish attendance was higher but people have been speaking with their wallets. UND has not put a product on the field they are willing to fill the Alerus for. The hockey team on the other hand, has been successful for an extended period of time and demand for tickets at the Ralph reflect that. I have faith that it can be done again with the football team, but it will take some good marketing from UND and continued success from the team. People missed out on an exciting team last year even if they were only 5-6. The buzz needs to build back up around the football program. Grand Forks loves a winner and this team hasn't been doing that against what people deem to be quality competition enough to justify them to come to the games. I think there will be a noticeable bump this year with the home schedule, but the team needs to be competitive and win.

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The best piece of marketing that can be done for both football and basketball would be Grand Forks Herald articles about how those teams are in 1st place and near the top of the polls. I've come to the conclusion that the opponents don't matter so much. Grand Forks fans want to see a good old fashioned ass-whooping when they come to the arena. Griz fans outnumbered UND students in the Alerus last fall for crying out loud.

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Neither time nor money are unlimited. Haven't you said that is why you can't make it to every football game? I'm not saying I agree with people's reasoning or that I don't wish attendance was higher but people have been speaking with their wallets. UND has not put a product on the field they are willing to fill the Alerus for. The hockey team on the other hand, has been successful for an extended period of time and demand for tickets at the Ralph reflect that. I have faith that it can be done again with the football team, but it will take some good marketing from UND and continued success from the team. People missed out on an exciting team last year even if they were only 5-6. The buzz needs to build back up around the football program. Grand Forks loves a winner and this team hasn't been doing that against what people deem to be quality competition enough to justify them to come to the games. I think there will be a noticeable bump this year with the home schedule, but the team needs to be competitive and win.

The big factor for me not going is kids, and my job. Is there really a lot of students that have both, and cannot attend. I swear if I lived in GF, I could attend all the games but my work schedule 11pm-7:30am doesn't give me much time to sleep, drive up to GF, attend game, drive back to Fargo, and then go to work. In Fargo there are signs everywhere for Bison this and Bison that. On billboards, on businesses, in people's yards. But when I drive up to Grand Forks...where is that? Where are the UND football billboards? Where are the yard signs showing hometown spirit. Marketing is crap compared to NDSU. I hate to compare it but as the only 2 schools in ND with DI sports its true. UND has a big time tv contract but its pretty sad come football time when you can't really feel the UND spirit until the Potato Bowl rolls down DeMers Ave.

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The big factor for me not going is kids, and my job. Is there really a lot of students that have both, and cannot attend. I swear if I lived in GF, I could attend all the games but my work schedule 11pm-7:30am doesn't give me much time to sleep, drive up to GF, attend game, drive back to Fargo, and then go to work. In Fargo there are signs everywhere for Bison this and Bison that. On billboards, on businesses, in people's yards. But when I drive up to Grand Forks...where is that? Where are the UND football billboards? Where are the yard signs showing hometown spirit. Marketing is crap compared to NDSU. I hate to compare it but as the only 2 schools in ND with DI sports its true. UND has a big time tv contract but its pretty sad come football time when you can't really feel the UND spirit until the Potato Bowl rolls down DeMers Ave.

My point was that different people have different priorities, whether it be school/work/family/anything. I'm not singling you out, just showing you that people have reasons for not going. UND football is not a priority to these people at this time. It was at one point and am very confident that it can be again in the very near future. As for marketing, there was a pretty decent push for season tickets and info about them joining the Big Sky last year including bilboards, mailers and phone calls.

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My point was that different people have different priorities, whether it be school/work/family/anything. I'm not singling you out, just showing you that people have reasons for not going. UND football is not a priority to these people at this time. It was at one point and am very confident that it can be again in the very near future. As for marketing, there was a pretty decent push for season tickets and info about them joining the Big Sky last year including bilboards, mailers and phone calls.

I understand that. Its just a shame that students will show up for UND playing Michigan Tech, or UAA but won't show up or at least stay the whole game vs Montana or Cal Poly. UND needs to be almost as big as hockey. Basketball won't be big at least anymore since there is a zero chance at a National Title but at football there is still hope. We need the support to come back that left after 2007.

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I remember in HS we use to paint our faces, the car, and poster boards.

NDSU is still getting use to having sports D1. It's still new to them.

UND has been beating Big Ten teams for over 70 years at THE University of North Dakota's #1 sport.

Should you care if I think its tacky to put a und yard sign up in my yard. It doesn't have to do with UNDS marketing.

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