Fargodome

The Fargodome is an indoor athletic stadium in Fargo, North Dakota, on the campus of North Dakota State University. Opened in late 1992, the facility is owned by the City of Fargo, built on university land. Its seating capacity exceeds 19,000 for football and over 25,000 for full arena concerts.

It is the home field of the NDSU Bison football team, which competes in NCAA Division I, in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Fargodome contains two scoreboards on each endzone, four large video screens (one in each corner), two large electronic message centers below the scoreboards, as well as four stats boards (two centered on each sideline) all of which were installed by Daktronics in 2002. Prior to the 1993 season, the Bison played at Dacotah Field. The stadium also plays host to many large concerts, sporting events, and trade shows.

The Fargodome has held events such as the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, NHRA's Monster Jam, Rib Fest, WWE, WCW, the Asics Cadet and Junior National Wrestling Championships and many local, regional and national events.

The Fargodome's Gate City Bank Theatre is home to theatre, both locally-produced and touring.

The building was originally planned to be modeled on the Tacoma Dome and have an inflatable roof. However as the design evolved it was decided to have a fixed hard roof, although the dome name stuck.^[1]

History

• November 1987: Fargo Parks Superintendent Bob Johnson and City Council President Ranen Nicholson proposed a plan for convention and athletic facilities in Fargo.
• January 1988: Proposed plan was modified to include a single stadium to be built on North Dakota State University land, that would be financed in part by a half-cent sales tax.
• December 1988: Voters approved half-cent sales tax
• April 1989: Architects hired and construction process begins
• December 1992: Fargodome opens
• January 1994: Hosts Snow Bowl NCAA Division II football allstar game between 1994 and 2000
• December 2002: Fargodome celebrates its 10th anniversary
• December 2006: Initial talks underway to attach a 6,000-9,000 seat stadium to the Fargodome, for use as a basketball arena for the North Dakota State University Basketball teams, as well as smaller performances.
• March 2009: The Fargodome is used for the filling and storage of sandbags during the flood.

Crowd noise

In 2011, the Fargodome was ranked as the 49th best stadium in college football. ^[2]. The article cites, "There aren't many indoor venues in college football, but the few that do exist at the non-FBS level are very unfriendly to any visiting team. That effect is only amplified in a playoff atmosphere." The Fargodome is routinely ranked as one of the loudest college football stadiums in the country. On December 10th, 2011 in a game against Lehigh Mountain Hawks football, the crowd noise was measured at 111 decibels, comparable to when the New Orleans Saints play in the Superdome. ^[3] The Fargodome is sometimes called the "Thunderdome" by opposing teams.

References

External links

• Official website