The Dome at 30

[MikeHenriksen]

An interesting article in the Yankton P&D. Might make for some good historical perspective, although I know this has a real chance to move into "smack".

http://www.yankton.net/articles/2009...f783416495.txt

[Cowbell]

Re: The Dome at 30

Mike, thanks for bringing the article to our attention. As much as we SDSU fans downplay it, that dome has grown huge dividends for the USD campus. That said, I'll bet this thread is headed to smack.

[Nidaros]

Re: The Dome at 30

Interesting point in the article is the state money USD got from the legislature for Dome Construction. More interesting is that Governor Richard Kniep got the legislature to cough up 5.3 million and furthermore Gov. Kniep grew up in Arlington, 22 miles from SDSU. At least I thought he did since his father and brothers had a John Deere and car dealership for many years. I see by Wipkedia he attended SDSU and also it says he grew up in Elkton. I wonder about that. Possibly he lived there for a short time, but the Kneips are very much a Arlington name and have been so for a long time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_F._Kneip


SDSU got zip for the Staduim for State campaign that built CAS and had more resistence from Pierre and everyone else across the state. Its not fair, but its history.

None the less, this was a good article and gives background on how the Dome was built. Facilities are never a very popular topic unless one person has the ego and money to build it on his/hers own terms.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: The Dome at 30

Being an active participant, and observer of the Dome construction, I always felt proud of what a solid addition the DakotaDome was to the sports scene of South Dakota. I prefer the capacity and the open field layout of CAS. But there can be little doubt that the DakotaDome was a VAST improvement for USD athletics from the Armory.

Both the Barn and the Armory were very intimidating venues for BB. Frost is a class facility, and the Dome, meh as a BB facility. Great last minute addition to get the pool included at the Dome.

Yeah, probably headed to smack, but construction of that Domefunded 2 years of my SDSU education, and led to good trips to Cedar Falls and Pierre to look at inflatable roof systems.

[bub94]

Re: The Dome at 30

Great last minute addition to get the pool included at the Dome.

Ahhh, the pool at the Dome. Brings back a bad memory of doing a 2 1/4 flip off the high dive as a senior in high school. Maybe that is why I really hate high dives now.

I'll say it again. I don't like the Dome for BB games. It's not worth wasting money to watch a game for the back 40 and only see part of the court. Football and track wise, I'm sure it works for them nicely. But they should have never played a BB game in there. (I don't think i Smacked it too bad).

[joeboo22]

Re: The Dome at 30

the dome is what it is... its a pretty (bad word) facility.... but at the same time its brought a lot of money in theh form of state football and conventions and so on to the dome.... but at the same time I think the college over uses it.... its a bad basketball facility, not a great football facility, and yet the use it for pretty much everything..... I think for the time 30 years ago it was a great idea and has had a really good return on investment but I also think that the college has outgrown it for many things and unless they are willing to change they will lose out on a lot of oppertunites because of it

[JimmyJack]

Re: The Dome at 30

History lesson: SDSU got $3.68 million for the HPER Center. The Regents offered our architectural plans to USD and the amount of money we got plus inflation (about $5 million). So they could have had an identical facility. Instead, USD decided to build the Dome, using the $5 million plus a few million they raised in part through seat licenses that limited their event revenue for 20 years.

Jump forward to today: Frost Arena still has a lot of life left in it. The Dome cost an additional $13 million for a new roof later on and still isn't much of a facility for anything other than football, and it with its cement carpet, it's hardly "state-of-the-art".

Plus, with a debatable 10,000 seat limit (while SDSU is averaging more than that and talking about a 20,000 seat stadium) what room is there for USD to grow? Maybe taxpayers could spend another $10 million to put permanent seats on the opposite side, then we'll have an aging, $30 million facility that nobody likes much. And USD still wouldn't have a decent basketball arena.

Add it up. USD has a bad basketball facility where they can play indoor football for maybe 10,000 people (with limited revenue from events for about 20 years of its history). Meanwhile, SDSU has improved CAS and kept Frost a venue that is the envy of many similar-sized schools. All for far less than USD (and taxpayers) spent on the Dome and with event revenue coming in all the time.

Which was the smarter choice?

[90Jackrabbit]

Re: The Dome at 30

From the P&D:

Occasionally, the DakotaDome played host to a variety of football programs who were forced to relocate a game due to inclement weather. In November 1991, Doyle said the five-state area was socked by a blizzard during high school playoffs, forcing area universities to join the playoffs in the dome.

“We had 17 games from 9 a.m. until late at night for six days,” he said. “On Saturday night, we had a football game between South Dakota State University and Minnesota State-Mankato that began at 11 p.m. at finished at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. After SDSU lost the game, the SDSU coach told a reporter that he thought the Jacks played better on Saturday night then on Sunday.”



I was at that game, anyone else?

[jackmd]

Re: The Dome at 30

The article fails to mention many of the other expenses that "dome" has incurred. I love the line about the engineer from New York and the inflatable roof. I might say that the foresight in constructing that thing might be akin to the foresight involved in USD's current move to DI. I might say that but that would get this topic moved to smack promptly.

Do we dare discuss the rest of the details that were left out of that article? I don't think its worth it.

[rabidrabbit]

Re: The Dome at 30

The inflatable roof's lifespan was to be 20 years, and it would need a different roofing system afterward. The U pushed that to 25+ years before redoing.

I'm very happy with the SDSU facilities. I hope that USD can say the same.

[SDHoops]

Re: The Dome at 30

I think someone said it right! If the maximum capacity is 10,000, how can they continue to grow?

[BitsTD]

Re: The Dome at 30

From the P&D:

Occasionally, the DakotaDome played host to a variety of football programs who were forced to relocate a game due to inclement weather. In November 1991, Doyle said the five-state area was socked by a blizzard during high school playoffs, forcing area universities to join the playoffs in the dome.

“We had 17 games from 9 a.m. until late at night for six days,” he said. “On Saturday night, we had a football game between South Dakota State University and Minnesota State-Mankato that began at 11 p.m. at finished at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. After SDSU lost the game, the SDSU coach told a reporter that he thought the Jacks played better on Saturday night then on Sunday.”



I was at that game, anyone else?

SDSU played a game down there in '98 against Morningside. I think there field was tore up or something.

During my recruiting Augie played a home game down there. I don't remember who it was against.

[jackbusiness09]

Re: The Dome at 30

It is worth noting that putting an inflatable roof on the dome incurred a very high electricity bill for 25+ years. It may have saved money when building the facility, but probably not in the long run. I imagine it took away from the building maintenance fund and left other buildings needing updates.

I could be wrong on this...anyone have more info or want to crunch some figures?


Also, I'm guess the second picture at the top of the article is what USD initially wanted to build. I like the look of that a lot better than the dome they built and it would have been easy to add on to (like Frost).

[Nidaros]

Re: The Dome at 30

From the P&D:

Occasionally, the DakotaDome played host to a variety of football programs who were forced to relocate a game due to inclement weather. In November 1991, Doyle said the five-state area was socked by a blizzard during high school playoffs, forcing area universities to join the playoffs in the dome.

“We had 17 games from 9 a.m. until late at night for six days,” he said. “On Saturday night, we had a football game between South Dakota State University and Minnesota State-Mankato that began at 11 p.m. at finished at 2 a.m. on Sunday morning. After SDSU lost the game, the SDSU coach told a reporter that he thought the Jacks played better on Saturday night then on Sunday.”



I was at that game, anyone else?

I was at that game. Daly was still coach as I recall. I drove up from Columbus Ne to Vermillion. By then the roads were okay. I recall watching NDSU play Morningside, BHSU played maybe DWU, and the SDSU-MSU game last. This ice storm was late in October and early November and most outdoor playing fields were finished for the year. Thats about all I recall.

[jackmd]

Re: The Dome at 30

It is worth noting that putting an inflatable roof on the dome incurred a very high electricity bill for 25+ years. It may have saved money when building the facility, but probably not in the long run. I imagine it took away from the building maintenance fund and left other buildings needing updates.

I could be wrong on this...anyone have more info or want to crunch some figures?

We aren't suppose to talk about that. Didn't you get the memo?