Facilities

[Charger13]

Thought I would start a new thread about our facilities and what improvements should be made as we move up. I think the Wellness Center should be in the spotlight right now. It will not necessarily be for the varsity athletes, but it will free up the current Wellness Center to become varsity athletes only. I believe the Wellness Center will also house an indoor facility that would be used for most varsity sports. A new wellness center would also house intramural sports, I believe, which would upen up the Barn for varsity use. I think it should be renovated to house Volleyball and Wrestling. They could still have their larger matches at Frost, but the barn would be more intimate and would give them an actual home. As soon as all of this is done I would make some improvements to the HPER to better accomodate the student athletes. I think an auditorium for watching film would also be nice.
There are also many improvements to be made to Coughlin. New lockerrooms are a priority. I would think they could tie in new lockerrooms with the proposed Wellness Center, otherwise they could be placed in the south endzone. I think landscaping and other cosmetic changes would really help with Coughlin. Hopefully we gain more success and bigger crowds and add East stands in the future as well. A new track is another thing that should be looked at. I think they are looking at getting rid of the current track, but there doesn't seem to be any plan to replace it. Track isn't a marquee sport, but I think a new track with a soccer field on the infield would be a good addition. I know they just built a new soccer facility on the southside of Brookings, but this could be used for practice.
They are currently working on a new baseball field northeast from Coughlin. I don't know where they are at on this, but I thought it would be opening this Spring. All in all I think we are in a good position as far as facilities go, but improvements will be needed as we move to DI.

[DanceswithRabbits]

Re: Facilities

Charger,

You are right, some of our facilities do need to be upgraded.  The question that needs to be asked is which ones first.  I think Coughlin should be on the top of the list.  It needs the most help.  From what I hear though it will be Frost.  

While it is true that Frost is probably the facility in the best shape it is Basketball that is driving the move to D-I.  I think it is a good idea to put better seating on the South side.  It will make these seats more attractive to older fans.  We need to reach out to that fan.  Especially in Sioux Falls. I understand that it will cut down on the total number of seats, although I am not compleatly sure about that, I do think sell-outs lead to sell outs which lead to excitment.  

Turning back to Football, I want to see us build the wellness center that ties in lockerooms and seating on the east side with suites, and new scoreboards.  I don't want to see it done half way.  If that means we wait a little longer I am ok with that if we do it right the first time.  

Your idea for the Barn is very interesting.  I like it.  As far as Soccer goes, I think the complex the City just built is great and SDSU should stick with that.  I think the City and University need to work together as much as they can to use each ones resources to their maximum.

I think the move to D-I will be great for SDSU and the City of Brookings.

[JACKGUY]

Re: Facilities

If Sioux Falls scores a long shot and secures the Vikings and their Training Camp the facilities at Howard Wood will be first rate. The new turf installed this year has drawn rave reviews. Dr. Oien has gone on record as saying he would like to play some games in Sioux Falls and in fact offered up Sioux Falls as a compromise to USD in the second year of a two year football contract. I believe in order to attract more fans to SDSU Athletics we need to capture more fans from the Sioux Falls metro area that have no ties to the school but appreciate good sports entertainment at a high level. Our on campus facitlities should be a priority specifically a total overall of Coughlin and enhancements to Frost. The weight room at Frost that is I believe utilized by the athletic teams is pathetic and an embarrasment I'm sure when shown to potential recruits. The Wellness Center has to be a priority.

[DanceswithRabbits]

Re: Facilities

Sioux Falls getting the Vikings training camp is all the local media are talking about. Fargo is now in the running along with Mankato, Duluth, and Sioux Falls. I actually think if the folks in Sioux Falls get their stuff in a group it won't be such a long shot.

One of the reasons that Brookings was taken out early was that the Vikings want the players to stay in nicer places then dorms. They told Gov. Rounds that SD should put its efforts into Sioux Falls. The other three sites are dorms. Sioux Falls is also the largest metro outside of the Twin Cities that is Viking country. So I think they have a good shot.

I think we need to play some games in Sioux Falls to win the population and media over to our side. A re-vamped Howard Wood and a new Arena would be great places to play. The new Arena may be on the back burnner with all this talk of Howard Wood. I would love to see Sioux Falls get behind SDSU!

[JACKGUY]

Re: Facilities

Living in the Twin Cities I've seen close up the cheap Red McCombs in action. I think this is purely a leveraging ploy to get Mankato to step up and subsidize training camp which currently costs the Vikings $500,000 a year. Don't get me wrong as a season ticket holder and Sioux Falls native I would love to see the Vikings in Sioux Falls in the summer. I just feel that with the Vikings trying to get public support behind a new stadium it could insense a lot of Minnesota ppl if they move the team to Sioux Falls and the Vikings are sensitive to that. There already is a border battle going on over all the companies moving to South Dakota for tax reasons. I hate to see McCombs take advantage of the good people of South Dakota and subsidize his team training camp. Estimates of 1 million a day in revenue I think are a huge exaggeration. No question it would be a great feather in the hat for Sioux Falls and the State if they can make it happen. I too would like to see a new Arena built in Sioux Falls that can host concerts/Jacks instate rivilary games etc.

[DanceswithRabbits]

Re: Facilities

Good enough, I think a new arena is a bigger need for Sioux Falls anyway.  I was hopeful that they would come to SDSU and that would force us to improve Coughlin, since that didn't happen I say good luck to Sioux Falls.  Thanks for the update from the Cities.  Sioux Falls is making its pitch on Friday, we should know soon.

[JACKGUY]

Re: Facilities

I knew it would happen the Govenor of Minnesota has come out saying in the St. Paul Pioneer Press today that if the Vikings move the training camp to South Dakota he will not lead the charge for a new stadium in the coming legislative session. He has a real chip on his shoulder about companies moving to South Dakota. The Sioux Falls development foundation runs adds up here all the time encouraging companies to relocate to Sioux Falls and take advantage of no corporate and personal income tax. It frustrates me that with all the money spent in the Twin Cities by South Dakotans that the Govenor is going to posture like this. Personally I feel the stadium up here is a joke and they should have got something done a long time ago, but to make a threat over the training camp is a joke. I'm wondering how the cheapscape McCombls will react. My guess is he will buckle and stay with Mankato. Sioux Falls will most likely be better off anyway.

[JACKGUY]

Re: Facilities

I'm hearing the capital improvements for Frost will happen next year. This includes adding permanent seating on the South side and new scoreboards.

[JACKGUY]

Re: Facilities

The lower section of the southside of Frost will have permanent seats next year. I wonder what the students will think of this move.

[89rabbit]

Re: Facilities

I am sure they will not be happy, just like we weren't back in the 80's when they did it on the North side of Frost and moved the benches to the South side.  However, just like then, the students will get over it.  It is necessary for the health of the program and most D-I schools (if not all) that I have seen have their students at the ends or up higher (or both).

Go Jacks!

[Charger13]

Re: Facilities

If I was a student I wouldn't be too happy about this.  I know they are doing it to make more money, but are they really going to sell that many more season tickets?  I thought it was an advantage having the students right behind the benches.  I wish we had a setup similar to Duke, where the reserved seats are all in the upper level and the students surround the floor. I hope some day completely renovate Frost or build a new arena. I know Frost is a great arena now and it will serve it's purpose even in DI, but it also has many flaws with sight lines and overall setup. Moving the Wellness out of there will give them more options in a remodel and we could have an arena similar to Cal's Haas Pavilion, http://calbears.ocsn.com/facilities/haas-pavilion.html or Washington's Hec Pavilion, http://206.180.237.199/university_wa...ns_basketball/. They were both remodeled recently and are similar in size to Frost.

[89rabbit]

Re: Facilities

I have to say that those are very impressive arenas and I hope SDSU's programs grow to the point that we need and can build those types on facilities. It would be awesome! I did notice that Duke's Arena seats 12,000 but the lower bowl (which is for Students Only) only seats 3,500. The upper deck comes down lower then what we have a Frost.

http://goduke.ocsn.com/facilities/cameron.html

Until the day comes (and even after that) that we need a replacement for Frost, I will love the "World's Largest Rabbit Den" no matter how it looks! ;D


Go State!

[Texas_Jacks_Fan]

Re: Facilities

Is there a way to "fill in" the corners in the upper and lower decks of frost. There are currently the big gaps between the pull-outs on the ends and sides. when these get converted to "blue" seats could they be wrapped aroud somehow and just have some type of entrance tunnel up to the seats? I hate the thought of decreasing the capacity of Frost any more than it has been. We are already in that 8700 area.

[89rabbit]

Re: Facilities

That is a great idea, I too would hate to see Frost's Cap. go down.  Both the Arenas from Charger's post are set up that way.

Go Blue!

[JACKGUY]

Re: Facilities

From what I'm hearing their has been demand for Season Tickets and particualry for seats in the lower bowl. I'm sure the students will adapt as this transition becomes more or a business in DI.