Story courtesy: UND Media Relations
June 26, 2003
GRAND FORKS, ND – The North Dakota State Board of Higher Education voted on Thursday to give approval to Ralph Engelstad Arena and the University of North Dakota to move forward with construction plans to add a basketball/volleyball facility to the Ralph Engelstad Arena complex. The 50,000 square foot building will be named the Ralph Engelstad Arena Sports Center and will be home to the UND men’s and women’s basketball teams along with the UND volleyball team.
For basketball, the primary purpose of the new structure will be to serve as a practice facility. Beginning with the 2004-05 season, the teams will play a majority of their games in the $104 million main arena. Ralph Engelstad Arena management, the UND Athletic Department, the Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) and the North Central Conference (NCC) have all agreed to work together to reduce scheduling conflicts between the UND hockey and basketball teams, clearing the way for all three teams to call the main arena their home venue.
Rich Glas, UND men’s basketball coach, said, “This will be an exciting move for all three programs involved in the new facility. In this day and age facilities play a large role in recruiting, and with this facility attached to Ralph Engelstad Arena, there won’t be many better facilities anywhere in the country. Hopefully the addition of the new facility and the move will just continue to draw new fans to UND basketball.”
“This is a great time for Fighting Sioux athletics with all the upgrades in facilities over the last couple of years,” said Gene Roebuck, UND women’s basketball coach. “This building will have a positive effect not only on the three programs involved in the move, but all the other programs which will now have more space. The arena will give our program the opportunity to have first-class facilities, which helps recruit quality student-athletes and will help increase attendance and awareness of our programs throughout the upper Midwest. The time is right for the move, and I am excited about it.”
The new structure will serve as both the home court and practice facility to the volleyball program.
“The opening of the Ralph Engelstad Arena Sports Center is a huge step in the right direction for University of North Dakota volleyball,” said Maria Bruggeman, UND volleyball coach. “It will be an incredible building, and it is going to be done the right way. The building will help draw attention and new fans to volleyball, it will help with recruiting and it will provide us with an even better home court advantage.”
“This is a great addition to the Ralph Engelstad Arena complex, and I would like to welcome the programs,” said Dean Blais, UND hockey coach. “I look forward to watching these programs grow and prosper in this new age of athletics.”
Cost of the arena expansion project is estimated at $7 million. Most of the costs will be funded from current revenue sources and planned expansions of advertising, ticketing and suite revenues.
The Sports Center, which will seat 4,000, will be an expansion to the west side of the existing Olympic practice rink. The new arena fits within the existing lease limits of the arena project on the Bronson property.
Ground-breaking will commence Friday, June 27, 2003, with completion and team occupancy slated for September 1, 2004.