While the nation’s biggest FBS stadiums have drawn well over 100,000 fans on a fall Saturday, recent newcomer North Dakota State has a small fraction of that capacity but the sound to match the blaring noise of the SEC and Big Ten.
North Dakota State’s home stadium, the 19,000-seat Fargodome, has reached 115 decibels for a game before during the Bison’s dominant FCS run of 10 national titles between 2011 and 2024. That puts a full Fargodome easily in the top-25 of noisiest venues based on USA Today’s Aggies Wire’s numbers, but the dome administration isn’t looking to expand seating yet to make the home environment more intimidating.
“The move to FBS doesn’t mean the Fargo Dome Authority is going to revisit another run at a renovation, at least immediately,” Fargo Dome Authoriy president David Suppes told NDSU insider Jeff Kolpack of the Fargo Forum last week.
According to Kolpack, the wide majority of Fargo residents voted down a $140 million proposal in 2024 to renovate the dome because of sales tax funding. However, the dome is also a finalist to have an addition with the new Fargo convention center, and Suppes informed Kolpack that NDSU’s move up could impact things.
“We’re working hard on that and it’s quite a bit of work,” Suppes said. “But this news coming out of NDSU being accepted to the Mountain West certainly adds another dynamic to the conversation.”
Bison HC Tim Polasek: ‘It’s Intimidating’
While the Fargo Dome is the third-smallest venue in the Mountain West, it could offer one of the toughest places to play for visiting teams.
That was the case in the FCS, where the Bison had a 38-2 record at home in the playoffs, and the Bison are 144-24 all-time at home since the dome opened in 1993. NDSU’s first game in the dome as a Division II program, and the matchup with Pittsburg State was on ESPN’s radar, per Bison Illustrated. Two decades later, ESPN’s CollegeGameday came three times during the Bison FCS dynasty.
“For coaches and players on the field, NDSU is a problem,” Bison head coach Tim Polasek told Kolpack. “The crowd noise, the in-game experience with the jumbotrons, as far as dealing with the environment — A-plus, it will be high in the Mountain West.”
Polasek noted that even the Bison tailgating environment gets visiting teams’ attention. He knows it will be the case in the FBS, too, after serving on staff with Iowa from 2017 to 2020 and Wyoming from 2021 to 2023.
“I get this from coaches who come here, if the bus driver takes a wrong turn and they go down by the tailgating, it’s intimidating,” Polasek said.
Expansion Not Needed For Bison
As Kolpack noted, the NCAA did away with the 15,000-fan minimum average for the FBS in 2023, so NDSU will only need to expand seating via renovation or a new stadium if the fan base grows to require it.
That said, NDSU could easily sit in the middle of the Mountain West pack for attendance. Air Force led attendance in 2025 with 39,441 fans per game, and San Jose State had a league low 18,265 fans per contest.