The Spartandome will be getting a new floor this spring and will potentially be getting a new track in the coming years. In an interview with Fargo North Activities Director Travis Christensen, he laid out the plans for the upcoming changes to the North High Campus. Construction for the new gym floor will commence sometime after prom (April 18, 2020) and bids are currently being taken. An absolute start date has yet to be set. The project is expected to take approximately 6-8 weeks and is estimated to be done at the beginning of summer. Current expectations are by the fourth of July, with the exact date dependent on a number of factors including availability of construction employees, materials, and weather.
It is not expected to impact any of the spring sports which utilize the dome during the harsh weather. “I think it will have minimal impact on the sports seasons if at all, hopefully by that time we’re outside as much as possible,” said Christensen.
The start of the construction kicks off in late spring and if all goes to plan, the weather should be mostly cleared up, but Fargo winters can be unpredictable.
“I think having the fact that we have the artificial surface outside and once the sun does its work there, we won’t have to worry about getting wet or sloppy or muddy,” Christensen said. There are many factors on why the new gym floor most likely won’t impact the spring sports, but one of the biggest is because during the spring, there are no indoor sports and indoor spaces aren’t typically utilized this late in the season, but again, North Dakota winters are very unpredictable.
The potential of getting a new track is also very possible in the foreseeable future. Administration has already mapped out plans and done preliminary work for the potential track. There are two main challenges for building the track and that would be where it would fit and the funding. The new gym floor is being done as a part of the school districts budget, but the track would have to be paid for with entirely private funding, which can be hard to find. The track would most likely have a longer timeline than the gym floor\; because track has been utilizing NDSU’s facilities, this would be considered more of an elective project than a necessary one.
Christensen said that the track most likely wouldn’t improve current athletes’ performances, but it most likely would encourage more people to join since it would be on campus and they wouldn’t have to run to NDSU anymore.
Updates to facilities are happening all of the time, but the addition of a track complex at North High School would make this campus more similar to South and Davies.