The air-supported dome or bubble is like a huge tent inflated over Minot State’s turf at Herb Parker Stadium. The bubble measures in at 86,000 square feet of usable “outdoor” space during the winter months. The nearly $2 million project was funded by the City of Minot’s Community Facilities Fund with $1 million and the rest was raised by the Minot State Development Foundation from private individuals, foundations and local businesses.

“It’s quite a large undertaking to get it put up and then schedule it and run it,” Minot State’s Director of Athletics Andy Carter said.

Upkeep of the bubble can be very challenging, especially in North Dakota’s harsh winter climate. If Minot gets a substantial snowfall overnight, work crews need to be at the bubble around the clock clearing snow from the base to ensure the bubble remains up and operational.

“Four inches of snow over 86,000 square feet dropping to the sides could (result in) a three-foot drift,” Carter said. “If it melts and hardens, it could tear the fabric and collapse the bubble… There’s parts of the operational aspect that tend to get tricky at times.”

Submitted Photo The air-supported dome offers 86,000 square feet of activity space during the winter months in Minot.

These operational woes are growing pains for the university. They also struggle with how to allow food during games — which is bad for the turf but great for the event — or people who want to bring their dogs with them in the pseudo-outdoor space.

“If it was just a training facility, it’d be so much easier because you have the public coming in and out, but we’re learning just as fast as we can,” Carter said. “We put some plywood down with some covering on it with tables and chairs and okay, there’s a concession area.”

The university is focused on how to make better opportunities for people to use the facility.

According to Minot State, the bubble averages about 20 rentals from people outside of the city each season. People from Minot receive a special rate when renting the bubble, while people outside of Minot pay more to use the facility.

The average rental time for the bubble is around an hour and a half, which is mostly thanks to youth teams in the area taking advantage of some outdoor space during the cold, snowy months.

Ashton Gerard/MDN The Minot State football team utilized the air-supported dome in April for their annual Spring Football Game.

The university has played 30 collegiate softball games in the bubble each season. Before the bubble, no collegiate games were being played in Minot in February and March.

Because of the way the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference is set up, if there is inclement weather where they are traveling to, there is an automatic site reversal that works well for Minot because of the bubble. The games automatically shift to Minot and the money the team would have spent traveling now goes to the other team to travel to Minot.

“In essence, that money rather than getting spent (elsewhere) gets spent in Minot on hotels and food,” Carter said. “It’s benefited us in many different ways as a university but has further impact into the city of Minot.”

The university raises about $30,000 a year right now in revenue but according to Carter, it isn’t nearly enough to break even.

“It still operates at a loss,” Carter said. “But the service that it provides to Minot State and the community is huge.”

This year, the university teamed up with Minot Parks and Recreation and the Minot Area Community Foundation to bring a Wednesday Fun Zone to the bubble in January and February to give kids a chance to run around in the wide open space for a few hours.

“That was received really well,” Carter said. “Moms that are at home with their kids that aren’t school age yet can come up here and let them go and they can run around and get out of the house a little bit.”

When it comes to sports teams, the first thought that may come to people’s minds is softball as far as getting use out of the facility. According to Carter, every single Minot State athletic program can benefit from the bubble.

“I think every team we have has utilized it in one fashion or another,” Carter said.

Though the impact can already be seen after their second season, Carter believes there is still more to be done with the bubble. They do have open times for students to go in, throw around a frisbee or kick a soccer ball around but the time they can give right now isn’t enough.

“That’s something we want to continue to try to expand,” Carter said. “Our times that are easiest to offer an open gym type of thing is while our students are in class so it doesn’t always match up.”

In the upcoming years, they are hoping to offer more open-bubble times so the facility can be utilized to its fullest potential.

For more information about the bubble, visit msubeavers.com/sports/2017/12/19/air-supported-dome.