The UND Football team has released the 2016 Spring Football Schedule and it has changed dramatically from previous years.
UND will begin practice on March 4th this year. In 2015, they held their first spring practice on March 27th.
Another interesting note is that most all practices are being held at 8am vs. the typical 3:30pm in the past.
The Spring Game is set for April 16th. Last year the game was held April 25th.
This dramatic change in the spring schedule is due to one large addition to the UND campus: The High Performance Center. UND will be holding all 14 practices in the HPC. The quality of practice will be elevated immensely thanks to the climate controlled setting of the HPC.
Another added benefit is that spring ball will be over several weeks before finals begin. In the past, the spring game would be a week before finals began and seemed to rush things for the student-athletes. Now they have plenty of time to transition into full-time school-mode before the all-important finals week. Plus, the student-athletes will still get a full spring break week off in there, also.
Thank you again Altru, Scheels, and other donors for the donations to the HPC.
We will take a closer look at the depth chart and key spring battles in the next couple weeks.
What’s with the early practices and random early afternoon? Do these kids not have to go to class anymore?
Kind of wondering about that myself. They must have seen that there were no 8-10am conflicts with class on those days so decided to go this route.
Any idea if they are open to the public as they have been in the past?
Yes they are open to public.
What are the logistics that prevent them from holding the spring football game inside the HPC? I love the nostalgia of Memorial Stadium but it has a lot of logistic’s issues.
Not enough room for people to watch. Plus standing on the track doesn’t offer much of a view. It’s fine for some but not most everyone. The elevated entrance doesn’t allow for many at all either.
With that said, would love to see the spring game back in the Alerus Center. Obviously, all of the amenities (new video boards, controlled environment, scoreboard, sound system, etc.) are available there and the parking lot is available for tailgating.
Last year’s game at Memorial went just fine, but to diminish the hype surrounding a UND football spring game seems a bit questionable, especially while trying to sell more season tickets and up the attendance/noise in the Alerus Center on gamedays.