UND preparing for sold-out crowd for men’s basketball game against Alabama: ‘Everything’s ramped up’

GRAND FORKS Every inch of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center will be full Wednesday night when UND mens basketball hosts Alabama at 8 p.m.

A sold-out crowd which is set to include hundreds from Devils Lake, the hometown of Alabama forward Grant Nelson is expected to fill the stands.

ADVERTISEMENT Tickets for the matchup between the Fighting Hawks and the Top 10-ranked Crimson Tide are only available on resale.

General admission bleacher tickets are available for $100 each on Ticketmaster, while seats are reselling for upwards of $120 each as of Thursday evening.

The same concessions, fan experience booths and security that fans are accustomed to for basketball games at the Betty will surround the stands Wednesday.

There will just be more of everything to accommodate the large expected crowd for UNDs first time hosting an SEC team.

You're going to see an increase in guest services, security, parking staffing, custodial, janitorial, electrical, HVAC and maintenance, said Kelvin Ziegler, the events director at Ralph Engelstad Arena.

Basically our whole staff is on call for Wednesday night.

UND is simply scaling up its normal operations system for games.

When it comes down to it, said UND assistant athletic director of operations Kurt Kelley, we have so many events at the Betty per year that at this point, we really have a system in place that allows us to run every event smoothly and not forget anything.

But there will be some changes for the game.

ADVERTISEMENT First, doors will open earlier.

Fans will be able to enter the Betty 90 minutes before tipoff, starting at 6:30 p.m., from multiple points of entry.

More concession stands, grab-and-go booths and ATMs will be added.

UND will run a 50-50 raffle, which isnt typical for a basketball game.

The club lounge area will feature its own bar.

Every nook and cranny of this facility will be used for this game on Wednesday night, Ziegler said.

Other adjustments for the game are in an effort to accommodate what Alabama normally experiences in the SEC, especially in regards to security.

The Tide wont use the normal visitors locker room across the court from the visitors bench, and Alabama coach Nate Oats will have security assigned to him.

UND will also have a plan in place to ensure no fans storm the court postgame, as thats a point of emphasis in the SEC now.

ADVERTISEMENT Other than that, it's not a whole lot different, if I'm being honest, Kelley said.

Its just everything's ramped up a little bit.

Thats the way it should be.

Whether there's 12 fans in the stands or it's sold out its just those things that you add.

You have to accommodate the ticket count that you're expecting, but everything else should run relatively similar to any conference game, nonconference game that we have at the Betty.

UND will be working on a tight timeline, though.

Setup for the game will start Monday and Tuesday ahead of UND womens basketballs game against Mayville State on Tuesday night.

UND wont be able to enter the gym during Alabamas pregame shootaround on Wednesday, abiding by the rules of high-major programs.

Were trying to do the things that we normally do, Ziegler said, but we're also trying to do some of those little things, extra things so to speak, to make their visit special in the hopes that hopefully well get another opportunity to host a big game like this..

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