OPINION: Pros and Cons to North Dakota State potentially moving to FBS level

So I am going to be honest, the main reason why I created this section of the page was to address the biggest questions from the outside world about the record-breaking program that is North Dakota State football.

One of the biggest I hear all the time is this: 
So with all this success why doesn't NDSU move up to FBS and play with the big boys?

Simplest Answer: A lot of us wish we would.

More Complex Answer: It takes a lot of things to move up to the FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) level. 
For reference, in case you don't know the North Dakota State Bison football team plays in the NCAA Division 1 but they play at the FCS (Football Championship Subdivision) level. Some consider it the "AA" of Division 1 as ESPN considers it this way. FCS was kept so that schools could offer a football program while not blowing out competition (See news that University of St. Thomas in Minneapolis, MN is moving from D3 to D1) as well as being able to offer Division 1 sports elsewhere. There are no restrictions on any other D1 sport besides football. 
If you have been following NDSU or even attended the school then you would know that the Bison are a full Division 1 school. Every sport offered at competition level is in NCAA Division 1. Now the only sport that is offered in a Power 5 conference is wrestling (Big 12). 
But a lot of it has to do with the requirements the NCAA has of a FBS school. According to the NCAA they require their FBS schools to meet the following requirements:
- Have stadium the team can play in that seats at least 35,000 people
- The school must sponsor at least 16 varsity intercollegiate teams, with at least 6 men's/coeducational teams and 8 all-female teams
- Sponsor 83 scholarships

Here is how the Bison currently stand:
Stadium: Fargodome - Capacity 19,000
13 intercollegiate teams: Football, Women's Soccer, Men's Baskeball, Women's Basketball, Wrestling, Men's Track and Field, Women's Track and Field, Baseball, Softball, Cross Country, Men's Golf, Women's Golf, Volleyball
Sponsor 63 scholarships

Another unsaid requirement is that of financial support to be able to support a much bigger team then before, as well as the facilities to support that. A big example of this is the University of Minnesota's recent complete remodel of their Athletes Village.

Let's go over these points one by one.

Stadium
In Fargo the biggest stadium space available is the Fargodome, where NDSU currently plays, which seats 19,000 including standing room. Now something well known in the FCS is the great attendance NDSU enjoys. Consistently Bison games reach attendance numbers of 17,000-18,500 for both regular season and playoff games. To give an estimate how many fans could come to watch a Bison game; NDSU's season opener in 2019 was at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN. They sold about 32,000 tickets for that game, by far a NDSU record. So they have the fan support to make a new stadium that has to seat at least 35,000 worth their while. However, NDSU does not own the Fargodome, they have an agreement with the City of Fargo to use the facility for football while the City has rights to schedule other events such as concerts, graduations and other events. So NDSU would need to come up with the financial support to try and build a new stadium that they owned unless the City was willing to rebuild on the site of the Fargodome. If they were to build on a site other then the Fargodome then the team would not enjoy the great continuity with the campus they currently enjoy as the dome sits just across the street from main campus. But there is plenty of space NDSU probably already owns that they could use for a new stadium. Now the other question is while NDSU can fill Target Field, can they fill a similarly sized stadium back in Fargo where the population is around 36,000. 
So ultimately the answer to this question would be: it is possible but maybe not probable at this point. 

16 Sports
Since NDSU only supports the 13 sports listed above, they would need to support 3 more teams. Now there are 3 teams that many people would easily think of for NDSU to have 16 total. They could add a Men's Hockey team and a Women's Hockey team, as well as a Men's Soccer team to share facilities with the Women's team. 
Now I know what you are probably thinking, why doesn't NDSU have any hockey teams given they are located in the frozen tundra? Well there are several things that don't exactly promote a hockey team in Fargo. Back in the early 90s when NDSU was considering moving to Division 1 with all their sports, there was also the proposal to start hockey teams and add on a hockey arena to the Fargodome. This idea was shot down however with huge doubt whether Fargo could support a college hockey team with the major team around here being University of North Dakota's hockey teams. Also the city rejected the proposal of adding a hockey arena to the dome because they deemed it not financial feasible.  There is of course high school hockey around here but not nearly enough support like a typical Minnesota school. Now Fargo does boarder Moorhead, MN which did host Hockey Day Minnesota a couple years ago so one could argue that Fargo could support that and supply its players. 
But not only would it need support, it also needs a place to play. The hockey arena in town is the Scheels Arena that hosts the Fargo Force (junior hockey team) and it seats 3,500. This might be enough to start off, now it isn't anywhere near campus. Its actually about 15 mins south of the main NDSU campus. But it would be viable. 
Men's soccer would share the Women's facilities so that wouldn't be much of a problem. 
Overall the answer here is its possible

Scholarships
NDSU does not have near the financial support for more scholarships let alone more sports teams. 
The big thing here is to move up it would require adding 3 more sports programs to the university that already has attendance problems at its other sports besides football. This would also need more support financially that the school just can't provide right now. It would also need to then devote more money to the football program to support its move to a bigger venue. Then after that to support the contracts with bigger markets. That is well beyond the means of what this university can support. 
NDSU only supports about $1-5 million of the football program's support yearly, about $30-40 million comes from donors. This program cannot simply rely on donors if its going to transition to FBS. It would collapse if this were to happen. 

So for now us Bison fans will just have to hold tight and wait until the school can support of program of that caliber. 

Go Bison!