SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO) — South Dakota State University Jackrabbit sports fans will soon have a refurbished facility where they can cheer on four of their teams; the volleyball, wrestling, and women’s and men’s basketball teams will all compete at First Bank & Trust Arena, the new name for Frost Arena after ongoing renovations.
Frost Arena is treasured by fans and coaches. But no career can go on forever.
“I think those memories and that heartbeat will still stay the same,” head women’s basketball coach Aaron Johnston said. “But it needed a facelift. It needed the renovations, and we’re just so lucky to have so many great donors and people that stepped up to make that possible.”
“We’ve always hung our hat on what experience are you going to be able to have here at South Dakota State,” head men’s basketball coach Eric Henderson said. “And Frost Arena was special, but it was time.”
And so, Frost Arena is evolving.
“To transform into First Bank & Trust Arena is really remarkable, and it’s going to obviously change the look, but it won’t necessarily change the memories and feel, ’cause those Frost Arena memories can still be there,” Johnston said.
“To have a new building, something that can meet those needs and something that really shows off our history and our success and our tradition, but it’s allowing us to think about what’s coming and how good can we actually continue to be,” SDSU athletic director Justin Sell said.
“The atmosphere’s going to be incredible,” Henderson said. “And so when you talk about recruiting and how that affects that, we’ll certainly talk about that, and the environment that you’ll get to play in is going to be awfully special.”
Jackrabbit supporters can look forward to unique first steps in the new home: commencements.
“We’ll use kind of each of the first games of those teams, volleyball, wrestling, men’s and women’s basketball, to do like a commemorative ticket, and we’ll do some special things around their first games which will allow us to continue to get more people in here and build that excitement,” Sell said.
Frost Arena has been a staple of not only SDSU athletics but sports overall in South Dakota. Now, it’s time for this venue to, in a way, graduate into a new, updated version of itself.
“For me, this is year 25 as the head coach, so I have a lot of great memories of Frost Arena,” Johnston said. “A lot of great history of what that building has not, has meant not only to me and our team but just to the state. There’s so many young people that played their high school tournaments here, come to a Jackrabbit game here or walked through graduation there.”
“Seating structures are now permanent upstairs,” Sell said. “We used to have pull-out wood bleachers; those are gone.”
“All the first-class amenities that it will bring, the premium seating that [it] will bring, but at the end of the day, what makes South Dakota State special is the people,” Henderson said. “And we know it’s going to be the same people that were in Frost Arena, and the environment’s pretty special.”
Sell says First Bank & Trust Arena will have roughly the same number of seats as Frost Arena. He tells KELOLAND News the first sporting event in the new facility under its new title will be with the volleyball team in October.
