When a freak windstorm blew the air-supported dome completely off Fargo’s indoor golf driving range in 1999, it just may have been the best thing to ever happen to the business. That’s because, as part of the rebuilding process, new artificial turf was installed and new revenue streams began to flow into the locally famous facility in North Dakota. Six years later, the winds of change are still blowing through what is now the Sports Bubble.

Nearby Valley City native Matt Johnson came to work at the Bubble in 1996. By 1999, the golfing jack-of-all-trades was working there full time, and late last summer, he and his wife, Shelly, bought the business.

“It just seemed like the right thing,” he says of the big decision to move from employee to owner. “What really made the final decision was the fact that I had been here as long as I have. I wasn’t walking off the street into something brand new. I had knowledge of what worked here and what didn’t.”

A local golfer of some renown in the region, Johnson is fully invested in the game in the greater Fargo and Moorhead, Minn., area. A former collegiate golfer and coach, Johnson attended the Professional Golfers Career College in Murrieta, Calif., before becoming an instructor in 1995. And while golf keeps a roof over his head—in this case literally—it was the challenge of building a year-round business under the dome that intrigued him.

By branching out into other sports, Johnson has done just that, creating a successful industry of year-round fun with offerings in football, softball and soccer in addition to golf. An inviting restaurant and pub has also become a centerpiece for the facility, and Johnson, who is virtually a one-man gang at the site with lots of part-time help, has some innovative ideas about incorporating that often delicate balance between food and fun on the golf range.

“A lot of time it seems like I am [living a dream],” he says. “Of course, some days it doesn’t. It just depends on what’s going on that day. But that’s what I enjoy. Every day is different, depending on the time of the year. I like the change.”

A Plan for All Seasons
Change has been a constant at the facility, which originally opened in 1993 as the Fargo Golf Dome, at that time focusing exclusively on golf. The business changed hands in 1996, and immediately the newly christened Sports Bubble began diversifying, offering indoor softball and actively recruiting customers for parties and corporate outings. The Sports Bubble Café, a restaurant and pub, also opened that year in a newly constructed 8,000-square-foot clubhouse that replaced an outdoor 18-hole miniature golf course.

Johnson wasn’t involved in the dome’s early days but recalls that “it was a pretty simple concept.”

“There was the dome and basically a shack in front where you paid, and it had a pop machine, a candy vending machine and a counter. All they sold was range time, and I think they overestimated what the interest and revenue levels would be,” he says.

The challenge has always been filling the gaps outside the dome’s December-to-April busy season, Johnson points out. When the weather turns nice, the golf courses open up and North Dakotans with cabin fever pour outside.

Business had picked up with the wave of changes at the facility in 1996, but on July 4, 1999, a devastating 100-mph windstorm blew through Fargo, wrecking parts of the city and blowing vehicles over and the roofs off many buildings, including the Sports Bubble’s dome. The business was shut down until the dome could be replaced the following September, and by that time, the artificial turf had been ravaged by the weather, the seams coming apart on the already worn turf.

As it happened, the nearby University of North Dakota was replacing the artificial turf at its football stadium in Grand Forks, and the Sports Bubble purchased the used carpet for $5,000, including a top-quality installation. Johnson says customers immediately noticed a difference from the old turf, which was uneven in some areas, and a new nighttime flag football league took off with locals.

“That was really popular, and the softball got more popular, too, because [the surface] was noticeably better,” says Johnson. “At any given time from October to January, we’ve got 500 softball and flag football players.”

And that’s no drop in the golf bucket when league fees run from $300 to $800 per team depending on the length of the season. The leagues also bring a new audience inside the dome and to the restaurant and pub. The softball players stay later and consume more at the restaurant, Johnson reports, but both leagues do well.

“With our sports leagues, our goal is to net anywhere from $80 to $100 an hour,” says Johnson. “And that is usually a better net than our golf range will bring in, definitely until after Christmas.”

Johnson manages and maintains all the leagues himself, establishing the rules, scheduling games, hiring officials and arbitrating disputes. “Rather than working with a recreation department, it allows us to charge a little less so it’s not so prohibitive for some of the teams to join,” says Johnson, who also doesn’t have to share the revenue.

He turns the leagues over often, preferring shorter seasons so the teams can reset regularly to allow more participation and keep interest alive. Fans and friends like to set up chairs on the upper level of the two-tier tee line and watch the fun on the field.

Leagues play as many as four nights a week during the range’s off-season, May through November, though Johnson keeps the tee line open every weekend. Educating golfers on the range’s hours has been the biggest problem with this schedule.

“The big thing is just having a schedule and making it consistent and sticking to it,” Johnson says. “But we always have people that come in on a Tuesday night in February, and we’ve been closed on Tuesday nights for four months, and they’re upset they can’t hit balls.”

So far, the leagues have been exclusively for adults, but the facility is in negotiations to bring an NFL-sanctioned flag football youth league in, possibly as early as this fall.

Johnson is expanding into soccer, too. North Dakota State University’s soccer team scheduled some practices in the facility last winter. One of the school’s assistant coaches is responsible for local youth soccer development, and took a liking to the facility, scheduling a camp and a tournament there. Johnson plans to keep that option “external,” letting the coach run the program, with the Sports Bubble just renting the space. “It really went well, but if we go that route, we’ll just provide the facility and let them do their own thing,” he says.

All games are played on the football turf that runs in front of the double-deck tee line. The field is 40 yards long, an ideal size for the fast-flowing flag game. From home plate directly in front of the tees, the softball field is nearly 200 feet to the netting on the back wall in center field. Teams use the softer Incrediball that doesn’t travel quite as far. Three advertising banners hanging from the ceiling, some 40 feet above the field, and two more on the back wall are automatic home runs if hit by a batter. They’re also popular targets for golfers.

Bubble Buckets and Bargains
The 33 tee stations spread over a double-deck alignment at the entrance to the dome are still the main source of revenue for the facility, accounting for over half the total sales, according to Johnson.

Because of the seasonal nature of an indoor range, Johnson drastically changes his rates during the summer. From November through April, a Bubble Bucket of 300 balls costs $9.75 during the week and $11.75 on the weekend. To keep customers moving through, that price buys an hour on the tees and as many more balls as they can hit during that time. After May, the rates drop to $8.50, with unlimited time and balls for $12.50.

“The Bubble Bucket is a great value and that’s what we want in the summer,” says Johnson. “You can also buy a bucket of 75 balls for $6, but we really push the bigger buckets. It’s a better value and it keeps people in here longer when we aren’t as crowded. We tell them it’s almost like an all-you-can-eat buffet. You don’t have to hit all the balls if you don’t want to.”

Customers pay for balls at the café counter and enter the dome through a connecting walkway, where full buckets are waiting just behind the tee line. This honor system works well, but during the busier times, Johnson has an employee distribute the buckets to serve customers more quickly.

In addition to the sponsored banners, customers on the tee line have a huge, blue vinyl background at the far end of the dome to aim for. There are also two portable simulated target greens made of vinyl. The targets were built on wheeled frames so they can be moved around on the landing area for chipping and pitching target practice, or out of the way for league play.

“We built the frames ourselves and got a local tarp company to do the material for us,” says Johnson. “When we’ve got another activity on the field, we can just wheel them off.”

Johnson is always looking for ways to wheel in more golf traffic. He has a lunch and golf offer for $8.50 that includes a bucket of balls and lunch at the restaurant, usually a burger, sandwich or pizza. Recently, Johnson incorporated lessons into the mix, offering tips to those on the tee line, in addition to lunch.

“We get beginners, a lot of intermediate players that’ll come in for a lunch deal and they’re just looking for a little general direction,” he says. “They’re a little nervous to take a full lesson, so that’s kind of what this is for. I try to give them some ideas to help them out and they don’t have to be too intimidated. It’s a group situation, and often, when we’ve done this in the past, a lot of them end up taking lessons.”

Johnson gives all the lessons at the Sports Bubble, but he readily encourages area pros to use the tee line for their lessons at no extra charge. The more golfers he gets coming into the dome, the better. As for Johnson, he’s given 4,000-plus lessons since he came aboard in 1996.

“I keep pretty busy, but I still try to spend a little time at the counter up front,” he says “I like to get the face-to-face time with the customers. From January through June, though, I’d say I spend about half my time doing lessons.”

Johnson also spends his time picking balls off the carpet. “I’ve shoveled millions of balls here in the last nine years,” he says. The range is stocked with 35,000 Intech balls, but on a busy February or March day, the Sports Bubble can still run dry. Johnson found the picker was hard on the balls against the artificial surface and hasn’t used it in more than a year. Instead, he uses a shovel and trailer.

“We can just shut down for 10 minutes and you can load 15,000 balls in five minutes with a couple of shovels,” he says. “It’s hard work, but it’s fast and very efficient.”

Balls are loaded into a bin located at one end of the tee line, and a turn of a spigot starts the balls rolling down a chute to fill buckets quickly. Behind the tees on the other side, a nine-hole miniature golf course snakes around the back on the left. A sliding board for kids, skillfully constructed wooden walkways and live, potted plants highlight the holes. “There was an 18-hole outdoor miniature golf course here when the place opened, but it wasn’t recouping their investment,” Johnson says. “When they upgraded from just the little shack in front to the full facility that houses our restaurant, it went right over where the course used to be.”

Nine holes were moved inside but aren’t a major draw except for birthday parties and other such gatherings for kids. It is a bargain, though, at $3.50 for adults and $2.50 for children 18 and younger.

The success of the softball and football leagues also cuts into the facility’s availability for corporate outings, though Johnson has had some success drawing a steady lunchtime business from the busy downtown area around the Bubble.

“We have some businesses come in, hit a bucket of balls and have a lunch and then have a speaker,” he says. “We do well with Christmas parties, too.”

Bubble Business
A revolving door leads customers from a clubhouse hallway into the dome. That’s because inside the dome is pressurized to keep it aloft, and the revolving door helps keep that seal. There is no structural support; air pumped in from the outside maintains the pressure inside, inflating the dome and keeping it in place.

The pressure needed to keep the bubble inflated is just 0.036 psi, an incredibly low amount considering automobile tires inflate to a pressure of 35 to 45 psi. The inflated white dome is visible for blocks around Fargo, and is as popular as ever to curious bystanders.

“We still get all kinds of people who just come and say, ‘Can I see what’s inside?’” says Johnson. “They walk in and they’re looking around, and they always say that it’s bigger than it looks from the outside.”

The new dome is different from the original. Where the first dome was translucent and let light in from the outside, and thus let light out, the new fabric is thicker and doesn’t allow such entry or escape. Although that new trait takes the glow away from the structure at night, it has been a positive on hot summer days.

“The first dome, in the summer, was like a greenhouse,” says Johnson. “It was hotter [inside] than it was outside. Now it stays pretty comfortable unless it’s just ridiculously hot outside.”

The dome is constructed of a thin inner vinyl layer and a stronger, thicker outer vinyl covering. Insulation between the two layers helps control the temperature inside, and the dome is designed to sway in the wind to avoid exterior damage.

In another change from the original dome, anchor cables secure the structure, and automatic, computerized sensors keep the pressure at the right level to keep it inflated. A furnace is attached to the inflation ducts and natural gas heat is pumped in during the winter, though not that much heat.

“We keep the dome 55 degrees in the wintertime,” says Johnson. “That isn’t warm, but it’s just about right for the golfers.”

Inside, the dome spans 210 feet long, 145 feet wide and 60 feet high, an average size, according to Johnson. He estimates that building a new one from the ground up would cost significantly more than the $155,000 he has invested in taking over the dome and café (the deal also included Food on the Fly, a separate catering business, which Johnson purchased for another $50,000). He’s right. According to Yeadon Fabric Domes, manufacturer of the original dome and the subsequent replacement dome, just the fabric dome and installation would run over $450,000 in today’s market.

Johnson owns the dome but leases space in the clubhouse for the café. A separate part of the building is leased to a golf retail store unaffiliated with Johnson. The building is owned by a small investment group that also owns the land surrounding the Sports Bubble.

Food for Thought
The restaurant, the Sports Bubble Café, has been a major boon to business. Though not a destination yet on the local restaurant scene, it is popular enough to foster several promotions including the lunch-and-golf combo and daily lunch specials.

Players in the Bubble’s leagues also enjoy hanging out at the café after their games, and one league even competes in the café. Johnson has two DeadSolid golf simulators and they’re another popular competition. Two-man leagues run all winter on the simulators, with players competing on computer-generated courses and posting their scores afterward in head-to-head competition with other teams.

The league has been as big as 60 players, 30 teams of two. In addition to an entry fee for the league, players pay $10 per nine holes on the simulator and $15 for 18 holes each time they compete. They’ll also often eat and drink in the café.

“That starts in November, so that’s kind of nice for the early part of winter when we’re not that busy,” says Johnson. “And it seems like they’re buying a pitcher or ordering a pizza, so you’re always getting that extra purchase.”

There are lots of other diversions in the café, including video games, dartboards and a pool table. All in all, the area has a cozy feel, like a friend’s basement, with paneled walls and comfortable seating throughout.

Johnson prefers to keep the restaurant simple, offering easy-to-prepare items such as sandwiches, salads and pizza. Johnson has some experience in food preparation, also running the small catering business on the side. He’s bringing some of that expertise to the Sports Bubble Café, including a brand-new lunch delivery service.

“It’s a work in progress,” says Johnson. “We’re just getting menus out. We just thought it was another way to get our name out in the community and target nearby businesses. We’ll see what happens.”

Johnson’s successes at the Bubble have been built on that simple idea of asking “Why not?” instead of “Why?”

“When the weather gets warm, the people here want to be outside, whether it’s playing golf or going to the lake,” Johnson says. “It’s something you really can’t overcome when you’re an indoor facility, but we’re finding a way. The first three years when this place opened, [golf] was 90 percent of the income, and we’re doing a lot more business but [golf] is just over half of our total revenue now. That’s just the sign of all the extra things we’ve been able to create.”