FARGO -- Montana State head football coach Jeff Choate began his press conference this week with a reference to practicing football during the winter in Bozeman, Mont. There’s nothing more Choate would like under his tree this Christmas than an indoor football practice facility, among other amenities several top-level FCS programs enjoy.

The Bobcats have a top-of-the-line FCS outdoor stadium that seats almost 18,000. But making a deep run in the playoffs will require them to practice outside in potentially freezing conditions.

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“That’s the goal, right? That’s the No. 1 goal,” Choate said with a grin, while slapping a desk in front of him. “Keep winning and maybe they’ll build us something around here. So there’s my non-sponsored but much-needed commercial that will begin every statement I make from here on out.”

This Saturday, Choate's Bobcats will take on North Dakota State in an FCS second-round playoff game at Gate City Bank Field at the Fargodome. The temperatures are not pretty so far this week in Fargo, but the Bison have armed themselves to deal with it.

They have an indoor bubble for practice. They have the dome when it’s not in use, like it was Tuesday for an agriculture show. And soon to come is a proposed $37 million permanent indoor practice facility that will replace the bubble.

Groundbreaking for that project could come as soon as this summer, said NDSU athletic director Matt Larsen.

Bids and proposals for an architect were due last week.

“We’ll go through an evaluation process and hopefully by the middle to end of a December we’ll have an architect selected,” Larsen said.

Larsen said fundraising for the facility is going well. Montana State announced a 20-year master plan last year that includes an indoor football and track and field facility along with a football administrative and training complex.

Choate, in his third year with the Bobcats, has taken notes with programs MSU has played like Eastern Washington, Weber State, Kennesaw State and South Dakota State. All have made recent facility upgrades. Rival University of Montana recently completed a $14 million locker room, weight training and meeting room “Champions Center” attached to Washington-Grizzly Stadium.

“It’s the next step for us,” Choate said. “If we want to be considered as one of those teams, we have to step up to the plate and make financial commitments, too.”

NDSU knows full well about financial commitments in the FCS world. When the school began its Division I schedule in 2004, former head coach Craig Bohl began preaching for upgrades. This season is night and day compared to what Bohl’s staff had to work with at the beginning of his 11 years at NDSU.

The school has since put millions into office, meeting room, locker room, weight training and sports medicine facilities.

The indoor football facility is expected to complete the process. For now.

“It’s been remarkable,” said NDSU head coach Chris Klieman. “There are a lot of things going on in December and late November in the Fargodome so for us to have the bubble, the temperature is great in there. It’s been so instrumental in our success and our ability get game plans in.”

The last time NDSU played Montana State was in the 2010 FCS second round, which was before the indoor bubble. With the dome being used, the Bison practiced one day in a blizzard. Even last year, with the bubble not yet erected because of mechanical issues, the Bison began practice at times in the track and field building.

“Going through all our walk-throughs, getting all of our teaching stuff in and then hustling outside for 40 minutes as cold as it could be just trying to get some semblance of a practice,” Klieman said. “And that’s hard when you’re coming off a hamstring (injury) and trying to throw the football into the wind. What we’ve done since 2010 -- I remember practicing outside -- to have the bubble, I know our guys appreciate it. It’s given us an advantage to be able to get our practices in when we don’t have the Fargodome.”

Klieman, when told about Choate’s plea for indoor facilities, couldn’t agree more with the Bobcats coach. NDSU’s bubble has its limitations with ceiling height and end zone space.

“I think if you’re in the Upper Midwest you need an indoor facility and that’s our plea as well,” Klieman said. “We’re trying to get that done.”

In the Missouri Valley Football Conference, it’s been done at Youngstown State, South Dakota State and incoming 2020 member North Dakota. South Dakota and Northern Iowa have domed stadiums.

“The Missouri Valley is ahead of a lot of people and the CAA as well,” Choate said, referring to the Colonial Athletic Association. “You go to some of those places and they look better than a lot of (Mid-American Conference) schools have. We’re in a cold-weather climate and we don’t have an indoor and that hurts us a little bit.”

Asked if he’s making progress, Choate said, “I’m pushing hard, as you can tell.”