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On 1/13/2023 at 12:05 PM, NewUndFan said:

I never thought that from the beginning.  But our top 3 candidates that they announced none of them were impressive.  I especially didnt like hiring a middle aged guy from a division 2 school that historically always is on top.  

So who were they supposed to hire?? 

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From: nodak 651
Sent: Monday, July 18, 2022 1:25 PM
To: timb@undfoundation.org; DeAnna Carlson Zink <DeAnnaC@undfoundation.org>; vals@undfoundation.org; Mike Mannausau <mikem@UNDfoundation.org>; Chaves, William <william.chaves@und.edu>
Subject: UND Athletic Facilities and Charitable Gaming

Quote

Sorry for the bother, but I have a few questions and if any of you have the time to answer, I would greatly appreciate it.

1) Is there a reason UND isn't involved with charitable gaming?  If not, can it be considered in the future?  I believe NDSU generates hundreds of thousands from this annually (like 500-800K net) and it seems like a missed opportunity on UND's part, especially with gambling already taking place within the Alerus Center complex.

2)  We have been hearing for a couple years now that phase two of the indoor practice facility is close, but UND has been awfully quiet lately.  Can any of you provide an update on this, and also, is there going to be a public fundraising effort?  It concerns me that UND doesn't have any mention or pictures of this on either the official athletics website, the foundation website, or the champions club website.  UND doesn't specifically ask for a donation for this project at any of those websites, and I do not understand why that is the case if shovels are even remotely close to being in the ground, and if they aren't, I would think that building public awareness about the project could help, no?  Why doesn't UND inform fans of the strategic facilities plans at UND at least?  Examples of other schools promoting their planned facility improvements:

https://msubobcats.com/sports/2017/9/20/Facilities-MasterPlan.aspx

https://supportthepanthers.com/capital-projects/index.html

https://gojacks.com/news/2021/9/13/general-lead-gift-announced-for-arena-renovation.aspx

3)  Lastly, have you talked to the REA at all about building a basketball practice facility (which is on strategic plan but has never been mentioned publicly)?  The REA has millions of dollars in their accounts there, so I'm curious to know if there are any plans for that money, or basketball facilities in general.  Could a basketball practice facility be financed in a similar way as how the Betty was financed?  Is the REA interested in working with you on this?  Does the REA and UND work together to create and implement UND's overall facilities plan?  I ask because the REA weight room project came as a surprise while UND is struggling to raise money for greater needs elsewhere, and with the lack of success lately for most UND sports, I think being more open about facilities plans could help to keep fans engaged, and it would help to build hype and buy-in for programs that are struggling to get over the hump, and you could even potentially get a big donor out of it.  I do understand that the weight room project was most likely funded by a single targeted donation, but it doesn't provide the best optics when, based on the lack of facilities information or UND's websites, it seems that UND is ok with the status quo (I know this isn't the case).  I also understand that UND is involved with the P3 project, which seems to be a great idea.  I just do not understand why UND isn't hyping this stuff up more than it is (or at all, really).  

Thank you for your time.  
Regards,

On Tue, Jul 19, 2022 at 12:58 PM Chaves, William <william.chaves@und.edu> wrote:

Quote

Thank you for the email and I will take a shot at answering your questions numerically…

1.       Charitable gaming in GF is pretty much handled in by GF Youth Hockey, Development Homes and The Listen Center – I believe Teammakers got in very early in Fargo…

2.       We are working daily on our athletic facility masterplan and should have some good news publicly in the very near future…here is an article from the GF Herald recently that gives you some context as to why we have been patient in announcing anything but we are working simultaneously on both the P3 and the philanthropic addition to the Pollard Center – 2 projects in the works…

https://www.grandforksherald.com/news/local/grand-forks-city-council-approves-pilot-agreement-for-memorial-village-development-project

3.       We are continuously working with our partners at The Ralph to improve all aspects of the building for the betterment of all of our programs.  In addition to the weight room project that you mention, we have several other projects happening at The Betty this summer (see link for one them below) with a practice facility being something that is definitely on our radar screen for the future for sure….

https://fightinghawks.com/news/2022/6/21/general-und-athletics-unveils-j-j-safranski-northwestern-mututal-team-room.aspx

I hope this helps and always appreciate the reach out…Best, Bill

On Tue, Jul 26, 2022 at 3:08 PM nodak651 wrote:

Quote

Thank you for responding to my email.  That means a lot.  However, for the most part, my questions remain unanswered.  

I read the articles that you linked to before I sent my initial email, and the one about the Safranski Team Room piqued my interest, because it sounded like the project was funded by people in the community other than the REA or the Engelstad Foundation, and because the article didn't mention the weight room project at all (I do not recall UND ever officially announcing the weight room project), although I believe the REA may have made an announcement at some point.   As such, the whole REA/UND setup seems disjointed, and there doesn't seem to be very much evidence that supports your statement: "We are continuously working with our partners at The Ralph to improve all aspects of the building for the betterment of all of our programs".  Is there an actual master plan or any type of plan at all for facilities updates at the Betty/REA?  Did UND have any say in the 5 million dollar weight room investment at the REA?  I assumed the answer to this, specifically, was "no", so money being directed there (by the engelstad foundation) instead of towards other areas that are of higher need made sense, but if that was the case, it would hardly be an example of the REA and UND working together "towards the betterment of all programs".  Did UND actually sign off or support the investment on a 5 million dollar weight room renovation (a project not even mentioned in UND Athletics 2018 master plan) while at the same time UND is struggling to fundraise for phase two of the Pollard Center.  Did UND and the REA explore the impact of investing that money into a basketball/volleyball practice facility, which is a project that's actually on UND's master plan?  Again, I assume the answer to that is no, because I assume the money was donated specifically for the weight room only.  Either way, the optics look bad, and as with phase two for the Pollard Center, if there are other projects at the Betty, why isn't UND doing anything to create excitement behind the projects or publicly fundraise for them?  At minimum, better publicizing facility improvements or plans would help to show the fan bases of other UND sports that UND doesn't only care about hockey and that UND actually has plans in place to improve other programs.  If fundraising is completed, why not publicly promote this stuff, or use smaller donations to improve the projects?   I apologize for such a long-winded response - I'm mainly just hoping for more of a direct answer to some of the questions I asked in my initial email.

Regards,

On Fri,  Aug 26, 2022 at 6:41 PM nodak651 wrote:

Quote

Congratulations on ground breaking for Memorial Village.  I know everyone is busy, but I still have a couple of questions that I would appreciate if you could answer, when you have a moment.

First questions - does UND and the REA have a master plan for renovations or improvements, and is there a plan for the money in the renovations/improvements fund?  On a related note, does UND have an updated master plan for Athletics as a whole, or is the most up to date athletics master plan the same as the one currently listed on UND's website, from 2018? 

Secondly, is there going to be a public fundraising phase, similar to what we see at other schools (examples below), for the second phase of the Pollard Center?  I ask, because there is no web page that enables anyone to learn about and donate specifically to this project.  I think there are many people who would donate to a specific project like this who either wouldn't donate to UND otherwise, or would do so in addition to what they already donate, because rather than a general donation to the Champions Club or scholarships, this project is tangible - donating to something that can literally be seen is exciting to people!  Champions Club donations seem to have stagnated over the past 5 years or so (sign of apathy?), but I think marketing and publicly asking for donations to a project like this would help to excite people and inspire new donations - it's why other schools create web pages like the ones linked below.
https://msubobcats.com/sports/2017/9/20/Facilities-MasterPlan.aspx

https://supportthepanthers.com/capital-projects/index.html

https://gojacks.com/news/2021/9/13/general-lead-gift-announced-for-arena-renovation.aspx

Thank you for your time.

On Thu, Sep 15, 2022 at 12:05 AM nodak651 wrote:

Quote

Congratulations on ground breaking for Memorial Village.  I know everyone is busy, but I still have a couple of questions that I would appreciate if you could answer, when you have a moment.

First questions - does UND and the REA have a master plan for renovations or improvements, and is there a plan for the money in the renovations/improvements fund?  On a related note, does UND have an updated master plan for Athletics as a whole, or is the most up to date athletics master plan the same as the one currently listed on UND's website, from 2018? 

Secondly, is there going to be a public fundraising phase, similar to what we see at other schools (examples below), for the second phase of the Pollard Center?  I ask, because there is no web page that enables anyone to learn about and donate specifically to this project.  I think there are many people who would donate to a specific project like this who either wouldn't donate to UND otherwise, or would do so in addition to what they already donate, because rather than a general donation to the Champions Club or scholarships, this project is tangible - donating to something that can literally be seen is exciting to people!  Champions Club donations seem to have stagnated over the past 5 years or so (sign of apathy?), but I think marketing and publicly asking for donations to a project like this would help to excite people and inspire new donations - it's why other schools create web pages like the ones linked below.
https://msubobcats.com/sports/2017/9/20/Facilities-MasterPlan.aspx

https://supportthepanthers.com/capital-projects/index.html

https://gojacks.com/news/2021/9/13/general-lead-gift-announced-for-arena-renovation.aspx

Thank you for your time.

Nobody responded to the last three emails, but they did their half assed master plan announcement 15 days after the last email I sent. https://fightinghawks.com/news/2022/9/30/general-north-dakota-athletics-releases-master-facilities-plan.aspx

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22 hours ago, nodak651 said:

Nobody responded to the last three emails, but they did their half assed master plan announcement 15 days after the last email I sent. https://fightinghawks.com/news/2022/9/30/general-north-dakota-athletics-releases-master-facilities-plan.aspx

That part is disappointing.
Given the depth of your questions, I would have asked for an actual meeting (or phone call depending on your location). Someone from the Athletic Department or Alumni Foundation should be able to find 15-20 minutes to have a conversation with you. They spend time talking to plenty of people who have a lot less substance than what you asked. Guessing there were parts of it they couldn't answer or disclose at the time, but that doesn't mean there couldn't still be a response.

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23 minutes ago, gfhockey said:

Gf hockey only has a couple sites for machines too. BWW sin bin and new Hugo’s I believe 

 

hes way off. 

Add in Blue Line Club as part of hockey as well. 

I wish UND would get into charitable gaming, but competition for sites is pretty fierce and what non-profit's spot are you going take over? And, right or wrong, how does that go over in the community? 

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18 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

Add in Blue Line Club as part of hockey as well. 

I wish UND would get into charitable gaming, but competition for sites is pretty fierce and what non-profit's spot are you going take over? And, right or wrong, how does that go over in the community? 

This would make a lot of sense (see below).  And given that gambling in gf is apparently dominated by like three groups, there shouldn't be ANY complaints about it.

Playmaker’s All American Lounge is a “boutique casino” where players try their luck at blackjack and games of chance. The lounge features, and pays tribute to, the All Americans from the University of North Dakota. Playmaker’s All American Lounge is the official pre and post game gathering site for UND Athletics. Meet friends at Playmaker’s All American Lounge and relax with drinks and snacks as you watch the big game.

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47 minutes ago, jdub27 said:

Add in Blue Line Club as part of hockey as well. 

I wish UND would get into charitable gaming, but competition for sites is pretty fierce and what non-profit's spot are you going take over? And, right or wrong, how does that go over in the community? 

Blue line club donates to other organizations then just hockey

 

pretty sure the rink now is mainly for figure skaters tok

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