NIL, Athletic Fundraising at UND

UND Fan · August 5

This should be informative - I hope as many locals as possible attend....

The Chamber would like to invite you to an informative and important community discussion regarding the NCAA’s NIL (name, image, and likeness) policy and its impact on the rapidly evolving landscape of college athletics on the UND campus, as well as the impact these changes may have on our local business community.

Representatives from UND, UND Athletics, 1883 Collective, UND Foundation, Ralph Engelstad Arena, and Alerus Center will be on hand to discuss this very important issue with representatives from our local business community, including a summary of the ways in which the business community can support our student-athletes and athletics programs.

You have been selected to receive an invitation to this event due to the significant role that you play in our local business community. The invitation list for this event includes prominent community and business leaders such as yourself for this important meeting.

Please join us on Tuesday, August 19, 2025, at Ralph Engelstad Arena in the Main Lobby for hosted beer, wine, light apps, and conversation from 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm.

Parking: Free in the North parking lot at Ralph Engelstad Arena. No parking pass required.

Entry Doors: Enter through the Northeast (NE) doors.

Social: 4:00 pm to 4:30 pm

NIL Conversation: 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm

Attire: Casual or Business Casual. It is a meeting at a hockey rink after all!

Please RSVP using this link through The Chamber if you can attend so that we can prepare appropriately from a food and beverage standpoint.

Please feel free to call The Chamber at (701) 772-7271 if you have any questions about this event.

We look forward to seeing you at the Ralph on August 19!

Sincerely,

Chamber NIL Task Force

Matt Bonzer Derek Holt (co-chair) Keith Lund

Matt Bredemeier Jonathan Holth Anna Rosburg

Todd Forkel Tarek Howard Barry Wilfahrt

Jody Hodgson (co-chair) Doug Iverson

Derek Hoffert Jocelyne Lamoureux-Davidson

brianvf · August 20

Schloss wrote an article after the event:

https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/und-officials-explain-how-the-school-uses-nil-to-community-leaders

Quote

The panel revealed UND has slightly more than 50 athletes on NIL deals right now, ranging from "a burrito a month" on up.

Chaves and Hodgson emphasized that none are getting the types of six- or seven-figure deals that often garner major headlines.

Quote

"This isn't a community or a school that's going to lay down the bag and say, 'Hey, we're the highest bidder.'" Schmidt and Jackson said that while it's not the No. 1 factor in recruiting, they've got to at least be in the ballpark to recruit and retain top players.

"We've got a lot of agents saying to us, 'Hey, if you guys are in the mix (financially), we know you do a great job developing hockey players. We want our guys to be Jake Sanderson and Jackson Blake,'" Jackson said. "A few years down the road, they're making millions of dollars because they came through a great program and they learned how to be great pros."

Quote

Jackson acknowledged that UND doesn't have as deep of a bank as Big Ten schools and even "Boston schools." But if UND is in the mix, it can still pull top recruits. Jackson said one of UND's high-profile commitments from this summer had an offer from a Big Ten school that was three times higher than UND's offer.

"We think those guys, we'll probably have to add a few bucks to their package, but they chose us for the right reasons originally," Jackson said. "We're hoping to kind of have some money raised so these kids, who are humble, sharp, young guys and real grounded, will choose to stay here for another year or two."

Assuming it was Reschny that got the big offer from a B10 school.