Fundraising for facilities project is 'way ahead of schedule,' says Gophers AD

[supadupafly]

Per Minneapolis Tribune Gopher football blog:

Gophers Athletics Director Norwood Teague said Thursday that fundraising for the $150 million athletics facilities project is “way ahead of schedule,” noting that $70 million has been raised in about 10 months.

Teague gave an update before the Board of Regents Facilities and Operations Committee approved using $15 million of the money already raised for schematic design.

“I feel very good about the pace that we’re on,” Teague said after the meeting. “Our fundraising is way ahead of schedule. I am thrilled with the money we’ve brought in thus far, and I’m thrilled with the prospects of our timeline.”

Senior Associate Athletics Director Chris Werle said, “We’re still hoping to break ground [by the] end of the summer. That’s our goal.”

Others have noted that fundraising for this project is going much quicker than when the Gophers were raising money to build TCF Bank Stadium.

“We’re going to get it done,” Regent Thomas Devine said. “We’re going to make sure that we deliver a product here.

“And I think certainly when we look at the arms race that we’re in – those of us that have traveled to the other schools in the Big Ten, and we know what’s going on in the SEC – this is an important step for the university. And the commitment’s there from this board and from the president.”

http://www.startribune.com/sports/blogs/291709091.html

 

[Spoofin]

Blah Blah. I don't care what Norwood says, I'll wait for GW to tell me how things are going.


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[supadupafly]

Blah Blah. I don't care what Norwood says, I'll wait for GW to tell me how things are going.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well played sir, well played.

 

[Mulligan]

Blah Blah. I don't care what Norwood says, I'll wait for GW to tell me how things are going.


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2% chance it gets done.

 

[Sparlimb]

2% chance it gets done.

Well I'm willing to wait on that 2% chance that GW tells us what's up.

Norwood was getting this done from the minute he was hired. That's why he was hired.

 

[Pompous Elitist]

-Teague originally envisions facilities as costing between 80-120MM in Feb 2013.
-The original 190MM facility plan was unveiled in July 2013 following the hiring of Populous in Oct 2012.
-The "silent phase" ended in Sept 2014 with the Nothing Short of Greatness campaign.
-At that time 40MM in donations were announced
-In December 2014 Nanne intimated they had raised 70-75MM. rounding errors, I guess. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that was the number I recall.
-Plan is downsized to 150MM.
-Latest word is we are hovering around 70MM in private donations as of Feb 2015.
-School officials torn on what 80% of 150MM is. One says 120MM, another 96MM. I'm confused. Perhaps they have loans lined up with T. Denny to hit the 80% red line.

I attended public schools, but it seems more like 19 months since the beginning of the silent phase. I could be wrong...? Perhaps Kaler meant the first donation wasn't promised until April 2014.

Bottom line - seems a little disjointed. I'm a little disappointed Kill's two impressive seasons haven't sparked more corporate donations but obviously these deals can move slowly and leadership changes can change things overnight. So there is reason for hope. We are not in the depths of the 2008 economic meltdown. Get 'er done Teague, and Jerry, and Nanne, and other connected alumni.

 

[die hard gopher]

-Teague originally envisions facilities as costing between 80-120MM in Feb 2013.
-The original 190MM facility plan was unveiled in July 2013 following the hiring of Populous in Oct 2012.
-The "silent phase" ended in Sept 2014 with the Nothing Short of Greatness campaign.
-At that time 40MM in donations were announced
-In December 2014 Nanne intimated they had raised 70-75MM. rounding errors, I guess. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but that was the number I recall.
-Plan is downsized to 150MM.
-Latest word is we are hovering around 70MM in private donations as of Feb 2015.
-School officials torn on what 80% of 150MM is. One says 120MM, another 96MM. I'm confused. Perhaps they have loans lined up with T. Denny to hit the 80% red line.

I attended public schools, but it seems more like 19 months since the beginning of the silent phase. I could be wrong...? Perhaps Kaler meant the first donation wasn't promised until April 2014.

Bottom line - seems a little disjointed. I'm a little disappointed Kill's two impressive seasons haven't sparked more corporate donations but obviously these deals can move slowly and leadership changes can change things overnight. So there is reason for hope. We are not in the depths of the 2008 economic meltdown. Get 'er done Teague, and Jerry, and Nanne, and other connected alumni.

I've heard that there are a lot of prospects that are very close to donating and all they need to do is close the deal but having a bad basketball season and starting 0-5 in the Big Ten has hurt a lot. Hopefully they can get a couple more W's as they seem to be getting hot. Also heard that Jerry will be meeting with T. Denny in a few weeks and they are confident they will get at least something out of him. They are hoping for a sizable donation but they think they can get at least a minimal donation. Lastly, they have acutaly talked to a few out of state corporations that may be interested.