BleedGopher
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per Sid:
U fundraising efforts
Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle reports that the U still must raise about $60 million of the $166 million budget for the Athletes Village, which will open next month. One of the big questions around project financing has been the university's decision to take on debt in order to finance construction.
Brian Burnett, the senior vice president for finance and operations, detailed how debt service will work.
"We try and structure very competitive interest rates for athletics as they're raising money because we know they're going to bring in gifts over the next 10 years," Burnett said. "So we don't put debt way out 20 years when we know they're going to bring money in over the next 10. … That is part of the ability of a place like the University of Minnesota to be able to help their athletic department finance this facility."
Burnett said that the athletic department never has taken on a loan like this. Large loans were taken out for construction of TCF Bank Stadium, but that was a combination of public funding and university funding.
The payments for the Athletes Village are expected to be around $3.6 million each year for principal and interest, Burnett said.
Coyle said the athletic department will have no problem paying that.
"We feel comfortable that we can cover that new debt service working closely with Brian and his office," he said. "Our operating budget will be able to cover that."
Necessary costs
Earlier this month University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler said there was no question that going into debt to build these facilities was the right thing to do.
Coyle believes that this project, which the Gophers have been trying to accomplish for over a decade, is going to lead to a brighter future in major sports.
"I'm excited about the future. I'm excited about the fact that if you look at our department as a whole, the last two years we have won 11 Big Ten championships, from women's soccer, hockey, women's hockey, we won 11 conference championships," he said. "That is third in the Big Ten. We have a lot of success. We have a broad-based program, as you know, and now the challenge is how do we get football to compete at a high, high level like a lot of our programs are doing. That is what we're trying to do."
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-...rved-well-by-time-with-the-bengals/464634933/
Go Gophers!!
U fundraising efforts
Gophers athletic director Mark Coyle reports that the U still must raise about $60 million of the $166 million budget for the Athletes Village, which will open next month. One of the big questions around project financing has been the university's decision to take on debt in order to finance construction.
Brian Burnett, the senior vice president for finance and operations, detailed how debt service will work.
"We try and structure very competitive interest rates for athletics as they're raising money because we know they're going to bring in gifts over the next 10 years," Burnett said. "So we don't put debt way out 20 years when we know they're going to bring money in over the next 10. … That is part of the ability of a place like the University of Minnesota to be able to help their athletic department finance this facility."
Burnett said that the athletic department never has taken on a loan like this. Large loans were taken out for construction of TCF Bank Stadium, but that was a combination of public funding and university funding.
The payments for the Athletes Village are expected to be around $3.6 million each year for principal and interest, Burnett said.
Coyle said the athletic department will have no problem paying that.
"We feel comfortable that we can cover that new debt service working closely with Brian and his office," he said. "Our operating budget will be able to cover that."
Necessary costs
Earlier this month University of Minnesota President Eric Kaler said there was no question that going into debt to build these facilities was the right thing to do.
Coyle believes that this project, which the Gophers have been trying to accomplish for over a decade, is going to lead to a brighter future in major sports.
"I'm excited about the future. I'm excited about the fact that if you look at our department as a whole, the last two years we have won 11 Big Ten championships, from women's soccer, hockey, women's hockey, we won 11 conference championships," he said. "That is third in the Big Ten. We have a lot of success. We have a broad-based program, as you know, and now the challenge is how do we get football to compete at a high, high level like a lot of our programs are doing. That is what we're trying to do."
http://www.startribune.com/vikings-...rved-well-by-time-with-the-bengals/464634933/
Go Gophers!!
