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University president objects to conditions on stadium donation
September 16, 2003

U of M alumnus T. Denny Sanford pledged $35 million for a new Gopher football stadium. However, he says he won't turn over the gift until after the stadium is built. U officials reject that condition. (MPR file photo)

Minneapolis, Minn. — (AP) - A potential donor's conditions on a $35 million offer to help the University of Minnesota build a new football stadium are unacceptable, the school's president said.

President Robert Bruininks told the campus newspaper, the Minnesota Daily, for a story published Tuesday that he would not ask the university's Board of Regents to approve the offer as it now stands.

But he said negotiations with alumnus T. Denny Sanford, of Sioux Falls, S.D., about the terms of the donation are continuing.

	U of M President Robert Bruininks

University spokeswoman Amy Phenix confirmed the president's comments Tuesday. She said Bruininks spoke during a meeting with Daily editors Monday and was specifically referring to Sanford's condition that he wouldn't put up the money until the stadium was completed.

Sanford is a St. Paul native and 1958 graduate who went on to own a South Dakota bank holding company and other businesses in the Twin Cities area.

He told the Star Tribune last Friday that his offer contained several conditions not disclosed when he and university officials announced it Sept. 5. The biggest was that he wouldn't donate any money until the stadium actually opens.

At the time, David Roe, a former university regent, and other knowledgeable observers said the delayed payment could be a sticking point.

Bruininks, Sanford and others have said they believed a stadium, including roads and other infrastructure, could be built for $150 million or less.

Sanford told the Daily he had no comment on whether he was willing to remove his conditions. But he said he wants a guarantee the stadium will be completed.

Sanford did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press on Tuesday seeking further comment.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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