As a result of the pledge and interest that other private donors have shown in an on-campus football stadium, the university has "stepped up" efforts to explore its feasibility, says Robert Bruininks, the president of the University of Minnesota. Such a stadium would hold 50,000 spectators and might cost $150 million or more--less than a third of what a stadium proposed by the Minnesota Vikings professional football team would cost. The Vikings and Gophers studied the possibility of building a joint stadium, but decided it wouldn't work out, say university officials.
Sanford's gift would be the largest single gift in the history of the 152-year-old academic institution, university officials say. "This gift has the potential to transform the student experience and the campus for generations to come," Bruininks says.
The university is studying facility requirements, such as size, amenities, and training, locker room, and other needs; construction, development and operation costs; the potential for academic and student uses of the facility; and the potential for private fund-raising.
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