Good questions. I have read on Wikipedia Ralph Engelstad Arena is owned by the Engelstad Family Foundation, but UND called the arena a gift in an
article about a $20 million donation to the school by the foundation, which implies the arena is owned by the university. However, the school reported expenses of just over $2.2 million in 2015 and $1.46 million (men's and women's hockey combined) in 2016 in the Debt Services/Leases category
(debt service payments (principal and interest, including internal loan programs), leases and rental fees for athletics facilities for the reporting year regardless of entity paying (athletics, institution or other)) of their NCAA financial reports and not the Direct Overhead category
(overhead and administrative expenses paid by or charged directly to athletics including: administrative/overhead fees charged by the institution to athletics, facilities maintenance, security, risk management, utilities, equipment repair, telephone, other administrative expenses). Before 2015 the two categories were combined, so the costs could have been all maintenance, but I think that unlikely based on the 2015 & 2016 reports. For what it’s worth, I also checked to see about basketball and volleyball payments for using the Betty and for 2010, ’11 & ’12 the school paid an average of about $100 thousand per year. Starting in 2013 there have been no payments made for either sport, just to men's hockey in 2013, 14 & 15 and both men's and women's hockey in 2016. Also, 2014 & 15 are the two years that men's hockey paid over $2 million in Debt Services/Leases, with 2013 virtually free and the other years in the $1.46 to $1.73 million range. You can see the numbers yourself, either on my
NCAA Financials workbook (which currently only has North Dakota information) or directly from the NCAA reports:
2010-14 (click on download this institution's documents and select a year),
2015 &
2016.
Sean
