Veterans will have special place at new U stadium

Jallen

The Minnesota Veterans Tribute at the stadium will include flagpoles as well as a stage that veterans groups and the schools ROTC units can use.

The U is to announce today plans for a monument. Also, Dairy Queen will sponsor the stadium club.

By Jeff Shelman, Star Tribune

Last update: November 13, 2007 - 9:12 PM

For much of the history of the football program at the University of Minnesota, the Gophers played in Memorial Stadium, a massive brick pile built on campus and named in honor of the state's fallen World War I soldiers.

In an era in which corporate naming rights for stadiums and arenas are worth millions of dollars, the return of the Gophers to campus after 28 years won't mean another Memorial Stadium. But veterans aren't going to be ignored when TCF Bank Stadium opens in September 2009.

Today at an event on the Northrop Plaza that will include student veterans, state leaders and a flyover by F-16 fighter jets, the university will announce its plans for a veterans monument.

In addition, the school will announce its opponent for the first game at the new stadium. That game, scheduled for Sept. 12, 2009, is expected to be against either Army, Air Force or Navy.

The university also announced Tuesday that it has reached a 13-year, $2.5 million sponsorship agreement with International Dairy Queen for the naming rights of the stadium club room.

The "Minnesota Veterans Tribute" -- which is meant to honor veterans both former and future -- will be near the main plaza at the open end of the horseshoe-shaped stadium.

Incorporated in the monument will be the flagpoles that will be visible to everyone in the stadium. The tribute, which will feature a stage inside the stadium that can be used by veterans groups and for the school's ROTC units, will be 72 feet long and more than 18 feet high.

Denny Schulstad, former Minneapolis City Council member and former U of M Alumni Association president, was tapped by university President Robert Bruininks to plan the monument.

"When the stadium was named for TCF Bank, there were some veterans, including myself, who said, 'Is that an appropriate thing to do since [football] is returning to campus and the stadium was named Memorial Stadium in the past?'" said Schulstad, a retired Air Force general.

When representatives from various veterans groups met, Schulstad said it was quickly clear that the tribute should feature a clean design and flagpoles and should be available for veterans groups to use.

"We know what it's going to look like; we don't know yet what it is going to say," Schulstad said. "It might say 'Duty. Honor, Country.' It might say 'Freedom isn't free.'"Bottom line, are we happy? Yes, we think it is a very appropriate way to recognize veterans."

In addition to the naming rights to the DQ Stadium Club, a facility for those with more expensive club seats, Dairy Queen will receive stadium signage and the company's products will be sold at the stadium.

International Dairy Queen CEO Chuck Mooty, a university graduate, said he still remembers waking up on Saturday mornings listening to the marching band make its way down University Avenue.

"Our question was how could we put something together here that made sense to our business, but also made sense to us as a community player," said Mooty, whose Edina-based company is also donating $250,000 to the university's Carlson School of Management for its new building and for scholarships. "I think we were able to come up with an arrangement that everyone was happy with."

Jeff Shelman • 612-673-7478

Jeff Shelman • jshelman@startribune.com

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