Money talks, and there is no better proof of that than at the University of Minnesota and Kansas University athletic departments.

There’s little question that money – big money – is calling the shots in collegiate sports these days and that sports, unfortunately, often are the dominant force at our state-assisted universities.

For years, University of Minnesota athletic officials have lobbied for a football stadium on their campus. The Gophers have been playing in the downtown Minneapolis domed stadium that also is the home for the Minnesota Twins professional baseball team and the Minnesota Vikings professional football team. Each team has wanted its own facility and, after years of negotiations, legislative battles and plan after plan, each team has been given the go-ahead to build a new facility.

Vikings officials have plans for a 68,500-seat stadium with a retractable roof. Vikings owner Sygi Wilf has pledged $280 million, which will be matched by the county, for the Blaine, Minn., facility, but he does not want a retractable roof and likes playing football games in the cold and snow of Minnesota.

The Twins will have their own facility with a domed or retractable roof, and the Gophers will have an open-air 50,000-seat stadium on their campus. The school’s Memorial Stadium was torn down, and the football team has been playing in the off-campus downtown Metrodome since 1982. The U-shaped Gophers stadium is expected to cost $248 million.

The unique feature of the university’s stadium is that it will become the first corporate-named stadium in the Big 10 Conference. For $35 million, the TCF Financial Corp. will have its name on the stadium.

The university will use the TCF money, along with private donations and a $25 annual student fee, to pay its 45 percent share of the stadium’s cost. The state has agreed to pay 55 percent of the cost, but according to the school’s athletic director, Joel Maturi, the state won’t give the school that money until it raises the other 45 percent.

The $35 million naming rights bring many benefits to TCF, including new financial muscle on the campus, logos all over the place, prime seating locations and many other “goodies.” The stadium is expected to open in 2009.

Chances are, many athletic directors across the country are studying the Minnesota stadium situation and trying to figure out whether they might be able to swing a similar deal. Could KU’s Memorial Stadium, for example, soon be named for some bank or generous contributor? It’s not out of the question; look at the situation at Oklahoma State, where the naming rights were tied to the $125 million gift of Boone Pickens!

Considering the importance KU’s athletic director places on money, surely he is thinking about ways to put the name of some individual or company on the side of Memorial Stadium or maybe even Allen Fieldhouse. For $25 million, $50 million or $100 million, who knows?

The Minnesota deal has a lot of perks for the financial institution:

¢ TCF will get exclusive access to the names and addresses of approximately 236,000 alumni and season-ticket holders so it can market new debit cards.

¢ The bank’s logo will be placed on everything from tickets and stadium menus to service worker uniforms and stadium maintenance vehicles.

¢ The financial firm will be allowed to strengthen its position on the university campus by ousting ATMs of two major competitors.

¢ The head coach, former KU coach Glen Mason, along with the school’s spirit squad and mascot will be available at no cost for bank functions. Also, the university will pay all expenses to fly four people to an out-of-town game once a year and provide 16 prime seats for all home games.

At one point in the negotiations, the banking company – for an additional $150,000 a year, adjusted at 3 percent a year – could market itself as “TCF – The Official Bank of Gopher Sports.” For $200,000 a year, adjusted at the 3 percent rate annually, the slogan could have been “TCF – The Official Bank of the University of Minnesota.”

That deal fell through, but who knows? Maybe for $500,000 a year, the bank could have gotten what it wanted.

There are other “goodies” in the package, but here’s one more that might cause loyal KU alumni and fans to balk if a similar plan were proposed for Memorial Stadium: If Minnesota officials decide they want a sign on the stadium’s exterior that says something like “Home of the Golden Gophers,” any nearby signs with the words “TCF Bank Stadium” would have to be illuminated “with the same or greater lighting quality and intensity.”

Over the life of the seven-year agreement between the bank and the university, TCF will contribute an estimated $95 million to the school.

It’s big business, and bank officials must think the new deal can be justified. According to news reports, there was $65.3 million in checking balances in TCF accounts at the school’s two campuses in the Twin Cities and Duluth. Of that amount, $51 million was in students’ accounts. A university official said these figures have likely gone up since 2004. The university document stated, “The school’s financial offer from TCF was, and continues to be, the largest in the U.S. and Canada.” The officials added, “They see the potential return of their investments. As you know, month-end balances are pretty impressive.”

Minnesota state Sen. Larry Pogemiller, a member of the Democratic Farm Labor Party, opposed the naming rights deal when legislators approved the $248 million stadium this past spring saying, “It’s clear the market value of a land-grant university has been put up for sale.”

What is the sales value for the KU athletic department or the university itself? How long will it be before corporate naming rights are granted in the Big 12 Conference, and how soon will there be corporate names on KU’s Memorial Stadium and Allen Fieldhouse or Kansas State’s Bill Snyder Family Stadium and Bramlage Coliseum?

Look at the extortion tactics in Allen Fieldhouse and the skyrocketing price for basketball tickets. It doesn’t matter what a person may have given last year, because there is an annual re-evaluation of seat prices, and the highest bidder gets whatever seat location he or she wishes.

Increasing numbers of longtime KU academic and sports supporters are saying enough is enough. Some are known to have changed their wills and long-range giving plans to KU, but apparently, the administration sees nothing wrong with the high-pressure tactics. Who knows what the eventual damage to KU will be? Of course, most of those responsible for the gouging on KU athletic tickets and those who approved the plan will be gone when the next major KU capital campaign comes along. The damage will be done for others to try to repair.

It is a sad situation, but, again, money talks and sports are taking over more and more control of state-aided universities.