A House committee is considering a bill to extend the moratorium on a nickname for UND sports teams until July of 2017.
After UND gave up its “Fighting Sioux” nickname, in a settlement with the NCAA, the Legislature imposed a moratorium on the University adopting a new nickname until January First, 2015. A new nickname has not been chosen – but a process is moving forward.
Rep. Scott Louser (R-Minot), the bill's sponsor, told the House Education Committee the added time would
allow more input.
"We've now passed Jan. 1, and the University of North Dakota seems to be in limbo," said Louser.
And Louser says the current moratorium isn’t hurting UND.
"The University of North Dakota has not lost conference affiliation," Louser told the committee. "It has not been sanctioned by the NCAA. It has not lost accreditation for any of its economic programs, or enrollment, or attendance at athletic events. New buildings have enhanced the campus, and merchandise sales have been strong."
But UND President Robert Kelley told the committee revenues from sales of UND gear are down – and the athletic teams are getting frustrated because they don’t have a nickname.
"We can't continue to be the Fighting question marks, or designated as something else," said Kelley. "WE have to move on."
Chuck Horter of Bismarck is a member of a task force that has been looking at the logo issue. He told the committee the task force received thousands of comments on the process.
"The message is -- get on with it," Horter told the committee. "It's been too long already."
Horter says within the next week or two, the task force will give its report to UND President Robert Kelley. He says the task force is recommending a “working group” to look at such things as trademark and legal issues.
The committee has not yet taken action on the bill.