I am still interested (and still unclear on) ownership of the arena.  I have not 
been able to find anything definitive on it.  The best I found is that Englestad 
owned it at construction and was renting it for $1 per year with the idea of 
transferring ownership when it was solvent.  At or around his death it 
seemed like there was going to be a move to transfer it to some "UND 
supportive" entity implying it was not going to be transferred to UND directly.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/article/2781

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-7940174_ITM

Doug Peterson

On 15 May 2009 at 12:25, [log in to unmask] wrote:

There is an urban legend that said that arena would be destroyed if  
the name was changed. That is not true I point blank asked the Alumni  
director of UND point blank about 5 different ways and assured me that  
there nothing written down anywhere about this. There is no truth to  
this rumor, you can talk about this till we are blue in the face and  
there will still be people that will ask this question. Also, my wife  
uncle works at the State of ND as an Architect for the of North Dakota  
and said it would be illegal to blow up a building or just destroy it.
-- 
Check out Goon's World: http://ndgoon.blogspot.com/




Quoting Doug Peterson <[log in to unmask]>:

> I'm not sure the school even owns the arena.  Truly implementing with this is
> a multi-million dollar proposal.
>
> On 15 May 2009 at 12:32, Mark Lewin wrote:
>
> wasn't there a big deal in the Ralph Englestad arena construction that
> stipulated that the arena/school management must never do anything to
> remove
> the names and images of the Fighting Sioux from the arena?
>
> This should prove interesting to see how that gets resolved.
>
> Also, the article states that this move was necessary in order for UND to
> join the Summit League.  Wonder if this means that UND will graciously drop
> out of the WCHA to make room for Bemidji.
>
> (I know that the Summit League does not include hockey. This was  a joke
> meant to provoke UND fans and get some traffic on the list for the long, dry
> off-season).
>
> On Thu, May 14, 2009 at 11:31 PM, Doug Peterson
> <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
>
>> From the Minneapolis Star & Tribune
>>
>> North Dakota's Board of Higher Education has agreed to drop the 
University
>> of North Dakota's Fighting Sioux nickname and Indian head logo, a move
>> intended to resolve a decades-long dispute about whether the name
>> demeans American Indians.
>>
>> The name and logo, which is a profile of an American Indian man with
>> feathers and streaks of paint on his face, could survive if North Dakota's
>> Standing Rock and Spirit Lake Sioux tribes agree by Oct. 1 to give the
>> university permission to use them for at least 30 years.
>>
>> However, tribal officials say that possibility is remote. Unless the name
>> and
>> logo receive tribal endorsement, they will be retired for good on Aug. 1,
>> 2010.
>>
>> The rest of the article is here:
>> http://www.startribune.com/sports/45058157.html
>>
>> Thank you,
>>
>> Doug Peterson
>>
>