The high bid for a set of letters that formerly spelled out "Home of the Fighting Sioux" on the exterior of UND's Ralph Engelstad Arena stood at $7,100 Friday.
The online auction started Monday and will continue until 8 p.m. Friday. Payment must be received by April 5, according to the arena's website, TheRalph.com.
The Ralph announced the auction March 15, and started the bidding at $1,000, asking that bids be made in increments of $100.
The full set of "Home of the Fighting Sioux" letters was one of six sets that trumpeted the former UND nickname on the exterior of the arena and the neighboring Betty Engelstad Sioux Center until they were removed last fall.
The signs' removal was part of the retirement of the nickname and a condition of the legal settlement between the NCAA and the state of North Dakota, acting on behalf of the university. In a final adjustment to that settlement, NCAA officials said most other Fighting Sioux items could remain, including the large logos on the exteriors of the two buildings.
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The name of the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center also will remain, said Jody Hodgson, the Ralph's general manager.
"We today are fully 100 percent in compliance with the NCAA settlement," Hodgson said. "There are no ongoing discussions with the NCAA."
He said he has heard "from people on both sides" of the long-running nickname debate, "from those who are disappointed that it has come to this and from those who ask why we're doing this (the auction) and say we should just let it go."
Hodgson said he has explained to critics who just want the debate to end that proceeds from the sale will go toward offsetting the "significant" costs of the signs' removal.
He said the auction had attracted about 20 bids so far, and he expects "a flurry" at or near the end of the auction period. He had no idea or expectation, he said, how high the bidding might go.
"It's such a unique piece of inventory," he said. "We didn't come into this with any expectations."
Each of the letters is 24 inches in height. As installed on the arena's exterior, the phrase "Home of the Fighting Sioux" measured about 70 feet in length.
The phrase is to be sold in its entirety, but fans and collectors may have a chance to buy individual letters if other sets are put up for auction later.
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"We're doing one set now, and then we'll re-evaluate and decide what to do with the rest of the letters," Chris Semrau, the Ralph's director of events and media relations said last week.
For more info: Visit TheRalph.com or call (701) 777-6609.
Call Haga at (701) 780-1102; (800) 477-6572, ext. 1102; or send email to chaga@gfherald.com .
