August 20, 2025 • 12 mins
Ralph Engelstad Arena General Manager, Jody Hodgson, joins Tim and Paul by phone to give an inside look from the recent NIL informational evening held at The Ralph for local business leaders and supporters of UND Athletics.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barrito a month to something a little more than that.
But the vast and significant majority of NCAA athletes are
making little to absolutely nothing in the NIL world. And
some of the other myths we talked about, we said, hey,
like at North Dakota, the NIL program that is being implemented,
(00:20):
it fits the way we live our lives in Grand
Forks and in North Dakota. It's measured, and it's strategic,
and nobody's running around town in a new range rob
nobody's getting an F one fifty like it's on a scale.
The things that you hear are happening on the grandest
of scale that Tennessee or UCLA or BYU basketball whatever like,
(00:45):
that's not that's not what's happening in Grand Forks. Like
in most situations, the NIL opportunities that are being created
for most of our student athletes are really they would
be in they would be and to income they're generating
in lieu of a part time job they're holding down,
(01:06):
they're holding down two full time jobs as a student
athlete and a student and the things they're doing and
lots of times there the NIL deals are providing opportunities
for them that would be akin to a normal student
work in a twelve hour a week job, right to
try and help out with things they're doing during school.
(01:27):
So is the talk about some of those myths we
talked about. We talked about un d's approach to it.
Our coaches were great. Coaches. Coach Schmidt and Coach Jackson
were able to tell the audience here's how I use
NIL today, Here's how I think I will use NIL
in the future given this landscape. And then our two
(01:50):
student athletes were awesome. You know Ben Stranden is he's
a brand ambassador today for FCCU, and that is you know,
there's a there's a small amount of money there that's
provided to him for the services that he provide. And
he told the crowd, Hey, this is awesome. I've been
(02:11):
learning from a book in a classroom. This is real life.
I'm out meeting with a client. We're doing a photo shoot.
I'm learning that I have to pay taxes on the
income that I generate. I had to sign a contract
to do it that, he said, all my life. You
throw something in front of me, I scroll through it
and I hit accept. He said, this is a this
(02:32):
is a one contract I've read in my life that
I look through it. I wanted to figure out what
it was, you know, he said, I'm talking to the
people at FCCU about what their marketing plan is and
why they're going to use me on a billboard and
how that helps them with their marketing. I've learned about
the banking business, so really neat there. And then you know,
(02:54):
Javance was able. We tried to have two kind of
different situations. Right. It's a Ben Strandon for sure. Right,
comes from a family with deep, deep roots on our
campus and in our community and in Fargo, and came
in as a traditional freshman and is going to graduate
from North Dakota and a traditional college experience, and you know,
(03:16):
to provide another point of view, Vance came to un
D in the most recent offseason from Southern California, a
kid at San Diego State who originally went to San
Diego State with offers from places like Arizona State and
BYU and Florida State and Kansas and pitt and has
(03:36):
been through those recruiting discussions and then made the decision
to come to un D with coach Schmidt here over
the off season, and Javance was able to tell the crowd, Hey,
the small nil deal that I got, He said, that's
going to allow my parents to travel. He said, my
parents are going to be able to come and watch
(03:57):
me play. He said, I went to San Diego State
over the other schools originally because I'm a family guy
and I wanted to be close to home. And he
was able to tell the crowd there last night, Hey,
the nil money that I'm receiving as part of my deal,
my parents are going to use that to travel to
watch me play. It's going to allow them to do that.
(04:17):
And that allowed me to move away from home, to
leave southern California to come to Grand Fork. So I
think it was It's reality, right. I think there's a
lot of there's a lot of misconceptions and misinformation out
there that everybody loves the ESPN story about the kid
who bought the one hundred thousand dollars watch at a
(04:37):
different level and in a different situation than ours, and
that's not us. That's not what's happening here. And I
think I think our coaches and our student athletes were
able to humanize it a little bit and shed a
little bit of light on what's really happening at und
and in Grand Forks.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So the message to business leaders, to UH interested parties,
UH and and to supporters of you and D athletics
that we're able to attend would be that that support. Obviously,
current support of scholarships still incredibly important, but these new
avenues are important for the for the coaches to provide
(05:21):
assistance in additional ways such as these individuals are. And
as you mentioned from Ben's perspective, you know, it's a
situation where he's learning about UH you know, signing contracts
and and and and basically fulfilling contracts and taxation and
Javans is doing it to you know, utilize opportunities to
(05:44):
get his family to come see him in that situation.
So it's a it's a situation of that's where the
additional assistance is coming from. And do you see it
resonating with those supporters basically that we're on hand to
take that message in.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, I think so. I think it's like everything else
in life, right, there's always there's a balancing act there.
We have the legacy giving of the people who have
always done the things they've done to help us in
scholarships and priority needs and programmatic needs and facilities, and
now there is a new opportunity. Right. We went through
last night and we informed the crowd of hey, in
(06:23):
this new world, we're kind of using the term we're
all kind of simple guys, and we said, hey, there's
three buckets. There's an internal nil bucket, a seven to
one award bucket. That's an internal bucket. Today. You can
give a gift to the und Foundation. You can get
a receipt back for that. It might be a charitable
(06:43):
donation or contribution you make to the foundation. Our coaches
can then use that money internally and distribute it to
make their program better and to take care of what
they need to take care of. You can direct you
can contract directly with a student athlete through the eighteen
eighty three collective. You can pick the student that you
(07:04):
want to work with. You can contract with them directly,
make them a brand ambassador, bring them in for a
speaking engagement, or you know, do that type of thing
with them. Or if you want to do corporate sponsorship,
you can do a campaign and have a Dasher ad
and you can have an ad on the sideline of
football and put the kid on your billboard. So there's
lots of different options, and basically the premise Paul was
(07:28):
kind of, Hey, when we win, you win, right, Like,
a strong athletic program is good for business and Grand
Forks through increased economic activity, through job creation, through increased enrollment,
and investment that comes from that as well. You look,
I took your call here this morning to walk out
(07:50):
of a meeting at Hitslop that we were having this morning.
I'm staring at a beautiful new building in front of me,
beautiful building to the left of me. Like a successful
athletic program has spurred tens and hundreds of millions of
dollars in facility upgrades and construction projects in our community
that benefit the community. So I think there's just a
(08:12):
lot of different ways in which a strong athletic department
and successful programs help our business community and our community
in general.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I agree, really good stuff there, Jody. Anything else
for Jody, Tim, No, it's I I got to get
back to realizing it's a whole different world right now.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So yeah, you know what I would say, Yeah, we're
all the same, right, We're all in this part of
the world. We're all pretty old school, a little bit humble,
that type of thing. A day's day for a day's work,
and there's there's all of those things that still come
into play every day, right, And I think, you know,
(08:57):
the good example that I've heard tim that I've kind
of gravitated to, would be, you know, since the beginning
of time, a music student at the University of North
Dakota could go home and when their schedule allowed, they
could grab a kid. They could do a piano lesson.
The kid could pay them, they could generate some income
(09:18):
by hosting that student or that young person for a
camp or a clinic. A tennis player at University of
North Kota could never do that, like they were prohibited
from the same opportunity that all the other students could do.
A tennis player couldn't grab a kid, and they couldn't
go to the courts at Purper and have a one
hour lesson, and the parents couldn't compensate that student athlete
(09:41):
for their time and expertise and experience. Today they can,
Like I've used the example of hockey players at North
Dakota that have now begun doing their own summer camps
and clinics that is allowable or permissible with the new
NIL regulations and it's been eye opening, Like it's awesome. Right.
(10:03):
I've had guys sitting in my office saying, Holy, I
got a rent ice ice time caught one hundred and
fifty bucks an hour. I gotta have been sure, how
do I how do I do payroll?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
He?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I got to buy track suits for the coaches that
work my camp. How do I do that? I got
to get a bus to take these kids to the
pool as part of my camp. How do I ever?
They want? The bus guy wants advance payment? How do
I pay him before I do my camp? And it's
been to me, it's been awesome and it's been eye opening,
(10:38):
and it's been educational and beneficial. Where student athletes are
there are opportunities here for them to gain real world,
real life experience that I think is going to make
them even better people when they leave the campus than
they might otherwise be. So I think it. The takeaway
(10:59):
I think is that at und the opportunities here that
we can provide to our coaches and student athletes and programs.
Is it's appropriate for the way we live in Grand
Forks and the things we do in Grand Forks and
in North Dakota. And it's different than what people are
hearing and reading about on some of the grandest scales,
(11:21):
for sure, and we're just trying to inform and educate
and generate support for what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I'm in on those track suits, Huh. I got to
get one of those, basically, I guess got to work
the camp.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I've got it for shock Fall. They're sitting in my
office saying, I can't believe what it costs to buy
a track suit. Hey, you've gotten two free every season.
What do you think they drop? Like somebody's bought yours
for your entire career here Now, now you've got to
go buy it for a coach. Now it's getting real.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
It's getting real. Well, I appreciate you taking the short
notice call to give us a rundown of last night,
and you know, we appreciate those leaders in our community
to come out and just learn a little bit more
about the positioning of U and D and its support
team and as it moves forward and looking at all
(12:11):
the opportunities of where they can be involved in how
they can make differences. And two good examples used last
night that you conveyed today. So really appreciate the visit, Jody.
Thanks for doing it short notice, and have a great week.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Okay, yeah you too. Thanks guys, have a great day.
All right.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
There goes Jody Hodgson, General Manager Ralph eingles Stead Arena.
We appreciate his short notice drop in to talk a
little bit about what happened last night over at Ralph F.
Eingalstead Arena in regards to kind of an informational evening
for friends and supporters and business leaders with in the community,
with support of its student athletes at the University of
(12:47):
North Dakota, appreciate that
Barrito a month to something a little more than that.
But the vast and significant majority of NCAA athletes are
making little to absolutely nothing in the NIL world. And
some of the other myths we talked about, we said, hey,
like at North Dakota, the NIL program that is being implemented,
(00:20):
it fits the way we live our lives in Grand
Forks and in North Dakota. It's measured, and it's strategic,
and nobody's running around town in a new range rob
nobody's getting an F one fifty like it's on a scale.
The things that you hear are happening on the grandest
of scale that Tennessee or UCLA or BYU basketball whatever like,
(00:45):
that's not that's not what's happening in Grand Forks. Like
in most situations, the NIL opportunities that are being created
for most of our student athletes are really they would
be in they would be and to income they're generating
in lieu of a part time job they're holding down,
(01:06):
they're holding down two full time jobs as a student
athlete and a student and the things they're doing and
lots of times there the NIL deals are providing opportunities
for them that would be akin to a normal student
work in a twelve hour a week job, right to
try and help out with things they're doing during school.
(01:27):
So is the talk about some of those myths we
talked about. We talked about un d's approach to it.
Our coaches were great. Coaches. Coach Schmidt and Coach Jackson
were able to tell the audience here's how I use
NIL today, Here's how I think I will use NIL
in the future given this landscape. And then our two
(01:50):
student athletes were awesome. You know Ben Stranden is he's
a brand ambassador today for FCCU, and that is you know,
there's a there's a small amount of money there that's
provided to him for the services that he provide. And
he told the crowd, Hey, this is awesome. I've been
(02:11):
learning from a book in a classroom. This is real life.
I'm out meeting with a client. We're doing a photo shoot.
I'm learning that I have to pay taxes on the
income that I generate. I had to sign a contract
to do it that, he said, all my life. You
throw something in front of me, I scroll through it
and I hit accept. He said, this is a this
(02:32):
is a one contract I've read in my life that
I look through it. I wanted to figure out what
it was, you know, he said, I'm talking to the
people at FCCU about what their marketing plan is and
why they're going to use me on a billboard and
how that helps them with their marketing. I've learned about
the banking business, so really neat there. And then you know,
(02:54):
Javance was able. We tried to have two kind of
different situations. Right. It's a Ben Strandon for sure. Right,
comes from a family with deep, deep roots on our
campus and in our community and in Fargo, and came
in as a traditional freshman and is going to graduate
from North Dakota and a traditional college experience, and you know,
(03:16):
to provide another point of view, Vance came to un
D in the most recent offseason from Southern California, a
kid at San Diego State who originally went to San
Diego State with offers from places like Arizona State and
BYU and Florida State and Kansas and pitt and has
(03:36):
been through those recruiting discussions and then made the decision
to come to un D with coach Schmidt here over
the off season, and Javance was able to tell the crowd, Hey,
the small nil deal that I got, He said, that's
going to allow my parents to travel. He said, my
parents are going to be able to come and watch
(03:57):
me play. He said, I went to San Diego State
over the other schools originally because I'm a family guy
and I wanted to be close to home. And he
was able to tell the crowd there last night, Hey,
the nil money that I'm receiving as part of my deal,
my parents are going to use that to travel to
watch me play. It's going to allow them to do that.
(04:17):
And that allowed me to move away from home, to
leave southern California to come to Grand Fork. So I
think it was It's reality, right. I think there's a
lot of there's a lot of misconceptions and misinformation out
there that everybody loves the ESPN story about the kid
who bought the one hundred thousand dollars watch at a
(04:37):
different level and in a different situation than ours, and
that's not us. That's not what's happening here. And I
think I think our coaches and our student athletes were
able to humanize it a little bit and shed a
little bit of light on what's really happening at und
and in Grand Forks.
Speaker 2 (04:57):
So the message to business leaders, to UH interested parties,
UH and and to supporters of you and D athletics
that we're able to attend would be that that support. Obviously,
current support of scholarships still incredibly important, but these new
avenues are important for the for the coaches to provide
(05:21):
assistance in additional ways such as these individuals are. And
as you mentioned from Ben's perspective, you know, it's a
situation where he's learning about UH you know, signing contracts
and and and and basically fulfilling contracts and taxation and
Javans is doing it to you know, utilize opportunities to
(05:44):
get his family to come see him in that situation.
So it's a it's a situation of that's where the
additional assistance is coming from. And do you see it
resonating with those supporters basically that we're on hand to
take that message in.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
Yeah, I think so. I think it's like everything else
in life, right, there's always there's a balancing act there.
We have the legacy giving of the people who have
always done the things they've done to help us in
scholarships and priority needs and programmatic needs and facilities, and
now there is a new opportunity. Right. We went through
last night and we informed the crowd of hey, in
(06:23):
this new world, we're kind of using the term we're
all kind of simple guys, and we said, hey, there's
three buckets. There's an internal nil bucket, a seven to
one award bucket. That's an internal bucket. Today. You can
give a gift to the und Foundation. You can get
a receipt back for that. It might be a charitable
(06:43):
donation or contribution you make to the foundation. Our coaches
can then use that money internally and distribute it to
make their program better and to take care of what
they need to take care of. You can direct you
can contract directly with a student athlete through the eighteen
eighty three collective. You can pick the student that you
(07:04):
want to work with. You can contract with them directly,
make them a brand ambassador, bring them in for a
speaking engagement, or you know, do that type of thing
with them. Or if you want to do corporate sponsorship,
you can do a campaign and have a Dasher ad
and you can have an ad on the sideline of
football and put the kid on your billboard. So there's
lots of different options, and basically the premise Paul was
(07:28):
kind of, Hey, when we win, you win, right, Like,
a strong athletic program is good for business and Grand
Forks through increased economic activity, through job creation, through increased enrollment,
and investment that comes from that as well. You look,
I took your call here this morning to walk out
(07:50):
of a meeting at Hitslop that we were having this morning.
I'm staring at a beautiful new building in front of me,
beautiful building to the left of me. Like a successful
athletic program has spurred tens and hundreds of millions of
dollars in facility upgrades and construction projects in our community
that benefit the community. So I think there's just a
(08:12):
lot of different ways in which a strong athletic department
and successful programs help our business community and our community
in general.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Yeah, I agree, really good stuff there, Jody. Anything else
for Jody, Tim, No, it's I I got to get
back to realizing it's a whole different world right now.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
So yeah, you know what I would say, Yeah, we're
all the same, right, We're all in this part of
the world. We're all pretty old school, a little bit humble,
that type of thing. A day's day for a day's work,
and there's there's all of those things that still come
into play every day, right, And I think, you know,
(08:57):
the good example that I've heard tim that I've kind
of gravitated to, would be, you know, since the beginning
of time, a music student at the University of North
Dakota could go home and when their schedule allowed, they
could grab a kid. They could do a piano lesson.
The kid could pay them, they could generate some income
(09:18):
by hosting that student or that young person for a
camp or a clinic. A tennis player at University of
North Kota could never do that, like they were prohibited
from the same opportunity that all the other students could do.
A tennis player couldn't grab a kid, and they couldn't
go to the courts at Purper and have a one
hour lesson, and the parents couldn't compensate that student athlete
(09:41):
for their time and expertise and experience. Today they can,
Like I've used the example of hockey players at North
Dakota that have now begun doing their own summer camps
and clinics that is allowable or permissible with the new
NIL regulations and it's been eye opening, Like it's awesome. Right.
(10:03):
I've had guys sitting in my office saying, Holy, I
got a rent ice ice time caught one hundred and
fifty bucks an hour. I gotta have been sure, how
do I how do I do payroll?
Speaker 2 (10:16):
He?
Speaker 1 (10:16):
I got to buy track suits for the coaches that
work my camp. How do I do that? I got
to get a bus to take these kids to the
pool as part of my camp. How do I ever?
They want? The bus guy wants advance payment? How do
I pay him before I do my camp? And it's
been to me, it's been awesome and it's been eye opening,
(10:38):
and it's been educational and beneficial. Where student athletes are
there are opportunities here for them to gain real world,
real life experience that I think is going to make
them even better people when they leave the campus than
they might otherwise be. So I think it. The takeaway
(10:59):
I think is that at und the opportunities here that
we can provide to our coaches and student athletes and programs.
Is it's appropriate for the way we live in Grand
Forks and the things we do in Grand Forks and
in North Dakota. And it's different than what people are
hearing and reading about on some of the grandest scales,
(11:21):
for sure, and we're just trying to inform and educate
and generate support for what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I'm in on those track suits, Huh. I got to
get one of those, basically, I guess got to work
the camp.
Speaker 1 (11:33):
I've got it for shock Fall. They're sitting in my
office saying, I can't believe what it costs to buy
a track suit. Hey, you've gotten two free every season.
What do you think they drop? Like somebody's bought yours
for your entire career here Now, now you've got to
go buy it for a coach. Now it's getting real.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
It's getting real. Well, I appreciate you taking the short
notice call to give us a rundown of last night,
and you know, we appreciate those leaders in our community
to come out and just learn a little bit more
about the positioning of U and D and its support
team and as it moves forward and looking at all
(12:11):
the opportunities of where they can be involved in how
they can make differences. And two good examples used last
night that you conveyed today. So really appreciate the visit, Jody.
Thanks for doing it short notice, and have a great week.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Okay, yeah you too. Thanks guys, have a great day.
All right.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
There goes Jody Hodgson, General Manager Ralph eingles Stead Arena.
We appreciate his short notice drop in to talk a
little bit about what happened last night over at Ralph F.
Eingalstead Arena in regards to kind of an informational evening
for friends and supporters and business leaders with in the community,
with support of its student athletes at the University of
(12:47):
North Dakota, appreciate that
Popular Podcasts
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.