GRAND FORKS, N.D. – UND Athletics (UND) and Ralph Engelstad Arena (REA) formally announced Wednesday that the two entities are joining together to introduce Fighting Hawks Sports Partnerships, an in-house enterprise that will manage all corporate sponsorships for both UND and REA, effective immediately. 

For the last 10 years, UND has contracted with a third party to negotiate and manage multi-media rights and corporate partnerships on its behalf. With the expiration of the recent contract between Learfield and UND, the university and arena will now join forces to manage those activities internally. 

"The ability for us to combine marketing assets with our tremendous teammates at REA is very exciting," said North Dakota Director of Athletics Bill Chaves. "There is no doubt that this will benefit all of our amazing existing corporate partners while providing a platform for us to develop new relationships." 

"I believe that we're better together than we are apart," said Jody Hodgson, REA General Manager. "Combining efforts and inventory provides us with the opportunity to work together closely and allows us to streamline our relationships with our corporate partners. We are really excited about the opportunity." 

Tony Goldenstein will lead the efforts of Fighting Hawks Sports Partnerships as the Director of the new in-house enterprise. Most recently, Goldenstein was General Manager for Learfield at UND. Goldenstein will remain in Grand Forks to manage this new joint effort on behalf of UND and REA. 

Ron Hanson will join Goldenstein on the Fighting Hawks Sports Partnerships team as Account Executive. Hanson has been instrumental as an Account Executive at REA and has been involved with managing corporate relationships for the Arena for the better part of the last 20 years. 

Brock Snyder will round out the initial Fighting Hawks Sports Partnerships team as Partnership Coordinator. Snyder is a recent college graduate and was previously in a similar role with Learfield at UND. 

For more information on Fighting Hawks Sports Partnerships, please contact Bill Chaves, Director of Athletics (UND) at (701) 777-2234 or Jody Hodgson, General Manager (REA) at (701) 777-6633.