Minnesota receives $12M gift for new Gophers Athletics Village

In case you had an urge to put names on the large but still anonymous sections of Norwood Teague's warchest for #FACILITIESMAS, today is your lucky day! University of Minnesota alumni couple John and Nancy Lindahl publicly announced a contribution of $12M to the athletic department that had long since been accounted for:

The Lindahls serve on the Department of Athletics Leadership Council, currently working to raise $190 million to fund a new home for Gopher sports. The couple's $12 million gift to the athletics facilities campaign is included as part of the previously announced total of committed funds.

The Lindahl's are no strangers to athletic department fundraising, having served as co-chairs for the TCF Bank Stadium capital campaign. John Lindahl was also part of the advisory committee that selected Teague to replace former athletic director Joel Maturi. Additionally, the Lindahl's are responsible for the last minute donation to add a brick facade along the interior wall at The Bank, replicating the look of old Memorial Stadium.

Naturally, Norwood is pretty happy about it:

"John and Nancy Lindahl are two of the proudest supporters of Gopher Athletics and our student-athletes in the entire state of Minnesota," said Director of Gopher Athletics Norwood Teague. "This most generous gift is yet another example of their belief in this University and the student-athletes it develops into the future leaders of our local communities. As always, John and Nancy choose to lead by example and we are eternally grateful for their dedication and commitment inherent in this campaign gift."

Along with a $20M donation from the Land O'Lakes corporation for the Student Athlete Excellence Center and a $15M gift from the estate of former Cargill executive and University regent Bob Larsen, the Lindahl's contribution represents a sizable chunk of the $70M total the athletic department has raised to date. And according to local media personalities, more could be on the way:

Hear the #Gophers should announce another nice athletics donation soon. Solid work by @GoldenGopherAD @UofMGGF, etc.

— Darren Wolfson (@DWolfsonKSTP) May 28, 2015

Teague, Lou Nanne and the rest of the Athletics Village fundraising committee are expected to present a financial package to the Board of Regents next month rumored to be large enough that site preparation and construction can begin on the new facilities late summer/early fall. If approved, it would represent the single largest everyday athletics facilities update in nearly 30 years since the construction of the Bierman Building.