College Sports
Matt Wellens column: Whatever happened to New Champ? – Duluth News Tribune
DULUTH — I have many concerns as a parent, but my biggest nightmare is having to replace my child’s favorite stuffie, Teddy. Teddy is a pretty generic bear. He was a gift from my aunt to my oldest child when he was born. Teddy has no doubt seen better days after 6-plus years of love. […]
DULUTH — I have many concerns as a parent, but my biggest nightmare is having to replace my child’s favorite stuffie, Teddy.
Teddy is a pretty generic bear. He was a gift from my aunt to my oldest child when he was born. Teddy has no doubt seen better days after 6-plus years of love. He’s lost a lot of weight, his fur is permanently matted and his bow tie is now just a tattered knot.
What would happen if I tried to replace Teddy in any way? Well, the result would likely be similar
to what the University of Minnesota Duluth went through back in the fall of 2022
when the Bulldogs athletic department tried to replace its own aging and excessively loved stuffie, Champ.
Like Teddy, Champ had seen much better days back in 2022. His gray fur was matted, he smelled as funky as the hockey players he cheered on and at least one version of him was falling apart. So UMD got a new Champ whose fur was soft, breathable and bright, bright yellow.
It was so yellow.
UMD fans responded to the new Champ the same way any child would act if you took away their favorite stuffie and replaced it with a new one. Bulldogs fans threw a tantrum — mostly online, as adults do these days — so large that
UMD gave fans their old gray stuffie back five days later.
On the Bulldog Insider Podcast,
we like to open occasional episodes up to fan questions, and every time someone will randomly ask “Whatever happened to New Champ?”
Every time I skip the question. I’m sorry, but I didn’t have an answer, until now.
I recently spent some time asking those in the know, “What ever happened to New Champ?” and filed fresh data requests to go along with some I filed back in 2022. Here’s what I’ve learned:
New Champ was sent to a farm upstate
That big, bright yellow grin is no longer with us here in Duluth. According to UMD deputy director of athletics Brian Nystrom — who placed the order for the new Champ in the summer of 2022 — the costumes were sent back to the company UMD bought them from, Promo Bears.
UMD spent over $10,000 on three new new Champ costumes
The final invoice from Promo Bears was for $10,716.65, including service charges and credit card processing fees. Each costume was quoted at $3,450. The gigantic heads included a built in fan system for air circulation. Heat exhaustion was a concern with the old Champ costumes. The performers sweat a lot in them, hence the smell.
UMD did not receive a refund for the costumes
And it didn’t deserve one. Promo Bears made the new Champ costumes exactly to UMD’s specifications, basing it off the standing champ logo. The company even matched the color of Champ’s sweater and fur exactly to UMD’s color specifications as the athletic department attempted to get their new mascot as close as possible to the university’s official colors.
New gray Champ costumes were purchased in 2023 for $2,530
Clint Austin / File / Duluth Media Group
Your toddler would definitely notice if you gave them a new version of their most beloved stuffie, but Bulldogs fans may not have noticed that a “new” old Champ has been in use since the 2023-24 season. UMD bought a full replacement costume costing $1,345 and an extra head for $995. Shipping was $140. These new costumes do not have any fancy cooling mechanisms in the heads.
Champ’s name isn’t Champ
The real name of the Bulldogs costumed mascot is actually
“Buddy Bulldog No. 15.”
While “New Champ” was a custom costume, the old one was a generic costume made by
Alinco.
You can buy one yourself directly from Alinco, or through a third party site like
Aardvark USA, LLC/SportsTeamsUS.
The latter is where UMD purchased its costumes from.
Some of you owe Forrest Karr an apology
Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune
He was announced as the new athletic director on Aug. 17 and officially began on Aug. 29. Three days later, he and the department were being pelted with cruel memes — the modern day rotten fruit — and fans were blaming the new AD for a change that was well underway before Josh Berlo ever left for Denver on June 2.
UMD reached out to Promo Bears in January 2022 about creating a new Champ costume. After going back and forth for a few months mostly about the colors, the order was placed for three costumes in mid-June. They were completed on Aug. 23 and shipped to UMD shortly after.
Clint Austin / File / Duluth News Tribune
Matt Wellens / Duluth News Tribune
A committee of “students, alumni, fans and supporters” was supposed to come together to
“gather input and examine several concepts for the Champ costume.”
Nystrom said names were taken down and the committee process was discussed, however, the university now has no plans to change the costume again in the near future.
UMD learned its lesson. Don’t mess with a kid’s Teddy.
Matt Wellens
covers the
Minnesota Duluth men’s and women’s hockey programs
for the Duluth News Tribune. Do you have an odd question or topic you’d like him to research? He can be reached at mwellens@duluthnews.com or
@mattwellens
on social media channels.