University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Athletics Statement Regarding Men's Basketball Television Situation
10/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The start of the 2003-04 men's basketball season is right around the corner and it promises to be yet another exciting year in "The Barn" for Golden Gopher fans. Coach Dan Monson, his staff and our fine student-athletes worked awfully hard in the off-season to prepare for the challenges that lie ahead in the rugged Big Ten Conference. The end result of those efforts will be a team that will once again compete with the very best that the conference has to offer game in and game out. Your enthusiastic support is why historic Williams Arena is regarded as one of the finest venues to watch a game in all of college basketball.
The main reason for this letter is to keep you informed regarding the television coverage of men's basketball this season. I know that the local and regional syndication of our games has been a hot topic the past few years and rightly so. I am sure that by now most of you are aware that individual schools in the Big Ten Conference, just like virtually every other major conference in the nation, do not control their local syndication packages in either football or men's basketball. ESPN Regional handles the Big Ten's conference-wide local and regional syndication rights in both sports. ESPN Regional is affiliated with the ABC/ESPN/Disney family which is a Big Ten media partner.
Prior to the 2001-02 season, ESPN Regional provided our football and men's basketball games to Midwest Sports Channel (now Fox Sports Net North). In September 2001, ESPN Regional struck a multi-year deal with Victory Sports One to televise Golden Gopher men's basketball and selected football games. Since Victory Sports One still hadn't "launched" as a network yet, many of our men's basketball games the past two seasons were placed on KSTC (Channel 45).
The good news is that Victory Sports One will officially launch as a network on Oct. 31st. In addition to carrying 20 University of Minnesota men's basketball games, Victory Sports is also scheduled to televise more than 30 Big Ten men's basketball games not involving the Golden Gophers during the 2003-04 season. Starting next fall they will broadcast up to four Golden Gopher football games each season. In addition to other programming, Victory Sports One will also serve as the television home of the Minnesota Twins starting with the 2004 season.
It is our sincere desire that Victory Sports One and the local cable and satellite providers can get together and resolve in a timely fashion the issues that may prevent our fans from seeing our Golden Gophers compete. It goes without saying that distribution is the key element. Obviously you won't be able to watch the Golden Gopher men's basketball and football teams if you can't get Victory Sports One.
To make it happen, it will be necessary for the cable or satellite provider in your area to enter into a carriage agreement with the new network. Victory Sports One is currently seeking distribution throughout the region, but they need your help to make it happen so that you won't miss any of the action. As a result, we are asking our great fans like yourself to call your local cable or satellite provider to inform them that you want Victory Sports One now and to not wait for the 2004 Twins season to pick up the service. Listed below is the information with the telephone numbers for many of the larger systems in the region.
| Charter Communications | 1-800-581-0081 |
| Comcast | 651-222-3333 |
| DIRECT TV | 651-407-7095 or 1-800-494-4388 |
| Dish Network | 1-800-333-3474 |
| Mediacom | 1-800-332-0245 |
| MidContinent Communications | 1-800-888-1300 |
| Time Warner | 612-522-2000 |
Please understand that Fox Sports Net North (FSNN) has been and will continue to be a tremendous media partner of University of Minnesota Athletics. FSNN will continue to be the exclusive home of our two-time defending champion men's hockey team, carrying a minimum of 32 regular season games each season through 2008-09. FSNN will also televise a number of our other sports, including women's basketball, and serve as the home of our coaches shows in football, men's basketball and men's hockey.
Thanks again for your support of the Golden Gophers and remember "We Are...Minnesota".
Sincerely,
Joel Maturi
Director of Athletics
