University of Minnesota Athletics
Gophers Announce Expansive iHeartMedia Partnership
6/20/2017 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
With its multimedia rights holder, Learfield's Gopher Sports Properties, the University of Minnesota today announced a multi-year agreement with iHeartMedia Minneapolis that will keep Gopher football radio broadcasts on KFAN (100.3 KFXN-FM) while bringing men's and women's basketball and men's hockey to iHeartMedia channels.
"iHeart Media has been a great partner to Gopher football for many years now. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to expand that relationship to our men's hockey, as well as our men's and women's basketball teams moving forward," said Gopher Sports Properties' General Manager Greg Gerlach. "Gopher Athletics is in outstanding hands due to the leadership of Mark Coyle and many excellent coaches. We look forward to a bright future with these sports, and our fans can enjoy our live radio broadcasts and other programming going forward led by the voice of Mike Grimm and our talented broadcasting teams."
As the official rights holder for Gopher Athletics, Gopher Sports Properties manages a variety of marketing and advertising assets for the athletics department, including its radio broadcast rights. Gopher Sports Properties worked closely with Gopher Athletics throughout the process of identifying potential radio broadcast partners for upcoming years, consulting with the department to finalize this partnership with iHeartMedia.
This new agreement will not change the radio home of Gopher football, but it does extend the program's ties to KFAN through the 2020-21 academic year. Fans will continue to hear Gopher football games, as well as the first season of the coach's show featuring P.J. Fleck, on "The Sports Leader."
Gopher men's basketball will join Gopher football on KFAN for between 12 and 20 games of the upcoming season. While the exact number will depend on schedule conflicts with the Minnesota Vikings and the Minnesota Wild, KFAN will air many of the team's Big Ten games as well as select non-conference contests. The remainder of the men's basketball schedule will air on 1130 KTLK-AM with an FM-band simulcast on 103.5 FM. Richard Pitino's coach's show will air weekly on KFAN during the season.
Like the men's hoops team, Gopher men's hockey will have a home on 1130 KTLK-AM for the upcoming season with a simulcast on 103.5 FM. All men's hockey games will be broadcast on these frequencies. Don Lucia's coach's show will be broadcast on KTLK.
After splitting its radio game broadcasts between two stations last year, Gopher women's basketball will now have a single radio home, 93.3 FM. The station will also be home to Marlene Stolling's coach's show.
"Our iHeartMedia team is excited to build on our great relationship with University of Minnesota Athletics," said Jeff Tyler, president of the Great Lakes Region for iHeartMedia. "The energy surrounding Coach Fleck and the Gopher football program, and now adding the tradition of Gopher hockey and the excitement for both the men's and women's basketball teams, makes this the perfect time to bring them onto our iHeartMedia and iHeartRadio platform."
Beyond the ability to find coverage of four different Golden Gopher programs on the radio dial, fans around Minnesota, the United States and the globe will be able to stream all of these broadcasts live from anywhere by using the iHeartRadio app on a smart phone or tablet.
The agreement announced today will keep Gopher men's basketball, women's basketball and men's hockey on iHeartMedia channels for the next two years, with an option to continue for two additional years after that.
GOPHER ATHLETICS RADIO HOME SUMMARY
Click here for a full list of Gopher Radio Network affiliates
Gopher Football
Games: 100.3 FM
Gopher Football Weekly with P.J. Fleck: 100.3
Gopher Men's Basketball
Games: 1130 AM + 103.5 FM, with select broadcasts on 100.3 FM
Gopher Basketball Weekly with Richard Pitino: 100.3 FM
Gopher Women's Basketball
Games: 93.3 FM
Gopher Basketball Weekly with Marlene Stollings: 93.3 FM
Gopher Men's Hockey
Games: 1130 AM + 103.5 FM
Gopher Hockey Weekly with Don Lucia: 1130 AM
