The University of Minnesota and Clear Channel Radio jointly announced Monday afternoon that they have come to an agreement on a three year extension to the current Gopher Football radio broadcast contract. This agreement ensures that Gopher Football will continue to be heard on 100.3 KFXN (KFAN Sports Radio) in and around the Twin Cities.
The contact was to expire this summer, and additional suitors for the broadcast rights were rumored to be former rights holder 830 AM WCCO, and potentially to a lesser extent 1500 KSTP (ESPN Sports Radio).
In the announcement from the University of Minnesota Gopher Athletic Director Norwood Teague stated that they looked through all their options, and decided that Clear Channel was the best option. He is especially excited about using Clear Channel's non-sports stations such as 101.3 KDWB, 97.1 Cities FM, 107.9 KQQL and 1130 KTLK to help promote Gopher Athletics to a wider audience.
Besides gameday coverage, KFAN will air related Gopher Football programming with KFAN's Justin Gaard, The in-season Jerry Kill Show, and a one-hour show dedicated to all things Gopher Athletics.
Learfield Sports, who manages the multimedia rights for the Gophers will remain in control of the broadcasts, meaning you should not see a change from the current lineup of Mike Grimm on play-by-play, Darrell Thompson on color, and Justin Gaard as the sideline reporter.
As for those of you who listen outstate on the Gopher Radio Network, this shouldn't change anything unless your local station decides to make a change.
So what say you Gopher fans? Happy that KFAN will have the rights for the next three seasons? Wish it was going back to WCCO? Wish someone else could have made a bid for it? Let us know in the comments.