Gopher Basketball and Hockey to remain on AM1500 through 2016-17 Seasons!

The University of Minnesota, Learfield Sports' Gopher Sports Properties and AM 1500 ESPN Twin Cities announced a new three year agreement for the station to broadcast all men's hockey, men's basketball and fifteen women's basketball games over the next three years.

Gopher Hockey and Basketball have been airing on AM 1500 for the past three seasons since they left WCCO 830 AM.  The radio broadcasts of football also left WCCO at that time for 100.3 FM.  They also recently extended that contract for the next three seasons.

Besides the play-by-play broadcasts, AM 1500 will also air weekly in-season coaches’ radio shows and other original programming. Norwood Teague had the following statement on the extension:

"This extension of our agreement confirms how we have enjoyed our relationship with 1500 ESPN and the platform they provide for our men’s hockey and basketball programs We believe that working with 1500 ESPN provides our programs an outstanding multimedia platform to reach our fans and alumni. Beyond the games themselves, 1500 ESPN will continue to provide showcase programming for these teams, including coaches’ shows and other content to engage Gopher fans all year long."

The previous three years have not shown any issues with broadcasts on AM1500.  They have an online stream that works well, and keeping in place the broadcast teams of Mike Grimm and Spencer Tollackson for men's basketball, Wally Shaver and Frank Mazzocco for hockey and Corbu Stathes for women's basketball is a good thing for Gopher fans.  With the only occasional scheduling conflict leading to Gopher hockey games being moved to 107.1 on occasion, Gopher fans consistently know where to go to listen to the broadcasts, and know that the commentators will do a quality job. In my opinion, this was a no-brainer and will continue to be beneficial for both sides.