Courtesy the Minneapolis Star Tribune

(March 9, 2011) WCCO Radio is losing all of its Minnesota Gophers broadcast rights -- football, men's and women's basketball and men's hockey -- ending a relationship that began during World War II.

The University of Minnesota said Wednesday that starting with the 2011-12 seasons, football is moving to Clear Channel's KFAN, AM 1130 (simulcast on KTLK, 100.3 FM). Both basketball programs and men's hockey will shift to KSTP Radio, 1500 AM.

The rights deals run for three years, the school said. Financial details of the agreements have not been revealed.

Still pending is who will be the on-air voices at the new broadcast homes, said Gophers spokesman Gary Bowman. "No final decisions have been made," he said. The school hopes to "announce those details in the coming weeks."

Dave Lee, play-by-play for Gophers football, is not going anywhere, said Mick Anselmo, an executive for the WCCO station and two others owned by CBS. Lee "is a longtime employee of WCCO, and he will continue here," Anselmo said.

U Athletics Director Joel Maturi said, "Moving our sports coverage to these stations positions Gopher athletics to harness the combined power of the Twin Cities' two all-sports formatted radio stations and is a strategic step in our effort to combine great radio coverage for Gopher fans with the very best promotional opportunities.

"We evaluated all of our broadcast options based upon many factors, including financial commitment, marketing support, listener demographics, and ancillary programming," Maturi added, "and we believe these partnerships represent the best overall platforms for Gophers sports on radio."

Gophers football games have been on WCCO uninterrupted for 68 years, Bowman said. The WCCO/men's basketball relationship has run for more than 30 years, Bowman added. Men's hockey and women's basketball have had far shorter arrangements with WCCO.

As for the U severing its last play-by-play relationships with WCCO, Maturi said: "It's remarkable that we have enjoyed such an outstanding run with WCCO. I want to publicly thank them for their dedicated coverage of the Gophers."

Anselmo said the station's owners "couldn't find a deal that worked for both sides."

Despite the end of carrying Gophers games, Anselmo said that WCCO will continue to cover University athletics because "our longtime, loyal listeners will want to hear updates."

Anselmo acknowledged that losing the Gophers leaves the station with a "pretty significant" amount of air time to fill. What that additional programming will be has yet to be decided, he said.

In addition to play-by-play coverage of all Gopher football games, also moving to KFAN will be related football programming, including the weekly coach's show with Jerry Kill, as well as a one-hour weekly show dedicated to Gopher athletics.

"To have an affiliation with the University of Minnesota sports and the football program is something we at Clear Channel and KFAN have always wanted," said Michael Crusham, president and marketing manager for Clear Channel. "I am extremely pleased that we are going to be partners."

Dan Seeman, vice president and general manager of KSTP, also known as 1500 AM ESPN Radio: "This partnership ... is the perfect complement to our relationship with the Minnesota Twins."

Having recently lost the Twins to KSTP, WCCO is now left with play-by-play of the Minnesota Wild. Rights to the Minnesota Vikings and Minnesota Timberwolves games are currently held by KFAN.

When the Twins moved to KSTP, listeners in various locales around the state immediately complained about being unable to get the KSTP signal or hear other stations in the Twins radio network.

Bowman said the university is aware of that concern, adding, "We have a fairly robust network, and we think we're going to be able to grow that."

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