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Gopher Athletics will launch a series of programs within a new fan engagement initiative that will provide fans more access, more engagement opportunities and more benefits than ever before, Athletics Director Mark Coyle announced on Monday.
“We ask our fans to invest in us and our students, and it’s been a priority of mine since my first day at Minnesota to find ways for us to invest back in our fans in new and better ways,” said Coyle. “Our new fan engagement initiative will create opportunities for us to listen to our fans, get them more involved with our department and celebrate their loyalty and investment in our programs.”
The focus of Monday’s announcement were two key pieces in this set of new initiatives – the Gopher Loyalty Program and the Gopher Fan Advisory Board.
The new Gopher Loyalty Program is a departure from how the athletics department has offered benefits to fans and donors in the past, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach and instead offering fans the ability to opt-in to engagement and reward opportunities that excite them. It also goes beyond providing these opportunities only to donors. This new program will include everyone who has a Gopher Score – all donors and all season ticket holders to any Gopher sport. Like many other departments around the country, Minnesota had previously outlined different benefit levels for only its donors, levels that aligned annual giving totals to pre-assigned stewardship opportunities.
“Each fan is unique. They have different reasons why they’re a part of Gopher Athletics. We recognize that fans have different needs and wants. That’s what’s so great about this program – every fan can customize it to include what they want. It’s a program made for our fans, dedicated to our fans, and committed to improving their experience with Gopher Athletics,” said Coyle.
As an example, in previous years individuals who donated through the Golden Gopher Fund received a pre-assigned set of benefits. In this new program, everyone with a Gopher Score will have access to a menu of benefit options, ranging from invitations to special Gopher Athletics events, discounts on purchases, engagement opportunities with coaches and student-athletes, and much more. Access to purchasing parking and complimentary club room passes will remain unchanged and will continue to be provided to fans based on annual fund contributions. Details on those processes are available on GoldenGopherFund.com.
More information about the Gopher Loyalty Program is available at z.umn.edu/fans.
In addition to the Gopher Loyalty Program, the department also shared its plans to launch the Gopher Fan Advisory Board.
Fan advisory boards are not a new concept in college athletics. Many schools form these organizations as a way to solicit feedback, discuss opportunities and challenges for the department and collaborate on new ideas. Coyle and his staff created fan advisory boards at both of his previous stops as athletics director, Boise State and Syracuse.
“We want our fan advisory board to look at everything about how Gopher Athletics interacts with our fans, from ticket pricing, to game day experience, to how we advertise and market our teams. It’s incredibly helpful to have that perspective from outside the department, especially from people who invest in our programs and come to our events. Their honest feedback will help us improve,” said Coyle.
The Gopher Fan Advisory Board will be the first for Gopher Athletics. Online applications for all interested fans are open now at z.umn.edu/advisoryboard. Final selection of the board will take place in early April. The group will meet for the first time in May and set a regular meeting schedule going forward.
While these two programs are the cornerstones of this new fan engagement initiative, there are other events and projects that will accomplish the same goals of giving fans a greater voice in their experience with Gopher Athletics.
That includes the game day and season ticket holder experience surveys the department has conducted (and will continue to conduct) throughout this year. The first of these came out in October and were specific to football. Similar surveys tied to men’s basketball and men’s hockey have been sent to fans in recent weeks. The department will be surveying fans of other Gopher programs in the future as well. While a standard practice for collecting feedback, this year’s fan surveys were the first issued by Gopher Athletics in several years.
This new fan engagement initiative will continue to add points of contact between fans, the athletics department and athletics’ leadership in the future, including ticketholder, donor and fan events to hear directly from Coyle and other administrators and coaches. As they become available, details about new events and programs will be shared at z.umn.edu/fans.
“Relationships work two ways, and I think that it’s important to have authentic relationships with our fans,” added Coyle. “We are creating those touch points where fans can be a part of what we’re doing every day. That’s what has me excited about these new programs.”
“We ask our fans to invest in us and our students, and it’s been a priority of mine since my first day at Minnesota to find ways for us to invest back in our fans in new and better ways,” said Coyle. “Our new fan engagement initiative will create opportunities for us to listen to our fans, get them more involved with our department and celebrate their loyalty and investment in our programs.”
The focus of Monday’s announcement were two key pieces in this set of new initiatives – the Gopher Loyalty Program and the Gopher Fan Advisory Board.
The new Gopher Loyalty Program is a departure from how the athletics department has offered benefits to fans and donors in the past, moving away from a one-size-fits-all approach and instead offering fans the ability to opt-in to engagement and reward opportunities that excite them. It also goes beyond providing these opportunities only to donors. This new program will include everyone who has a Gopher Score – all donors and all season ticket holders to any Gopher sport. Like many other departments around the country, Minnesota had previously outlined different benefit levels for only its donors, levels that aligned annual giving totals to pre-assigned stewardship opportunities.
“Each fan is unique. They have different reasons why they’re a part of Gopher Athletics. We recognize that fans have different needs and wants. That’s what’s so great about this program – every fan can customize it to include what they want. It’s a program made for our fans, dedicated to our fans, and committed to improving their experience with Gopher Athletics,” said Coyle.
As an example, in previous years individuals who donated through the Golden Gopher Fund received a pre-assigned set of benefits. In this new program, everyone with a Gopher Score will have access to a menu of benefit options, ranging from invitations to special Gopher Athletics events, discounts on purchases, engagement opportunities with coaches and student-athletes, and much more. Access to purchasing parking and complimentary club room passes will remain unchanged and will continue to be provided to fans based on annual fund contributions. Details on those processes are available on GoldenGopherFund.com.
More information about the Gopher Loyalty Program is available at z.umn.edu/fans.
In addition to the Gopher Loyalty Program, the department also shared its plans to launch the Gopher Fan Advisory Board.
Fan advisory boards are not a new concept in college athletics. Many schools form these organizations as a way to solicit feedback, discuss opportunities and challenges for the department and collaborate on new ideas. Coyle and his staff created fan advisory boards at both of his previous stops as athletics director, Boise State and Syracuse.
“We want our fan advisory board to look at everything about how Gopher Athletics interacts with our fans, from ticket pricing, to game day experience, to how we advertise and market our teams. It’s incredibly helpful to have that perspective from outside the department, especially from people who invest in our programs and come to our events. Their honest feedback will help us improve,” said Coyle.
The Gopher Fan Advisory Board will be the first for Gopher Athletics. Online applications for all interested fans are open now at z.umn.edu/advisoryboard. Final selection of the board will take place in early April. The group will meet for the first time in May and set a regular meeting schedule going forward.
While these two programs are the cornerstones of this new fan engagement initiative, there are other events and projects that will accomplish the same goals of giving fans a greater voice in their experience with Gopher Athletics.
That includes the game day and season ticket holder experience surveys the department has conducted (and will continue to conduct) throughout this year. The first of these came out in October and were specific to football. Similar surveys tied to men’s basketball and men’s hockey have been sent to fans in recent weeks. The department will be surveying fans of other Gopher programs in the future as well. While a standard practice for collecting feedback, this year’s fan surveys were the first issued by Gopher Athletics in several years.
This new fan engagement initiative will continue to add points of contact between fans, the athletics department and athletics’ leadership in the future, including ticketholder, donor and fan events to hear directly from Coyle and other administrators and coaches. As they become available, details about new events and programs will be shared at z.umn.edu/fans.
“Relationships work two ways, and I think that it’s important to have authentic relationships with our fans,” added Coyle. “We are creating those touch points where fans can be a part of what we’re doing every day. That’s what has me excited about these new programs.”
