BleedGopher
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per GopherSports.com:
During my very first press conference at Minnesota, now nearly two years ago, I talked about how fans have invested so much in Gopher Athletics over the years and how I felt that the athletics department needed to do more to invest back in those fans. That's a never-ending charge for me and for everyone who works in our department. We are always discussing new and different ways to create more value and better experiences for the people who invest the most in us, our season ticket holders and donors.
Our boldest effort to invest more in Gopher fans came this past year with the launch of the Gopher Loyalty Program. This program is unlike any other in college athletics. It's different. It's inclusive. It's customizable. It's entirely unique to Minnesota.
Just like every other school, at least across the Power Five conferences, we had a benefits program in the past that only rewarded donors and treated them exactly the same, offering one-size-fits-all benefit packages based on their giving level.
Last year, we saw a new way to reward our most loyal supporters.
First, we opened up the program to all season ticket holders, many of whom had never received benefits from us to show gratitude for their support. Then we found a way for each fan to customize their benefits packages to include items and experiences they cared about the most.
Now, whether you're a major donor, a long-time season ticket holder, or a first-time contributor, we are finding new ways to thank you for that support and provide one-of-a-kind Gopher Athletics experiences, with the flexibility to build a benefits package that's the best fit for you. No other department in college athletics is doing anything quite like this for its fans.
In total, we offered more than 66,000 benefits in the inaugural year of the Gopher Loyalty Program. The most popular, as you might imagine, were our experiential benefits - opportunities to go behind-the-scenes and get closer to our coaches and student-athletes. These experiences were the cornerstone of this year's program. In the last year of our old system, we offered three experiential benefits. In the first year of the Gopher Loyalty Program, we offered 84.
Opportunities were available for fans across the Gopher Score spectrum. One concern we heard this year was that the best opportunities were only available to those with the best Gopher Score rank, but many unique experiences were available for those with a Gopher Score rank above 9,000, including men's hockey "Skate with the Gophers," band practice viewing events, our Gopher Insider events with Coach McCutcheon (volleyball), Coach Eggum (wrestling) and Coach Frost (women's hockey), and Coffee with the AD, where I sat down with fans for an hour in the morning for a quick presentation and an open question and answer session about our department. We held several of these morning sessions throughout the year.
What's been wonderful about this program is how Gopher fans who received limited or no benefits in our old program were offered so much more by the Gopher Loyalty Program. Here are two cases of actual Gopher fans.
Single 28-year-old who is a $50 annual donor and a pick-your-pack buyer with a Gopher Score rank in the 8,300s went from receiving a 15-percent discount at Goldy's Locker Room and a student-athlete calendar, to hearing from coaches at a Gopher Insider event with our softball program, enjoying a movie from the field at TCF Bank Stadium Movie Night, walking into any Olympic sporting event on campus with the Gopher Sports Pass, a Ski-U-Mah magazine subscription for the year, and a 25-point boost to his Gopher Score.
Married 41-year-old with three kids with men's basketball and volleyball season tickets, no annual donation and a Gopher Score rank of nearly 11,000 previously received no benefits. Zero. Zilch. Last year, this fan and his family stopped by the VIP Tent at the Griak Invitational, attended any Olympic sporting events they wanted for free with the Gopher Sports Pass, watched a movie on the TCF Bank Stadium field as part of Movie Night, and received an annual subscription to Ski-U-Mah magazine.
Creating and launching the Gopher Loyalty Program this year was exciting, but we always kept in mind that it was a pilot program. There was no example for us to follow, no blueprint about how to build a program like this. We knew it was a step toward our goal of better investing in fans, but we also knew it wouldn't be perfect. We are looking to add new experiences, more opportunities, and expand the program to provide better benefits to every single season ticket holder and donor. We are excited to unveil an improved Gopher Loyalty Program later this summer as we start our second year.
We try to operate our athletics department by five guiding principles. One of these in innovation, and nowhere in our department was there a more sweeping innovation last year than the Gopher Loyalty Program. This program will become a model for how athletics departments reward loyal donors and season ticket holders. I hope you all continue to take advantage of its benefits next year.
http://www.gophersports.com/genrel/042418aaa.html
Go Gophers!!
During my very first press conference at Minnesota, now nearly two years ago, I talked about how fans have invested so much in Gopher Athletics over the years and how I felt that the athletics department needed to do more to invest back in those fans. That's a never-ending charge for me and for everyone who works in our department. We are always discussing new and different ways to create more value and better experiences for the people who invest the most in us, our season ticket holders and donors.
Our boldest effort to invest more in Gopher fans came this past year with the launch of the Gopher Loyalty Program. This program is unlike any other in college athletics. It's different. It's inclusive. It's customizable. It's entirely unique to Minnesota.
Just like every other school, at least across the Power Five conferences, we had a benefits program in the past that only rewarded donors and treated them exactly the same, offering one-size-fits-all benefit packages based on their giving level.
Last year, we saw a new way to reward our most loyal supporters.
First, we opened up the program to all season ticket holders, many of whom had never received benefits from us to show gratitude for their support. Then we found a way for each fan to customize their benefits packages to include items and experiences they cared about the most.
Now, whether you're a major donor, a long-time season ticket holder, or a first-time contributor, we are finding new ways to thank you for that support and provide one-of-a-kind Gopher Athletics experiences, with the flexibility to build a benefits package that's the best fit for you. No other department in college athletics is doing anything quite like this for its fans.
In total, we offered more than 66,000 benefits in the inaugural year of the Gopher Loyalty Program. The most popular, as you might imagine, were our experiential benefits - opportunities to go behind-the-scenes and get closer to our coaches and student-athletes. These experiences were the cornerstone of this year's program. In the last year of our old system, we offered three experiential benefits. In the first year of the Gopher Loyalty Program, we offered 84.
Opportunities were available for fans across the Gopher Score spectrum. One concern we heard this year was that the best opportunities were only available to those with the best Gopher Score rank, but many unique experiences were available for those with a Gopher Score rank above 9,000, including men's hockey "Skate with the Gophers," band practice viewing events, our Gopher Insider events with Coach McCutcheon (volleyball), Coach Eggum (wrestling) and Coach Frost (women's hockey), and Coffee with the AD, where I sat down with fans for an hour in the morning for a quick presentation and an open question and answer session about our department. We held several of these morning sessions throughout the year.
What's been wonderful about this program is how Gopher fans who received limited or no benefits in our old program were offered so much more by the Gopher Loyalty Program. Here are two cases of actual Gopher fans.
Single 28-year-old who is a $50 annual donor and a pick-your-pack buyer with a Gopher Score rank in the 8,300s went from receiving a 15-percent discount at Goldy's Locker Room and a student-athlete calendar, to hearing from coaches at a Gopher Insider event with our softball program, enjoying a movie from the field at TCF Bank Stadium Movie Night, walking into any Olympic sporting event on campus with the Gopher Sports Pass, a Ski-U-Mah magazine subscription for the year, and a 25-point boost to his Gopher Score.
Married 41-year-old with three kids with men's basketball and volleyball season tickets, no annual donation and a Gopher Score rank of nearly 11,000 previously received no benefits. Zero. Zilch. Last year, this fan and his family stopped by the VIP Tent at the Griak Invitational, attended any Olympic sporting events they wanted for free with the Gopher Sports Pass, watched a movie on the TCF Bank Stadium field as part of Movie Night, and received an annual subscription to Ski-U-Mah magazine.
Creating and launching the Gopher Loyalty Program this year was exciting, but we always kept in mind that it was a pilot program. There was no example for us to follow, no blueprint about how to build a program like this. We knew it was a step toward our goal of better investing in fans, but we also knew it wouldn't be perfect. We are looking to add new experiences, more opportunities, and expand the program to provide better benefits to every single season ticket holder and donor. We are excited to unveil an improved Gopher Loyalty Program later this summer as we start our second year.
We try to operate our athletics department by five guiding principles. One of these in innovation, and nowhere in our department was there a more sweeping innovation last year than the Gopher Loyalty Program. This program will become a model for how athletics departments reward loyal donors and season ticket holders. I hope you all continue to take advantage of its benefits next year.
http://www.gophersports.com/genrel/042418aaa.html
Go Gophers!!
