Designed to Highlight Young Female Athlete Leaders, Campaign Culminates on January 30
MINNEAPOLIS – The University of Minnesota Athletics, in an ongoing effort to spotlight the next generation of female leaders, introduces an original video series entitled “Girls In Leadership.” In conjunction with Dove and Cub, the series is being done with Gopher Sports Properties, the university’s athletics multimedia rightsholder and local LEARFIELD team.
Episode 1 champions two young athlete/entrepreneurs who partnered with The Sports Bra Project to collect donations of sports bras from their community and notable brands. The debut episode and remaining episodes will be available to watch on this dedicated page on GopherSports.com. The entire series will be shared via official athletics social channels as well.
“I’m proud that our leadership and university personnel at Minnesota are strong advocates for women’s athletics, and that they’re passionate about doing a project like this to elevate these young girls who demonstrate such terrific leadership qualities,” said Head Women’s Basketball Coach Lindsay Whalen. “Our fans will love every episode in the ‘Girls In Leadership’ series. I know the girls featured have extraordinary stories to tell, and we look forward to celebrating them in January.”
Each of the five girls appearing in the series, who are between the 5th and 8th grade, will be VIP guests of the Gophers and Coach Whalen on Sunday, Jan. 30, 2022, when Minnesota plays host to Wisconsin. They will be introduced to fans attending the 2 p.m. women’s basketball game, just a few days prior to National Girls and Women in Sports Day on Feb. 2. Notably, these girls also will receive $1000 each to donate to a charity of their choice by Dove and Cub – presenting sponsors for the “Girls In Leadership” video series and Gopher Athletics’ corporate partners.
“We’re thrilled about uniquely elevating these young heroines – girls in Minnesota who are striving for positive change in their communities,” said Julie Manning, Gopher Athletics’ deputy athletics director and senior woman administrator. “It will be an honor to have them as our special guests on January 30th at Williams Arena, and we appreciate how they are impacting their peers and inspiring others.”
LEARFIELD is a leading media and technology services company in intercollegiate athletics. Its Minneapolis-based Gopher Sports Properties team works alongside the entire athletics administration in complete oversight of the comprehensive multimedia rights relationship. LEARFIELD unlocks the value of college sports for brands and fans through an omnichannel platform with innovative content and commerce solutions. The company’s services include licensing and multimedia sponsorship management; publishing, audio, digital and social media; data analytics; ticketing, ticket sales and professional concessions expertise; branding; campus-wide business and sponsorship development; and venue technology systems. Since 2008, it has served as title sponsor for the acclaimed LEARFIELD Directors’ Cup, supporting athletic departments across all divisions.