Broadcasters Mark Minner, Nick Gardner Return To Call Another Season of Bulldog Action
INDIANAPOLIS – Butler University Athletics and its multimedia rightsholder, LEARFIELD’s Butler Sports Properties, announced today an extension with Cumulus Media Indianapolis as the official Butler Men’s Basketball radio station for the 2022-23 season. The PNC Butler Radio Network will bring the game to Bulldog fans around the region with the help of broadcasters Mark Minner and Nick Gardner on WXNT CBS Sports 1430AM, a Cumulus Media Indianapolis station.
“As the largest and most dynamic cluster of media brands in the state, Cumulus Media Indianapolis is honored to be a part of the Butler Bulldog team,” said Eric Wunnenberg, Director of Sales for Cumulus Media Indianapolis. “The first-class broadcast team of Mark and Nick entertaining Bulldog fans with exciting basketball from iconic Hinkle Fieldhouse and BIG EAST venues creates such a unique experience.”
WXNT’s broadcasts will begin with the first of Butler’s two exhibition contests at Hinkle Fieldhouse on Saturday, Oct. 29 against Tiffin, starting with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m. ET. Cumulus will also promote Bulldog action on other regionally-owned radio stations. Minner will handle play-by-play duties for the tenth consecutive season alongside Gardner, who enters his 17th season as a Bulldogs’ analyst.
For decades, PNC has supported Butler’s educational programming, athletic events and helped with the campaign to renovate the historic Hinkle Fieldhouse. PNC became the official bank of Butler Athletics in 2012, and secured naming rights for the PNC Butler Radio Network in 2016.
“As a National Main Street Bank, we believe that being part of the community is not only about our physical presence in the state, but about being a good partner in the neighborhoods where we live and work,” said Jason Eckerle, PNC regional president for central and southern Indiana. “As a Bulldog myself, I’m proud to see how PNC has helped amplify the hardwork of our student-athletes and helped tell the story of Butler’s competitive sports program.”
Butler Sports Properties, the locally-based LEARFIELD team which works alongside Butler Athletics’ administration, oversees the PNC relationship as well as many broadcast needs as part of the overarching multimedia rights partnership with Butler.
“We appreciate PNC’s continued support as the official bank of Butler Athletics and sponsor of the PNC Butler Radio Network,” said Butler Vice President/Director of Athletics Barry Collier. “We are excited to work alongside LEARFIELD’s Butler Sports Properties and Cumulus to provide continued coverage of our Bulldog achievements on WXNT. Mark and Nick are incredibly talented at delivering Butler’s basketball action to our loyal fans and are tremendous ambassadors for our university.”
For regular and postseason games, Bulldog fans can tune into WXNT 1430AM to hear Gardner and Minner in special 30-minute pregame and postgame shows.
Fans can also listen to Minner and Gardner through The Varsity Network app, a free user-friendly audio hub which hosts all college sports broadcasts as part of the LEARFIELD properties. Butler basketball fans can use the app to set alerts for live-streamed games to avoid missing Bulldog action.
Additional information on Butler Athletics including Bulldog schedules, programs, tickets and more are available at www.butlersports.com.