St. Thomas and 830-AM WCCO recently announced a contract extension to continue broadcasting Tommie football games through the 2016 season.

The two began the partnership broadcasting football games on 830-AM in 2011. Dave Lee will continue to be the voice of the Tommies, and Eric Nelson will be the color commentator. The St. Thomas football team had four consecutive NCAA playoff berths from 2009-2012.

“It’s an opportunity, as a Division-III institution, to be covered by what most people would recognize as the largest … AM station in the state,” Athletic Director Steve Fritz said. “WCCO has been very interested in us and has done a great job for three years, so that’s the reason we moved ahead with the extension.”

The Tommies’ first game under the new extension will be Sept. 6 at O’Shaughnessy Stadium against Wisconsin-Eau Claire. According to Fritz, the partnership between WCCO and St. Thomas has previously been good.

“We’ve used them a lot of times for institutional advertising over the years. Certainly this contract over the last three years has enhanced that relationship,” Fritz said.

Other MIAC schools have radio companies that broadcast their games, but not to the extent St. Thomas does. Fritz is impressed with how things have been handled at WCCO, especially with Dave Lee calling the games the last three years.

“Dave does a wonderful job balancing St. Thomas kind of things with our opponents,” Fritz said. “It’s a great opportunity to get the name of our league and all the schools involved out there on every Saturday afternoon.”

Fritz said it’s important to get the university’s name out to people across Minnesota, representing how St. Thomas operates as an institution and what the school prides itself on.

“I think you can justify it’s more than the sports coverage. It’s a marketing opportunity for this university. I think we like to believe we do things in a first-class manner and working with a radio station that is known for doing things is a first-class manner, I think that’s a good match,” Fritz said.

Jordan Kruger can be reached at krug6172@stthomas.edu.