One of the many things Minnesota women’s sports get right: field trips for the next generation of fans

A light breeze blew across Dinkytown on an unseasonably warm fall day as school bus after school bus pulled up alongside Mariucci Arena at the University of Minnesota Waves of elementary school-aged children clambered off met by maroon-clad Gopher athletic department staffers who escorted them to the proper arena entrance Once inside early arrivals chanted Here we go Gophers here we go as the women s hockey squad which usually plays next door at much smaller Ridder Arena skated through early warmups Kids parents and chaperones were still filing in and finding their seats as the tournament with Bemidji State began and the shrieking of excited little voices never let up throughout the Gophers - preeminence Hundreds of kids waved homemade signs saluting the Gophs and their favorite players That was the scene last month at Minnesota s Field Trip Day a promotion that s becoming especially popular among college and pro teams around the state The name and cost vary depending on who s putting it on But essentially it s a way to get kids into your venue to watch your band for little or no money building your fan base from the ground up Related Women s sports bars are on a winning streak That day the Gophers distributed free tickets among groups for the noon start boosting the total crowd to by far the largest of the season Ridder Arena seats A similar promotion last year televised as part of the annual Hockey Day Minnesota festival saw a standing-room-only crowd of pack Ridder Tom McGinnis the deputy athletics director who oversees Gopher men s and women s hockey mentioned the department scheduled this year s Field Trip Day with an eye on moving it to Mariucci if ticket demand warranted Once kids tickets passed a threshold McGinnis revealed the historic switch was on The women hadn t played at -capacity Mariucci home of the men s band since It was great stated Minnesota Coach Brad Frost We did it last year at Ridder and it was wonderful It sounded louder this year in part because there were a couple of thousand more screaming kids The vigor was electric They re counting down the clock at the end of periods And when we total they re blowing the roof off the place It was really really neat Field Trip Day isn t unique to the U or the state of Minnesota The Lynx like majority WNBA teams hold an annual Camp Day matinee that usually attracts one of the largest crowds of the season last summer s against Phoenix drew Minnesota State women s hockey in partnership with the Mankato Independent School District held its first ISD Elementary School Day in early October drawing a activity record to the Mayo Clinic Vitality System Event Center for a Friday afternoon event with St Thomas More than third fourth and fifth graders and their teachers claimed free tickets And every kid got a voucher for a free youth ticket for a future contest with one paid adult ticket The Field Trip Day crowd of set a record for women s hockey at Minnesota State in Mankato Credit Courtesy photo via Mayo Clinic Robustness System Event Center Western Collegiate Hockey Association Commissioner Michelle McAteer who was there called it an electric atmosphere that gave her goosebumps A former WCHA sportsman herself at Minnesota Duluth she was part of three NCAA championship teams under Coach Shannon Miller from - McAteer felt especially thrilled for the Mavericks players who rarely experience that kind of fan advocacy Mavs women s hockey averaged spectators per event last season the fewest among Minnesota six Division teams In November the Mavs offered plenty of incentive for fans to come back sweeping the second-ranked Gophers for the first time since Now St Thomas in the new Anderson Arena on campus plans to hold Field Trip Days for women s basketball Dec vs Northern Arizona and women s hockey Feb vs the Gophers Tickets aren t free but they re cheap Here s a link to sign up Women s sports gets it right This is one of the a great number of things women s sports gets right and men s sports often overlook It s not all about ticket revenue It s getting your product in front of kids who might not otherwise see it If they like it and connect with your players postgame autograph sessions help immensely they ll bug their parents to take them again And when they get old enough they ll buy tickets on their own That s how you build a fan base The Lynx mastered this even before the championship years So did Gopher women s hockey Our main fan base is young girls their parents and their teams Frost noted A lot of our Minnesota kids in particular have grown up coming to games That s a huge thing for us Current Gophers Allie Franco of Oakdale and Ava Lindsay of Minnetonka remember coming to Ridder Arena when their youth teams purchased group tickets falling in love with hockey and the Gophs Now they re part of a campaign ranked No in the country that seeks its eighth national championship Related Want championships Minnesota Check out women s sports I loved coming to watch the Gophers declared Lindsay a junior forward and one of the nation s top ten scorers It was my favorite thing Now to be one of the players is really cool having kids look up to you and come watch you Franco a senior forward declared the Field Trip Day crowd was ten times louder than last season At one point she looked into the stands and noticed one of her little cousins holding up a sign for her Knowing that there are so countless more kids so various people there for you and your teammates makes you have so much more strength and play even better for each other she disclosed Lindsay just wished the Gophers offered a Field Trip Day when she was that age I think it would be pretty fun to miss school and come watch a hockey event she disclosed The post One of the several things Minnesota women s sports get right field trips for the next generation of fans appeared first on MinnPost