Kare11
Twins broadcasts could change channels with incoming court ruling
By Thursday, a bankruptcy court judge is expected to decide whether Major League Baseball can take over broadcasts from Bally Sports.
MINNEAPOLIS — A bankruptcy case playing out in Texas could change the way Minnesotans watch the Twins play baseball as early as Thursday.
Major League Baseball is locked in a payment dispute with Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports North, which broadcasts games for the Twins, Lynx, Wolves, and Wild.
Diamond Sports Group declared bankruptcy in March and the process has complicated its contracts, and payments, with several MLB teams.
On Tuesday, the San Diego Padres became the first team to part ways with Bally after Diamond Sports Group notified the team that it would not be making a scheduled payment to continue broadcasting games.
The team quickly announced a plan to offer games on different channels for local fans who are existing cable subscribers. The team also announced that it would lift local blackout restrictions for MLB streaming options. That means that local fans will now be able to stream games without a cable plan for $19.99 a month or $74.99 for the rest of the season.
Star Tribune Digital Sports Editor, Michael Rand, has been following the saga for months, and reporter Kent Erdahl spoke with him about what a transition might look like, and how it could impact fans of all kinds of Minnesota teams.
Kent Erdahl: “What’s going to happen to the broadcast teams if tomorrow the Twins are going on their own with MLB?”
Michael Rand: “What’s been reported with the Padres is that they kept the broadcast team, kept the play-by-play, kept the same analysts, so I don’t think much about the broadcast itself changes, at least not right away.”
Erdahl: “One of the things that I found interesting about San Diego is that they said there will be many more people who will actually be able to watch the team now.”
Rand: “Yeah, because there’s just more access to (the games). That’s one thing I always hear after writing about this issue for startribune.com or talking about it on the Daily Delivery Podcast. People are always saying, ‘I can’t get the games anymore. I signed up for this, that, and the other thing, and now Bally Sports isn’t on those channels,’ or ‘I’ve cut the cord and now I don’t get this.” So making it available over a sort of direct-to-consumer streaming platform, all of a sudden they’re saying in San Diego, it will triple their potential audience. Teams are starting to realize that there’s a benefit to getting your product in front of people instead of trying to hide it from them.”
Erdahl: “That’s the potentially positive side of all this. The other side would be if someone wants that kind of all-in-one package with all the local teams.”
Erdahl: “Are we going to have that anymore?”
Rand: “That’s a great question. I think in the short term you still will. The model we’re seeing play out in San Diego is that if you still have Direct TV or you still have their bigger cable carriers, you’re still going to get that. It might just be on a different channel. But if you get to the point where you don’t want to have the cable bundle or the satellite bundle but you like the Wolves, you like the Twins, the Timberwolves, the Vikings, the Lynx, you like the Minnesota United. Those all used to be carried by Bally Sports. But the United games are all on Apple TV right now, and there could soon be a lot of places you have to go to get these teams. That means there could be a lot of little subscriptions you have to pay for. If you add them all up, will that still be cost savings to the consumer? I don’t know.”
Erdahl: “I wanted to ask you about the Lynx and the Wild and the Wolves. What’s their status with Bally Sports North? Is up in the air with this bankruptcy as well?”
Rand: “I haven’t heard anything directly about those teams yet. Now, that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a question about how that all plays out. A lot of Lynx games are on Bally Sports North right now. I think 31 out of their 40 games this year are on Bally Sports North. What I understand is that the Wild and the Wolves at least have a couple of years left on their contract, so depending on how bankruptcy court plays out with those teams, it doesn’t sound like those are as imminent.
With the Twins, we’ve been hearing so much about it because regardless of how all of this litigation plays out, their contract is up with Bally’s at the end of this year.”
Erdahl: “Kind of a new era of free agency?”
Rand: “Kind of. All these teams are trying to figure out how to get games to fans. All people really want is access to teams at a price that they feel like is fair and reasonable and for a long time the regional sports model worked, right? But then people started cutting the cord, then people started kind of buying these streaming packages, and it’s kind of created this fragmentation where you kind of don’t know exactly where it’s all headed.
I don’t think things are going to become more easy. I think they’re only going to become more complicated as time goes on.”
Watch all of the latest stories from Breaking The News in our YouTube playlist:
Kare11
Rescue! – A chase, a crash and martial arts store workers race to save mother and babies in Fenton.
Employees of a Fenton martial arts school ran to the aid of a mother and her babies after the rollover crash. They said their training helped them rescue the family.
FENTON, Mo. — Employees at a martial arts business in Fenton rushed to save a mother and her twin eight-month-old babies after their vehicle was struck during a police pursuit involving federal officers on Interstate 44 in Fenton.
Surveillance video captured the moment a car being pursued by the DEA and Homeland Security struck the woman’s car on Wednesday.
Those who helped rescue them said it was a miracle they walked away alive.
The woman’s car flipped multiple times from the interstate, over the fence, and onto South Highway Drive before it landed in front of Xtreme Krav Maga & Fitness in Fenton.
“All of a sudden, I heard a car crash, screeching noise, and my fellow employee, Lindsay, was here at the front counter, and she said, ‘Oh, that’s not good,'” said Dustin Pluth, a manager at the business.
Within seconds, Pluth sprang into action, running outside to the car.
“It was just kind of an instinct thing. Once I saw the car rolling, coming to a halt, and running up to it, I found a mom and two babies inside,” he said.
Pluth cut the mom’s seatbelt off to get her out and pulled her twin babies out of the sunroof. Then another employee, Lindsay Cross, comforted the mom while walking them inside to get warm.
“She was very terrified of just being in a car wreck number one, not knowing what was going on. She didn’t know what the outcome was, and then she was obviously worried about her kids,” Pluth said.
The business offers self-defense and martial arts classes, as well as medical training and trauma-one classes, which teach people how to become first responders.
Pluth said it’s training that helped them rescue the family.
“Luckily, the good people in this scenario had a few scratches on them, but it could’ve been a worse Christmas. And as a dad, kids being injured is the worst fear ever,” he said.
Of all places for a car accident to end, Pluth said it was the best result of a bad situation.
“She got handled and cared for, and the babies were cared for probably as quickly as we possibly could do. It’s definitely a Christmas miracle that it happened here, and they came as unscathed as possible,” Pluth said.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol said several suspects were taken into custody following the federal police pursuit.
Pluth said the mom was a little banged up, but thankfully, they’re all doing well.
Kare11
Carol singing and Beef Wellington pies
Tracie Munce, owner of Merlin’s Rest, joined KARE 11 Saturday to discuss the upcoming singalong and share a dish.
MINNEAPOLIS — A neighborhood bar in south Minneapolis is sharing a popular recipe and announcing the return of a favorite holiday tradition.
Merlin’s Rest, which has been in the Longfellow neighborhood for nearly two decades, will host its annual pub carol singalong on Sunday, Dec. 22·from 2 to 4 p.m.
Merlin’s not only has the most extensive selection of single malt Scotch and Irish whiskey in the state, but it also serves award-winning pub classics like bangers and mash and authentic fish and chips.
Owner Tracie Munce joined KARE 11 Saturday to discuss the upcoming singalong and share a dish.
Recipe: Beef Wellington
- 3lb ribeye roast
- ¾ cups Beef Stock
- Steak seasoning
- 1 ¼ lb crimini mushroom
- ½ shallots
- ¼ onion
- 4 Tbls garlic
- 1 long stalks of rosemary
- 1 TBS bisto gravy mix mixed with 1 TBS cold water
- 1 cups water mixed with 1TBS beef base and 1 TBS garlic base
- 8oz of sliced and diced thinly Ham
- Puff pastry sheets
Coat thawed ribeye with oil and sprinkle steak seasoning all over the roast, cook each side for about 5-8 minutes then transfer to a roaster with about 1-2 cups of beef stock, fat side up. Cover with aluminum foil and roast at 350 degrees for 2 hours – remove from the roaster and let rest – save the juice for gravy.
Clean and quarter mushrooms and place into a food processor, pulse into a small dice. Rough chop shallot and add into the mushroom, pulse a few more times.
Remove rosemary leaves from stem & rough chop, combine with mushrooms and shallots
In a large skillet add 1 Tbs butter and add the mushroom mixture, cook on medium-high heat until all the water has evaporated, about 15 minutes, put in a large bowl
Cube beef, take off fat, and add to the mushroom bowl
Thin, long slices of ham then chop and to beef and mushroom mixture. Salt and Pepper (about 1TBS of each) and combine
Dice onion and garlic and sauté in 1TBS butter until just browning, add juice from roasting the ribeye and about 1 cup of Beef stock. Let boil then add slowly the bisto slurry to thicken. Add a small amount of gravy mixture to the beef mixture to moisten – do not need much gravy.
Cut pastry into large squares and place into jumbo muffin tin. Add ½ cup of meat & mushroom mixture and pull puff over top of meat, pinching to seal everything in. Brush top with egg, and sprinkle with smoked paprika. Bake for 25-30 mins at 350
Add your side of choice with Wellington pie and a side of gravy.
Kare11
Cozy beverages for holiday gifts
Jamie Preuss from So Happy You Liked It joined KARE 11 Saturday to demonstrate how to DIY a hot buttered rum mix and homemade Irish cream.
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — There might not be anything more heartfelt at the holidays, than homemade gifts. While cookies might be your go-to… how about mixing things up, with a homemade drink mix?
Jamie Preuss from So Happy You Liked It joined KARE 11 Saturday to demonstrate how to DIY a hot buttered rum mix and homemade Irish cream.
Recipe: Hot Buttered Rum
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 oz dark rum
- 6-8 oz hot water
Using a hand mixer, combine all ingredients except ice cream.
Once combined, add softened ice cream, and blend to thoroughly mix in.
Freeze the mixture for at least 2 hours.
In a mug, combine hot water, rum, and 1 heaping spoonful of mixture. Stir to dissolve.
Recipe: Homemade Bailey’s Irish Cream
- 2 T cocoa powder
- 2 t instant espresso
- 1 t vanilla
- 1 t almond
- 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup cream
- 1 1/2 cup Irish whiskey, optional
Mix cocoa and espresso powder with 2 tablespoons of hot water and mix to combine.
Add all ingredients except the cream to a blender (including whiskey if you are using it), and blend to fully combine.
Add the cream to the blender and pulse to combine. Don’t blend
too long because this will start to aerate the cream and make the drink super thick!
Transfer to 1 large or several smaller flip-top glass jars. Give them as gifts or keep them for yourself!
The mix will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings