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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.”
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With a 17-member jury finally seated after an arduous selection process, the prosecution and defense on Thursday took the first step in building their cases.
MANKATO, Minn. — With an arduous jury selection process finally in the rearview mirror, both prosecutors and the defense began laying out their cases Thursday in the murder trial of Adam Fravel.
Fravel is charged with four felony counts – first-degree murder, first-degree premeditated murder, second-degree intentional murder, and second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony offense – in the death of 26-year-old Maddi Kingsbury, his live-in partner and mother of Favel’s two children.
Kingsbury was last seen dropping her young son and daughter off at daycare in Winona the morning of March 31, 2023. She was reported missing by family and friends later that day. Maddi’s decomposing remains were found south of Winona 68 days later. The medical examiner eventually concluded she died of homicidal violence, likely asphyxiation.
Opening statements began shortly after 9 a.m. in Blue Earth County District Court, chosen as the venue after Judge Nancy Buytendorp ruled Fravel’s trial should be moved from Winona County due to extensive pre-trial publicity.
The state was the first to address the jury panel, with prosecutor Phil Prokopowicz immediately painting a picture of Maddi as a successful career woman and mother who had become increasingly frustrated with Fravel and his inability to contribute as their seven-year relationship crumbled.
Prokopowicz told jurors that Kingsbury had met a man, Spencer Sullivan, on a dating app and as their relationship grew Maddi decided to end her partnership with Fravel. Kingsbury contacted her landlord and said she was terminating the least, and that she had found a townhouse where she and the children would live.
The state also laid out a list of electronic and video evidence it says proves Fravel killed Maddi and engaged in an elaborate coverup, also indicating there will be testimony on alleged abuse in the relationship.
Fravel’s defense team began its opening statement with a geography lesson of sorts, with attorney Zach Bauer naming Winona and the small communities of Rushford, Choice, Mable, and the highways and county roads that run through them. Bauer asked jurors to think about the locations as they listen to testimony and absorb the evidence presented in Fravel’s trial.
The defense then began painting its own picture of the relationship between Fravel and Kingsbury, saying like many couples they had disagreements and there were times Maddi would move out the home and other times when Fravel would go home to stay with his parents.
Unlike prosecutors – who said Kingsbury’s relationship with Spencer Sullivan was getting deeper – the defense told jurors about texts from Maddi to her sister saying she was going to marry Adam Fravel. Ultimately, Bauer told the court, Kingsbury and Fravel agreed to separate but were doing so in a cooperative and planned manner.
Bauer told jurors that Fravel cooperated with police after Kingsbury disappeared, saying his defense team would show that investigators ignored evidence and facts that suggested his innocence. He indicated they will challenge the prosecution’s version of how and where the body was found, and who may have had access to the remote site not far from Mabel.
The defense also said they will call a neighbor who will testify they never heard any fighting or signs of discord in the relationship between Kingsbury and Fravel.
The 16-year-old girl was last seen in September in north Minneapolis.
MINNEAPOLIS — The Anoka County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help to find a missing teenage girl.
The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) shared Thursday on X that 16-year-old Tivona Cardenas was last seen in late September in north Minneapolis.
Cardenas is 5 feet 2 inches and 108 pounds, with black hair and brown eyes, according to the Minnesota BCA.
If you have any information on the teen’s whereabouts, call 911.
St. Paul’s Harriet Island will host the event Sunday to raise money for colon cancer awareness and screenings.
ST PAUL, Minn. — St. Paul’s Harriet Island will host runners, walkers and supporters on Sunday for the 20th annual Get Your Rear in Gear event.
The fundraiser boosts money and awareness for colon cancer and the importance of screening for it. Attendees can enjoy music, snacks, a giant inflatable colon, timed 10K and 5K races, untimed 5K and one-mile memory walk and a Kids’ Fun Run.
Chris Evans, the president of the Colon Cancer Coalition, and William Pierce, a caregiver who lost his mom to colorectal cancer, visited KARE 11 News at Noon to share more about the event and the importance of screening.
According to the American Cancer Society, about 2,550 Minnesota residents will be diagnosed and 830 could lose their life to colon cancer in 2024.
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