Sunday, May 09, 2004
Resolution to Twins TV Situation Leaves Victory Dark
Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune offers a post-mortem on the Twins' Victory Sports Network. Victory Sports President Kevin Cattoor blames its failure on the Twins' decision to pursue a new stadium at the same time:
"I believe had we not had the ballpark issue, Victory would have been successful. There is no doubt the ballpark had a major impact on our decision to continue Victory or not. The pressure to get the games on was so great and the risk posed to the stadium bill was so great that we had to pursue other avenues."
Twins President Dave St. Peter agrees -- "Certainly as long as the ballpark legislation was pending I think cable and satellite providers had no urgency to come to the table" -- but refuses to second-guess the decision:
"Our contract was up, and Fox had no interest in a short-term agreement. We felt as though the Victory Sports model was the right thing for this organization. We just couldn't garner the carriage deals that we anticipated. . . . But this was a long-term initiative. Obviously the timing could have been better, but I don't know that we had the choice."
The Twins won't be able to try again until 2012.
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Judd Zulgad of the Minneapolis Star Tribune offers a post-mortem on the Twins' Victory Sports Network. Victory Sports President Kevin Cattoor blames its failure on the Twins' decision to pursue a new stadium at the same time:
"I believe had we not had the ballpark issue, Victory would have been successful. There is no doubt the ballpark had a major impact on our decision to continue Victory or not. The pressure to get the games on was so great and the risk posed to the stadium bill was so great that we had to pursue other avenues."
Twins President Dave St. Peter agrees -- "Certainly as long as the ballpark legislation was pending I think cable and satellite providers had no urgency to come to the table" -- but refuses to second-guess the decision:
"Our contract was up, and Fox had no interest in a short-term agreement. We felt as though the Victory Sports model was the right thing for this organization. We just couldn't garner the carriage deals that we anticipated. . . . But this was a long-term initiative. Obviously the timing could have been better, but I don't know that we had the choice."
The Twins won't be able to try again until 2012.
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