Twin Cities Fans In The Discussion

It's a wonderful way for sports fans to be involved in the discussion, literally. The University of Minnesota Sports Management Program, along with the Minnesota Twins, will be hosting a panel discussion on November 8th. Called "The Challenges & Future Landscape of The Twin Cities Sports Industry, the event will take place inside of TCF Bank Stadium. Hosted by Dave Mona, former WCCO sportscaster who also was analyst on U. of Minnesota football earlier in his career, other panel members will include U. of Minnesota Athletic Director Mark Coyle.

Bryan Donaldson of the Twins, Dannon Hulskotter of the Vikings, and Ryan Tanke of the Timberwolves will also participate. At press time, it was not certain who will participate from the Wild.

The announcement of this event mentions that the Twin Cities market is actually the smallest market in the U.S. with six major league pro sports teams, a Division I sports program, and a minor league team.

What makes this such a wonderful event for the fans is that the event is free and open to the public.


The trend of putting sports radio shows on TV continues going into 2018. CBS Sports Network will pick up The Jim Rome Show starting Jan. 2nd from Noon to 3 PM ET.


NEW YORK: Although nothing was done about Fox Sports hiding most of the American League Championship Series on FS1, the network finally gave in and allowed YES Network to begin its local post-game coverage to begin shortly after the end of the game, starting with Monday's (10/16) Game 3.

During the Division Series and for Games 1 and 2 against Houston, YES had to wait at least 30 minutes after the end of the game for FS1's postgame show to conclude. Incredibly, YES Network was forced to wait roughly 90 minutes after the end of the Yankees' clinching win over Cleveland in the ALDS to begin its post-game show well after the fact.

As bad as it is that Fox buries playoff games on FS1, it's even more of an outrage that Fox doesn't allow its over the air stations in and around the participating markets to air the games.


LOS ANGELES: Former NFL standout Eric Davis, who appears on various FS1 programming, has joined KSPN 710 to co-host afternoons with Marcellus Wiley and Kelvin Washington. This is in addition to Davis being a part of the Rams radio pre and postgame shows along with Travis Rodgers and Kirk Morrison.

This Sunday (10/22) has the L.A. market getting "only" three telecasts, with two of them being a Rams then Raiders doubleheader. The Rams meet the AZ Cardinals in London on Sunday. After years of hyping the London telecasts, including several national telecasts starting at 9:30 AM ET, the NFL knew they couldn't get away with what would have been a 6:30 AM local time telecast for both teams.

As a result, this will merely be one of the early regional games, with a 10 AM local time start in L.A. and Phoenix. This time around, the game will only be seen in a few northwest markets beyond Southern California (although San Diego is scheduled at press time to get New Orleans at Green Bay) and Arizona. Sam Rosen and Ronde Barber will call that game.

The other games will be CBS games, with the early primary game of Carolina at Chicago (moved over from Fox to CBS) followed by L.A. getting Denver vs. the Chargers as the market's only late game. Even San Diego gets the Chargers as its only late telecast.


ATLANTA: 92.9 The Game continues to beef up its surrounding Hawks coverage as the flagship station. New team GM Travis Schlenk has begun a new weekly segment (this week, to coincide with the season opener) which will be on the morning show with John Fricke (the former CNN sports anchor) and Hugh Douglas each Tuesday. This is in addition to head coach Mike Budenholzer appearing each Thursday on the midday show with Rick Kamla and John Michaels, and team CEO Steve Koonin appearing each Friday afternoon during the Dukes & Bell Show with Carl Dukes and Mike Bell.


CHARLOTTE: WFNZ The Fan has extended the contract of former Panthers lineman Frank Garcia to continue as midday co-host with Kyle Bailey.


LEXINGTON: Congrats to Darren Headrick, who has joined the University of Kentucky Sports Network Team and will handle play-by-play for baseball and women's basketball.