New partnership gives KARE rights to preseason games

The Vikings have a new television home for their preseason games, as well as two shows that are produced by the franchise.

"Vikings Weekly" and "Vikings GamePlan" will be aired on KARE (Ch. 11) beginning this season and expand from 17 to 27 weeks as part of a two-year agreement with the Twin Cities NBC affiliate. Those two 30-minute shows previously aired on FOX9.

KSTP (Ch. 5) had been the home of Vikings' preseason telecasts since 1999.

The agreement means KARE will have the rights to all four preseason games this year. The Vikings' game Sept. 22 at San Francisco will be carried nationally by NBC. The games that will be produced by the Vikings for KARE will be Aug. 14 at St. Louis, Aug. 28 vs. Seattle and Sept. 2 vs. Denver.

Announcers Ari Wolfe and Mike Mayock will continue to handle those telecasts, aired in high definition.

Steve LaCroix, the Vikings' chief marketing officer, said having one station carry the games and the weekly shows made the most sense.

"It seemed to be the right combination," LaCroix said. "The other interested parties, FOX9 and KSTP, were pursuing the shows and games as well, so it just seemed to be that's the direction we wanted to go and it seemed like the stations wanted to go in that direction as well. ... KARE was very aggressive in its pursuit and, financially, it was a more lucrative offer for us."

LaCroix feels getting the additional weeks of "Vikings Weekly" and "Vikings GamePlan" cleared on the team's over-the-air partner was important. Fox Sports North aired "Vikings Weekly" year-round. Remes said "Vikings GamePlan" will air at 10:30 on Sunday mornings when the season starts, but that a day needs to be set for "Vikings Weekly."

"The additional weeks for the shows going from 17 to 27 weeks [on over-the-air] takes us from training camp opening through the end of the NFL season," LaCroix said. "Whether the Vikings are still playing postseason or not, we're going to ride the full NFL window [with the shows]."

The agreement with KARE does not mean Fox Sports North is out of the picture, according to LaCroix. The contract with the Vikings and FSN North -- which included all-sports network's production assistance on the preseason games that had aired on KSTP -- is up this summer. Those talks will heat up soon as the Vikings look for the best fit for production of their preseason games and shows.

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