Bally Sports Midwest owner may not broadcast Cardinals games in 2025

Could the Bally Sports Midwest saga finally be at its end? In a court filing Wednesday, Bally’s parent company Diamond Sports said it won’t broadcast games for 11 of the MLB teams with which it held contracts for 2025–and the Cardinals are included on that list.

What does it mean for the Cardinals? Are they ready to handle their own broadcasts? What does it mean for fans? Will blackouts come to an end as a result of this? A lot of questions are still unanswered but Wednesday’s news could be good news for accessibility in the long run.

In the short-term, there could be payroll implications with the guaranteed revenue stream from the Bally contract evaporating–but then again, the Cardinals were already lowering payroll for 2025 before this news.

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23 comments

  2. I am a die hard Cardinal fan and watch almost every game but I would never pay $40-50 a month to watch the games. You could pay for Netflix, Max, Disney+, and Paramount+ for that!!!

  3. Mo and DeWitt,
    I’ll subscribe to this app in the future as soon as the major league payroll increases by whatever amount you’re about to slash it. Who’s with me? Money isn’t everything but it does show that an ownership is REALLY committed to winning.

  5. I currently watch the games free by logging in to "one of those" sites (offshore, I guess). No way would I pay for what the Cardinals have offered on the field this past year. And even the free games I stopped watching in August. Next year? After hearing that comical and infuriating press conference, I wouldn't pay $20 a month for Cardinal games.

  6. What’s interesting about the Cardinals doing it directly is they could offer incentives others can’t. $50 a month and get two free tickets a month? Subscribers get discounts at concession stands? Sky is the limit.

  7. 1st off this is a good thing in long run. I do not think it will be $50 a month. I’m thinking about half that. The monthly fee would probably bring in more than what they were getting from Ballys. I don’t think 1 million subscribers would be out of the question. Plus selling advertising on the channel would be substantial. Also they can maybe work a deal out with the Blues for their games. However this will be complicated and frustrating for older fans like my 91yr dad. For me this would definitely give me incentive to drop direct tv.

  12. I live around Des Moines Iowa from 2008-2011 and that whole area is loaded with die hard Cardinals fans that watch the games every night, back then Fox Sports Midwest carried the games on cable and it's price was decent

  13. The Blackhawks, Bulls and Sox will be available for free on CHSN on over the air TV starting tonight. They will be broadcasting in several states. So perhaps the other MLB teams will do the same. I am getting it with my antenna on local tv in South Bend.

  15. Make it simple let all fans have a good option to watch their team at a affordable price. MLB needs to be careful people are tired of the games. There are many options people can do with their money and free time look how attendance dropped off the end of the year.

  16. (Kind of random here)Idk why but I dont trust Dewitt jr to take over for Dewitt 3 at all I don’t think I have ever liked any answer to any question he is given and doesn’t seem that interested in baseball just profit margin again this is all just a feeling I get when he talks….does anyone else get that feeling

  18. I hope the Cardinals get to offer direct-to-consumer streaming next year. I’d subscribe! I’m in Oklahoma, 420 miles from Busch Stadium, and I can never watch the Cardinals. Or the Royals, Astros or Rangers. But I don’t want to watch those three teams. I want to watch the Cardinals. But because Oklahoma touches a small part of Southwest Missouri, I’m blacked-out from everything. Even when MLB-TV offers their rare “everything is free” promotions….. I can’t watch the Cardinals. Baseball does a great job of alienating its fans, or,should I say, a terrible job of cultivating new and existing fans who can’t watch their favorite teams because of these ridiculous blackout rules.

  19. The Dewitt's are Charlatan's and SNAKE-OIL SALESMEN at the highest level. I wish they would sell the damn team. The radio will be just fine for me and clips on line. So ridiculous with a shi$#% product. The Cardinals can keep it!

  23. Hopefully this is the beginning of the end of the blackout restrictions. I have the subscription to MLB TV, which allows access to any TV and radio feed of any team in any regular season game plus archives. Blackout restrictions — for the TV side only — are enforced by billing zip code. Since I am not a resident of the extended St. Louis media market (and no longer a satellite or cable customer), MLB TV is my access to the Cardinals on television. Since my zip code is in Texas, the Astros and Rangers games are blacked out on the TV side, so those six games plus ESPN Sunday Night Baseball appearances are the Cardinals' games I can't see live. This development just reminds us that we are now in more of a streaming world and it's time to phase out the blackout restrictions.

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