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St. Louis Cardinals batting helmet.
The current state of MLB television rights is a mess, and the St. Louis Cardinals could end up being one of the teams hit the hardest by it.
On Monday, Feb. 2, the Cardinals were one of six teams to officially move away from their regional sports network, Main Street Sports, and partner directly with Major League Baseball for game production moving forward.
“The Milwaukee Brewers, Miami Marlins, Kansas City Royals, St. Louis Cardinals, Cincinnati Reds and Tampa Bay Rays have decided they will partner with MLB, which will produce their games for the 2026 season and beyond, as first reported by Puck’s John Ourand,” ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez reported.
For the Cardinals, the concern is what that shift means financially.
A revenue drop was already expected once the Bally Sports situation collapsed, but the numbers being floated now suggest it could be even worse than many originally believed.
“The #STLCards new TV deal with MLB is expected to net them around $20 million, which is a $40 million drop from the $60 million they expected to get from FanDuel,” Redbird Rants’ Josh Jacobs posted on X. “And that deal with FanDuel was a $15 million drop from their contract with Bally Sports, which was $75 million.”
The #STLCards new TV deal with MLB is expected to net them around $20 million, which is a $40 million drop from the $60 million they expected to get from FanDuel.
And that deal with FanDuel was a $15 million drop from their contract with Bally Sports, which was $75 million.
No matter how you slice it, that’s a major chunk of revenue potentially disappearing from a franchise that has long operated like a big-market staple — even if St. Louis isn’t technically one of MLB’s biggest markets.
Why Did This Happen to the Cardinals?
The Cardinals’ situation traces back to the mess involving Diamond Sports Group, the parent company of Bally Sports.
After the 2023 season, Diamond filed for bankruptcy, creating major uncertainty for teams across MLB. It wasn’t just about how much money clubs would actually receive — it was also about how fans would even be able to access local broadcasts.
St. Louis eventually pivoted toward Main Street Sports Group, with games expected to air through FanDuel Sports Network. But that partnership didn’t provide the long-term stability the organization was hoping for, and the Cardinals now appear to be heading in a different direction.
“They ultimately landed with Major League Baseball, a move that could signal what the future of television partnerships will end up looking like for most of, if not all of, Major League Baseball,” Jacobs wrote. “This is going to be one of the hot topics of this next collective bargaining agreement, as the disparity between big markets like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees continues to widen from even flagship franchises like the Cardinals.”
Cardinals Facing Trouble On and Off the Field
The last three seasons have been rough for the Cardinals not only off the field, but on it as well.
After winning the NL Central in 2022, St. Louis has finished fifth, second and fourth over the last three seasons, missing the playoffs each year.
That kind of stretch hasn’t been the norm for the franchise. Since 2000, the Cardinals have won two World Series titles and only missed the postseason seven times. During that same span, they had finished fourth or worse just once.
Unfortunately, it may not be turning around anytime soon. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden gave St. Louis a B grade for its offseason moves, but he still projected the Cardinals to finish fifth in the NL Central in 2026.
Shane Shoemaker Shane Shoemaker is a sports journalist covering college football and the NFL for Heavy.com. His work has also appeared in The Sporting News, Athlon Sports, USA TODAY, and ClutchPoints, along with high school sports coverage for the Marion Tribune. More about Shane Shoemaker
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