ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinal telecasts are leaving FanDuel TV and will be produced by Major League Baseball, the team said Monday.
The decision ends a period of uncertainty as the team was impacted by the changing trends impacting the business models of regional sports networks. In recent years, the club had been working under a renegotiated agreement with FanDuel’s parent, Main Street Sports, which included reduced rights fees.
Main Street had reportedly missed a recent payment to the Cardinals, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch and the Sports Business Journal.
Team officials said last month at the Winter Warm Up that moving to the MLB-produced model would still keep game telecasts on all the platforms where they traditiionall have been–cable, streaming, satellite and reiterated that fact Monday.
The club will also offer a direct-to-consumer app.
“Our top priority is making sure that Cardinals fans can watch their team as easily as possible,” Anuk Karunaratne, Cardinals Senior Vice President of Business Operations said in a statement. “Whether you prefer cable, satellite, or streaming, you’ll have uninterrupted access to every in-market game through this new model. MLB brings world-class production capabilities, and we’re excited about what this means for the future of Cardinals broadcasts.”
Announcements about channel assignments will come later this spring, as will information about broadcast personnel. In an intervierw with KMOX on Monday, Karunaratne said the team expects no changes on the personnel side. Alexa Datt, who has previously served as a host and in-game reporter, announced last month that she’s leaving for a similar position on broadcasts for Washington Nationals games.
FanDuel continues to produce hockey telecasts for the St. Louis Blues.
“The Blues continue to work with FanDuel Sports Network, our various broadcast partners and the NHL to ensure that all Blues games are accessible to fans throughout the season,” a team spokesperson said.
“FanDuel Sports Network is continuing to broadcast NBA and NHL games, and we appreciate the leagues’ engagement in ongoing discussions on our go-forward plans,” a spokesperson for FanDuel’s parent company, Main Street Sports Group said in a statement to Spectrum News. “We appreciate the relationships we have had with our MLB partners and fans over many years, and we wish them the best.”