"MLB sources said the St. Louis Cardinals -- who did not receive their December rights fee payment -- have already informed Main Street they are opting out barring a lucrative 11th hour “final, final offer.”
"
"sources said the Rays were the one MLB team to receive their 2026 Main Street rights fee payment on time -- purportedly because the Tampa market has older demographics and higher cable TV ratings."
Unless the Cardinals start their own network (possible), the most likely route is the Arizona/SD/MIN model where MLB.tv produces a feed that stays on cable/Satellite, and also is available in market as part of MLB.tv
The Cards and Blues airing a handful of games on Matrix Midwest last year may have been testing the waters for their own network. And I'm all for it. Hopefully it stays OTA.
Just saw an article from The Athletic that said that mlb.tv being on ESPN’s DTC service might not fully happen until the 2027 season, assuming we don’t have a devastating lockout that actually causes the season to be cancelled…
Same reason as it did before, they got a lot of their money from cable companies / DirecTV and the pseudo cable streaming sites like YoutubeTV and Fubo, but people increasingly don't want those expensive package deals, streaming or cable. And direct to consumer streaming isn't as profitable.
I'm slow (in a lot of ways), but at our house we just went from cable to streaming. We have YoutubeTV, HBO Max, Hulu, and Netflix, and our bill dropped from over 300 a month to less than 150, and we have a lot more stuff to choose from. I still can't watch Cards games, because where I live in southeastern Arkansas is considered part of the Cardinals territory. I also am considered part of Astros territory. I could subscribe to MLB's package and watch all the games I want, except, y'know, the games I want to watch.
Here in Russellville and the FDSN direct streaming package was great this year. My guess would be if MLB took over there would be a non-blackout package for the Cardinals that you could buy for around $100/mo. That's what they did with the Twins, Padres, etc.
No. You can purchase a subscription on the Amazon Prime website. I think it’s $20/month. I live just over the river from St. Louis in Illinois. Also, check the FSDN website. There’s a way to plug in your zip code and you can find out what games you will get.
The very short answer is that 5 or so years ago, the general consensus was that 'ok, so, no one is watching linear TV anymore, everyone binges 6 episodes in a row of a show at a time' etc. etc. BUT, they also thought that sports was the one last thing that was un-DVR-able. As in, yeah, perhaps one can like, stay off the social media for a day or two until they can binge all the episodes of the new season of their show, but who all is going to be able to avoid knowing the Cards score? Or the Blues scores? Or etc.
So, the value of all these sports contracts was grossly overinflated, and when many of these RSNs where part of Fox before The Mouse bought them out, it would appear Fox was subsidizing them more than maybe were ever let on.
Turns out, a lot of people CAN go without watching a team live. Turns out, the NFL is just about the only league that can truly get away with must-see-TV status today which they are pushing with all the various games on different services now (will be damned interesting to see how those all did when the season is up).
I think in hindsight, this actually was discoverable. One really only needed to look at ESPN's SportsCenter ratings over the years and just note that it just isn't as big of a thing as it was 10, 15, 20 years ago. I think big, big picture, it is a cultural shift toward more video gaming for entertainment and TikTokking. Sports is ripe for making TikToks, but the number of people for whom all they want is to watch 45 seconds of sports highlights on TikTok is huge and I think most of them do not turn in to fans of the sport willing to watch 2 to 3 hrs of a full game.
After Sinclair bought the old Fox regionals they placed all of the acquisition debt into the new entity they spun off which in turn created a challenge for Diamond Sports (now Main Street Sports) to dig itself out of.
Cord cutting has killed it. The RSN model depends on carriage fees, which is money from subscribers every month. There are 35-40% fewer cable subscribers than there were in 2019. So that’s 35-40% of their revenue gone. Sinclair also over-leveraged the deal to buy these RSNs. And the final nail in the coffin is that streaming offerings aren’t profitable enough make up the difference.
The whole model was sick and anyone with any sense of the media landscape knew the end was coming. I have no idea how anyone thought it was a good idea years ago, let alone the apparent bidding war that existed for them.
It's looking more and more likely that the Cardinals will be on a new television home for 2026.
"MLB sources said the St. Louis Cardinals -- who did not receive their December rights fee payment -- have already informed Main Street they are opting out barring a lucrative 11th hour “final, final offer.” "
https://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/2026/01/07/sources-main-street-hints-at-talks-with-second-bidder/
"sources said the Rays were the one MLB team to receive their 2026 Main Street rights fee payment on time -- purportedly because the Tampa market has older demographics and higher cable TV ratings."
Just put it on MLB. I’ll pay for all the baseball in one place.
Mlb just sold their rights to ESPN so im not sure its going to be as good as MLB has been
For clarity, i mean the rights for MLB TV and other franchises that MLB was producing
Yeah, I know. I just really hate how all of the broadcasts are split up.
Unless the Cardinals start their own network (possible), the most likely route is the Arizona/SD/MIN model where MLB.tv produces a feed that stays on cable/Satellite, and also is available in market as part of MLB.tv
The Cards and Blues airing a handful of games on Matrix Midwest last year may have been testing the waters for their own network. And I'm all for it. Hopefully it stays OTA.
Just saw an article from The Athletic that said that mlb.tv being on ESPN’s DTC service might not fully happen until the 2027 season, assuming we don’t have a devastating lockout that actually causes the season to be cancelled…
Will half the games be blacked out?
How the fxck does a network sponsored by a gambling company not have any money?
They don't own the network, just the naming rights.
You're allowed to say fuck on the internet
No the fxck police are after me, I can't risk it
Same reason as it did before, they got a lot of their money from cable companies / DirecTV and the pseudo cable streaming sites like YoutubeTV and Fubo, but people increasingly don't want those expensive package deals, streaming or cable. And direct to consumer streaming isn't as profitable.
I'm slow (in a lot of ways), but at our house we just went from cable to streaming. We have YoutubeTV, HBO Max, Hulu, and Netflix, and our bill dropped from over 300 a month to less than 150, and we have a lot more stuff to choose from. I still can't watch Cards games, because where I live in southeastern Arkansas is considered part of the Cardinals territory. I also am considered part of Astros territory. I could subscribe to MLB's package and watch all the games I want, except, y'know, the games I want to watch.
Here in Russellville and the FDSN direct streaming package was great this year. My guess would be if MLB took over there would be a non-blackout package for the Cardinals that you could buy for around $100/mo. That's what they did with the Twins, Padres, etc.
I’m in Tulsa and have FUBO, $80 and I get Cards, Astros, Rangers, and Royals broadcasts.
I got FSDN through Amazon. Same price.
You mean it's included as part of your Amazon Prime subscription? Where do you live? Are you in the blackout area?
No. You can purchase a subscription on the Amazon Prime website. I think it’s $20/month. I live just over the river from St. Louis in Illinois. Also, check the FSDN website. There’s a way to plug in your zip code and you can find out what games you will get.
Okay, thanks!
Btw u didn’t account the lifeblood of streaming which is broadband so it might be north of $200
The very short answer is that 5 or so years ago, the general consensus was that 'ok, so, no one is watching linear TV anymore, everyone binges 6 episodes in a row of a show at a time' etc. etc. BUT, they also thought that sports was the one last thing that was un-DVR-able. As in, yeah, perhaps one can like, stay off the social media for a day or two until they can binge all the episodes of the new season of their show, but who all is going to be able to avoid knowing the Cards score? Or the Blues scores? Or etc.
So, the value of all these sports contracts was grossly overinflated, and when many of these RSNs where part of Fox before The Mouse bought them out, it would appear Fox was subsidizing them more than maybe were ever let on.
Turns out, a lot of people CAN go without watching a team live. Turns out, the NFL is just about the only league that can truly get away with must-see-TV status today which they are pushing with all the various games on different services now (will be damned interesting to see how those all did when the season is up).
I think in hindsight, this actually was discoverable. One really only needed to look at ESPN's SportsCenter ratings over the years and just note that it just isn't as big of a thing as it was 10, 15, 20 years ago. I think big, big picture, it is a cultural shift toward more video gaming for entertainment and TikTokking. Sports is ripe for making TikToks, but the number of people for whom all they want is to watch 45 seconds of sports highlights on TikTok is huge and I think most of them do not turn in to fans of the sport willing to watch 2 to 3 hrs of a full game.
After Sinclair bought the old Fox regionals they placed all of the acquisition debt into the new entity they spun off which in turn created a challenge for Diamond Sports (now Main Street Sports) to dig itself out of.
The death of the RSN is almost completed
Really seems like the RSN model is doing well.
Cord cutting has killed it. The RSN model depends on carriage fees, which is money from subscribers every month. There are 35-40% fewer cable subscribers than there were in 2019. So that’s 35-40% of their revenue gone. Sinclair also over-leveraged the deal to buy these RSNs. And the final nail in the coffin is that streaming offerings aren’t profitable enough make up the difference.
The whole model was sick and anyone with any sense of the media landscape knew the end was coming. I have no idea how anyone thought it was a good idea years ago, let alone the apparent bidding war that existed for them.
I sure wish we could have more games on Matrix Midwest. . .If anyone's listening.
[deleted]
The Cardinals are committed to a DTC option available everywhere in the territory wherever the broadcast lands.
Try Unlocator dns if you have MLB TV
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