Cardinals anticipating two-thirds reduction in local media revenue after leaving FanDuel Sports Network

The economics of local game broadcasts are looking pretty grim for many MLB, NBA, and NHL teams.

On Wednesday, we got a sense for what that new reality looks like for at least one team. According to a report by St. Louis Cardinals beat reporter Josh Jacobs, the Cardinals are prepared to take a massive reduction in local media revenue as a result of leaving FanDuel Sports Network.

Of course, it’s not like the Cardinals, or any of the eight other teams that were affiliated with the FanDuel Sports Networks had much of a choice. Main Street Sports Group, the owner of the regional sports networks, is heading straight for insolvency. The company had not issued rights payments to any of its MLB teams in months, and there are questions about whether Main Street can even stay operational throughout the remainder of the NBA and NHL seasons.

Regardless, Main Street is almost certainly going the way of the dodo by mid-April, meaning nine MLB clubs needed to find new TV homes before the upcoming season. The Cardinals, like five other former Main Street teams, chose to link up with the league’s own media arm. And while that setup likely means more accessible broadcasts for fans in the St. Louis market, it also means a substantial loss in local broadcast revenue.

According to Jacobs, the Cardinals are expecting their local TV revenue to drop by $40 million, from $60 million last season under Main Street to just $20 million this season. Teams joining MLB’s media arm earn whatever the league can generate from ad sales and distribution deals to cable and satellite operators within the local market, minus the cost of game production. It’s an eat-what-you-kill arrangement that’s far less lucrative than the guaranteed revenue of traditional regional sports networks.

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.

— Josh Jacobs (@joshjaco98) February 4, 2026

Adding insult to injury, the Cardinals had already taken haircut to its local broadcast revenue in 2025. Per Jacobs, in 2024 the Cardinals received $75 million from Bally Sports (the predecessor to FanDuel Sports Network).

The hope for MLB clubs is this pain is temporary. Come 2028, the league is planning to centralize its local broadcast rights into one package for sale to a major streamer. The theory is that a combined product will be worth more than each team selling local rights on their own.

But for now, teams like the Cardinals will have to navigate the reality of losing $40 million in revenue they planned to have. That has a direct impact on roster construction for a team looking to breakthrough in a competitive NL Central.