The MLB Cardinals and FS Midwest are negotiating a new contract "that will be far more lucrative for the club" when it begins the '18 season, according to Derrick Goold of the ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH. The team's contract with FSM expires at the end of the '17 season, and Cardinals Chair & CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. said that the new deal "would not be an extension," but rather "a completely new deal that would start" in '18. DeWitt: "Both sides are looking for certainty and I think that’s the general trend because the TV landscape is changing. I think continuity is good. … Both sides, we and they, would like to maintain the relationship. From their standpoint they would like to have some cost certainty. And from our standpoint we would have some revenue certainty." Goold noted the negotiations "could be completed during this season," linking FS Midwest and the Cardinals "for a decade or more to come after the current deal ends." Sources said that the deal "has built-in escalators that would pay" around $30M or more "in the final years." Many similar teams "are doubling or tripling that revenue" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 3/15).
