The MLB Cardinals' new 15-year rights deal with FS Midwest "should boost" the team's value by $200M to $1.6B, according to Brian Feldt of the ST. LOUIS BUSINESS JOURNAL. The deal -- worth roughly $1B over the length of the deal that begins in '18 -- is the "eighth most lucrative TV contract" in MLB. The Cardinals will bring in approximately $67M "annually on average during the course of this year, though a specific breakdown was not outlined." The deal will let the Cardinals "invest more both on and off the field, including in Ballpark Village, which brought in" an estimated $25.1M in revenue in '14. By '40, officials "expect Ballpark Village to bring in" more than $86.6M in revenue (BIZJOURNALS.com, 7/30).
ISLANDS IN THE STREAM? Cardinals Chair & CEO Bill DeWitt Jr. on Thursday when announcing the new FS Midwest deal said it is MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred's "goal to change" the league's policy for in-market streaming of games. There currently is "no allowance in baseball's broadcast rights structure" for in-market streaming. DeWitt said, "That’s one initiative that Commissioner Manfred is on in a big way. I feel confident that sooner rather than later there will be in-market streaming -- meaning if you have cable in your house in Cardinals territory and you have a tablet that you can watch that game on that tablet. Right now, you can watch all the other teams but not your team, just to protect the rights." Goold notes what the new FS Midwest deal "had to allow for is what happens when cable is not the only way fans watch the game." Goold: "What happens with it’s no [longer] the most prominent way fans watch the game? When in-market streaming begins, there’s revenue to share." The idea is that in-market streaming "is on the horizon." DeWitt: “That’s something we want to see in the near future. Who knows down the road how games will be delivered, whether it’s streamed primarily in tablet form or a convergence of TV and tablet. Doing a long-term deal with Fox -- they’re going to be on top of the market and we’ll be at the forefront as they will be" (ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH, 7/31).
