Brewers Telecasts Officially Taken Over By Major League Baseball

[Steve Drumwright]

Image courtesy of © Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The death spiral of Main Street Sports Group took its biggest fall of a brutal last couple of years Monday when the Milwaukee Brewers and five other MLB teams officially said they were no longer going to have their games telecast on FanDuel Sports Network.

The Brewers were joined by the Cincinnati Reds, Kansas City Royals, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals, and Tampa Bay Rays in completely ditching Main Street. MLB will take over the telecasts of those teams, as it already has for seven others. The three still hoping for a Main Street miracle regarding their regional sports network are Atlanta, the Detroit Tigers, and the Los Angeles Angels.

 

 

 

 

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Main Street, formerly Diamond Sports Group, restructured under Chapter 11 bankruptcy for 20 months and emerged about a year ago, hoping the new structure would last. But Main Street missed payments to multiple teams across its portfolio of MLB, NBA, and NHL clubs in recent months; the Brewers were among nine MLB teams to announce last month that they were terminating their deals. Shortly thereafter, there was some renewed hope that Main Street could continue as it searched for a potential buyer — DAZN was one of the rumored suitors — but that appears to have fizzled out.

The timing is also important, as teams are less than two weeks from pitchers and catchers reporting to spring training, with the first exhibition games shortly thereafter. For the Crew, the report dates are February 12 for pitchers and catchers and February 17 for position players. The first Cactus League game is Feb. 21.

How does that affect how fans can watch the Brewers?

For in-market games, which include most of Wisconsin and include all home and road games during the regular season not on a national outlet, you will still be able to watch the Crew on your cable or satellite provider, as well as streaming through MLB.tv. But those games will be a separate package, likely priced at $19.99 per month or $99 for the entire season (the better deal), from a typical MLB.tv package. The Brewers said those packages will go on sale this month.

Instead of FanDuel Sports Network, you will see the branding of Brewers.tv. On cable and satellite, that will also likely mean new channel locations. The TV announcing teams will remain the same, with Brian Anderson, Bill Schroeder, and Sophia Minnaert leading the way. The announcers are hired by the team.

Main Street continues to provide TV coverage of its NBA and NHL teams through the end of the current season, but what happens after that is unclear.

Main Street offered a reduced rate to continue carrying the nine MLB teams, with the Reds offered $42 million, down from $52 million, according to The Athletic. The Brewers were reportedly getting $35 million in regional sports network fees. Teams that lost their RSN (FanDuel Sports Network) received about 50% of what they did with their previous deals.

Before this latest announcement, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cleveland Guardians, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Seattle Mariners, and Washington Nationals were slated to be carried by MLB in 2026. Some teams have faced this situation for a couple of years, with the Nationals just recently joining the fray after a dispute with the Baltimore Orioles was resolved. That brings the number of clubs whose television rights are being taken over by MLB to 13.

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