Fresh off an MLB season in which its RSNs averaged 1.5 million viewers per night, Main Street Sports Group has inked media rights renewals with the Milwaukee Brewers, Cincinnati Reds and Kansas City Royals.
In exercising the options to extend their in-market deals with the owner/operator of the FanDuel Sports Network-branded RSNs, the three clubs have given Main Street a vote of confidence—one that ensures the company will begin the 2026 MLB campaign with the same roster that suited up for this past season.
The renewals arrive in the wake of a local-TV ratings boom, as FDSN enjoyed an 18% improvement in MLB deliveries over the course of the regular season. The overall audience gains coincided with a 101% uptick in streaming impressions, as more than 2.5 billion minutes of live action were consumed by fans in Main Street’s nine local baseball markets.
The Brewers, which finished an MLB-best 97-65 this past season, were Main Street’s biggest draws in 2025, as their RSN put up baseball’s second highest local-market ratings, trailing only the Phillies’ showing on NBC Sports Philadelphia. Among Milwaukee’s highest-rated telecasts was the latter half of an Aug. 19 Brewers-Cubs doubleheader, which averaged over 110,000 households on FDSN Wisconsin—a figure that represents 12% of the market’s TV homes.
The Brewers’ success was particularly gratifying for Main Street, as the franchise’s local ratings effectively ratified an earlier decision to remain in the RSN pool. After having announced its intentions last fall to quit the model for a spot under the MLB Media umbrella, Milwaukee backtracked on its decision, signing a one-year deal with Main Street in January.
“This past season’s surge in viewership is a reflection of our fans’ passion and the growing accessibility of Brewers baseball,” Brewers president of business operations Rick Schlesinger said in a statement. While cord-cutting continues to erode the national pay-TV base, local sports has managed to offset any losses in linear reach with a rapidly expanding streaming audience. Fans this past season streamed more than 400 million minutes of Brewers games, good for a year-over-year gain of over 30%.
The Brew Crew’s streaming boost was in keeping with the rest of Main Street’s MLB portfolio, which also includes the Atlanta Braves, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Miami Marlins, St. Louis Cardinals and Tampa Bay Rays. More than 900,000 unique users tuned in to Brewers games through the FDSN app, with total streaming up nearly 70% compared to 2024.
Main Street’s MLB renewals follow last month’s extensions with the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild. Representatives from the teams that have re-upped with their legacy RSNs within the last several weeks cited overall accessibility and the unique proposition afforded by a local media partnership as the primary factors in their respective renewals.
The nimbleness with which Main Street has rolled out its direct-to-consumer platform has gone a long way toward ensuring that younger fans aren’t being shut out of the action as the traditional pay-TV bundle continues to shrink. Main Street says it remains on pace to sign on 1 million DTC subscribers at year’s end, a tally that would mark a considerable gain over the 650,000 customers that were onboard when the company issued its latest head count in early May.
