The best way for the St. Louis Cardinals to recoup RSN losses and lockout uncertainty

It's no secret that the St. Louis Cardinals are faltering from a financial state. An organization that once boasted a $62.5 million annual TV deal and average fan attendance in the upper-30,000s has now seen their regional sports network crumble and attendance plummet.

According to some reports, the Cardinals could lose upwards of $20 million by switching to MLB TV subscriptions, a significant drop for an organization that relies heavily on TV income for its payroll. In-game attendance has also hit Bill DeWitt Jr.'s bottom line, thus hampering spending even more. It's fortuitous that the Cardinals are entering a rebuild at this stage in the franchise's history.

The St. Louis Cardinals can make up some financial ground by seeing heavy returns with Ballpark Village.

In a recent report by Evan Drellich of The Athletic, financial records for the Atlanta Braves were broken down. Despite having a down year on the field, the Braves still saw financial gains thanks to The Battery, a 400,000 square foot entertainment and residential space adjacent to Truist Park.

"Even with a fourth-place finish out of the playoffs last year, the Atlanta Braves grew their baseball-side revenues 7 percent, to $635 million, the team said Wednesday. Meanwhile, the club’s real-estate business surrounding its home stadium fared even better: a 45 percent jump to $97 million in 2025," writes Drellich.

The Battery was completed in 2017, and it includes a 264-room hotel, apartments, office buildings, shops, bars and restaurants.

If this sounds familiar for Cardinals' fans, they would be right.

A full three years before The Battery opened, the Cardinals cut the red tape on their own mixed-use development called Ballpark Village. BPV has grown dramatically over the last decade plus, and it now includes a luxury apartment complex, more than a dozen eateries, and indoor and outdoor entertainment spaces. It's become a central location for thousands of people throughout the year, particularly during baseball season.

The Cardinals' financial records aren't public like the Braves are, but one can assume that the better Ballpark Village does, the better the financials for the Cardinals will be.

Between crumbling RSN deals, Busch Stadium renovations, and lockout uncertainty heading into the 2027 season, The DeWitt family will have to do whatever they can to maintain fiscal fortitude. Investing heavily in Ballpark Village and marketing for the entertainment district should take precedence. Like the Braves did with The Battery, Ballpark Village could become a true goldmine for the Cardinals.

What separates Ballpark Village from The Battery is the sheer size of the two developments. Ballpark Village is only 150,000 square feet, slightly more than one-third the size of The Battery. Atlanta boasts a population somewhere around 500,000 people while St. Louis lays claim to just under 300,000 citizens. It's understandable that Ballpark Village isn't able to bring in the revenue that The Battery does.

Billionaire David Hoffmann, a Missouri native, has expressed interest in buying the Cardinals. While the DeWitt family has been adamant that the club isn't for sale, making the club as marketable as possible for both fans and potential buyers should be their goal.