DeFying the Norm: St. Louis Cardinals president DeWitt helping team transcend market expectations

There's been plenty of success on the field to justify the assertion that the St. Louis Cardinals are in the midst of a golden era, but the business side is also indicative of a flourishing franchise.

The Cardinals struck a new local television deal in July with Fox Sports Midwest, one that's worth more than $1 billion over a 15-year period (2018-2032). The deal is five times more than the Cardinals' current 11-year deal, and the team also gained a 30 percent equity stake in Fox Sports Midwest.

Incoming St. Louis Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III, right, listens as his father and team owner Bill DeWitt Jr. addresses the media during a news conference to announce Mark Lamping's departure as president, Friday, March 14, 2008, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

St. Louis is the eighth smallest market in the majors but has more local fans than any other team, a distinction the franchise has had for four consecutive seasons and the 11th time in the last 15 years. The Cardinals were second in home attendance last season, averaging 43,467 fans per game -- the Los Angeles Dodgers were first with 46,479.

Team President Bill DeWitt III believes it's all the result of a smaller market flexing its muscles and acting bigger than what it really is. In particular, there's a nonexclusive territory that Cardinals nation reaches. In some cases, it stretches as far as 300 miles outside of the St. Louis area.

"We view it as very important to our market and to our fan base, [with] Fox Sports Midwest territory and the radio rights as well," DeWitt said. "The KMOX affiliate territory is in 10 states. There are 10 states that carry Cardinal games on the radio side and just a few less states on the TV side, so we feel like these outer markets -- and Cape is one that we view as very important -- are key to our ongoing advantage in acting bigger than we are because those fans in those markets travel into St. Louis on the weekends and stay in our hotels and go to Cardinal games and watch our broadcasts."

The real money in St. Louis' new television deal comes from the increase in rights fees. The first-year rights fee will begin around $50 million and is estimated to max out at around $86 million in its final year, increasing with a single-digit annual escalator.

DeWitt believes timing was one of the key components to the tremendous nature of the deal.

"We like what Fox brings to the table," DeWitt said. "We've been partners with them for a long time, but having some upside on the ownership of the network was important to us as well. So we've been able to do that in this new deal."

The success on the field is also closely related to what the team has been able to accomplish on the business side since DeWitt took over as team president in 2008. The Cardinals won 100 games in 2015, clinching their third straight National League Central championship as the winningest team in baseball, and manager Mike Matheny has guided the team to the postseason in each of his four years at the helm. Before becoming the team's president, DeWitt led the design and construction of Busch Stadium, which opened in 2006. He was also the leader in the development of Ballpark Village, a 100,000 square foot retail development district located next to the stadium.

"We're very proud of the way that the stadium and Ballpark Village all relate to one another, and certainly Fox is right in the center of that," DeWitt said. "We're proud that we're one of the only teams, or the only team, with something across the street in Cardinals Nation that has all of these things under one roof that allows us to market year-round, which is a store, museum, Hall of Fame, restaurant, seating decks for game days, etc. We're very proud of that."