MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- The World Champion St. Louis Cardinals have extended their Player Development Contract with the Memphis Redbirds through the completion of the 2014 season.

"We are very pleased to have extended our relationship with the Redbirds organization and the city of Memphis for an additional two years," said John Mozeliak, Cardinals' senior vice president and general manager." The Redbirds ballclub and the Memphis fans have been tremendous supporters of the Cardinals organization for many years. AutoZone Park is considered to be among the finest ballparks in the country and we feel that there is no better place to develop Cardinals players who are one level away from reaching St. Louis and the Major Leagues."

Memphis has been the Triple-A affiliate of the Cardinals since the inception of the Redbirds in 1998. In that time, Memphis has been Pacific Coast League Champions twice (2000, 2009). They began playing at their current home, AutoZone Park, in 2000. The current Cardinals 40-man roster includes 32 players who have spent significant on the Memphis Redbirds roster in their career.

"We are excited to extend the affiliation agreement with the St. Louis Cardinals. Memphis has been and always will be Cardinals Country," said John Pontius, Memphis Redbirds Foundation treasurer. "We look forward to continuing to watch the future stars of the franchise come through AutoZone Park before their Major League careers begin."

The Redbirds start their 2013 campaign on Thursday, April 4th at AutoZone Park.

Global Spectrum (global-spectrum.com) manages the Memphis Redbirds, as well as nearly 100 other public assembly facilities around the world. Nearly 20 million people attended more than 11,000 events in Global Spectrum venues last year. Based in Philadelphia, Pa., Global Spectrum is part of Comcast-Spectacor, one of the world's largest sports and entertainment companies. Comcast-Spectacor also owns the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League; Ovations Food Services, a food and beverage services provider; New Era Tickets, a full-service ticketing and marketing product for public assembly facilities; Paciolan, the leading provider of venue establishment ticketing, fundraising and marketing technology solutions; Front Row Marketing Services, a commercial rights sales company; and Flyers Skate Zone, a series of community ice skating rinks. In a partnership with Disson Skating, Comcast-Spectacor annually produces eight nationally televised figure skating spectaculars on NBC-TV.