Nationals, Orioles agree on distribution of past rights fees from channel
The two Major League Baseball teams along the Beltway have come to a surprisingly amicable agreement over local television rights.
The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals had long held a bitter dispute over the distribution of revenues from local broadcasting rights deals for the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network, aka MASN.
The two teams agreed with the Supreme Court of New York on the dollar amount owed to each between 2017 and 2021 as recently arbitrated by MLB. Both the Orioles and Nationals are due to receive around $305M each from those five seasons. The last time the teams went head to head over this distribution, it took over a decade for them - with MLB's prodding - to come to a settlement.
On Sunday, Front Office Sports' Eric Fisher noted that the two teams have been in a prolonged fight over money since the Nationals arrived in the region, leading to the embittered establishment of MASN:
"The MASN situation has long been one of MLB’s thorniest issues, with the Nationals arguing they had been receiving below-market rights fees, while the Orioles and MASN contended that network profitability and long-term survival were at risk. The creation of MASN — and the requirement to review rights fees payments due to the Nationals every five years — stemmed from a still-active MLB settlement with Orioles owner Peter Angelos following the Montreal Expos’ 2004 relocation to become the Nationals."
Having two teams on its airwaves may be the primary reason why MASN hasn't been hit as hard by the same issues of other regional sports channels around the country such as Diamond Sports Group's Bally Sports channels and those formerly under Warner Bros. Discovery. Cord-cutting has impacted all of television as consumers have cited the high costs of sports channels, but mismanagement of channels run by the larger companies has sped up their apparent demise. MASN itself has not been in danger of shuttering but the dispute between the two clubs appears to have greatly impacted the Nationals' worth on the open market.
Ted Lerner, the real estate magnate who purchased the former Montreal Expos and relocated the franchise to D.C., died in February. Shortly after, the Lerner family announced that it was considering selling the team, and Ted Leonsis reportedly made an offer to buy the club for $2B this past spring.
There's an ongoing debate over whether the Lerners actually sell the team, especially after they announced a pause on the decision back in late March, not too long after putting it on the block. With the revenue split over MASN gaining long-needed clarity, the next tabulation for the 2022 through 2026 seasons could at least raise the floor when it comes to the Nationals' value.
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