The dispute between the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals regarding rights fees MASN owes to the Nationals has dragged on for years now. We first wrote about it in 2014 (!). We last wrote about the dispute in 2020, though it still hasn’t been adequately resolved. Since the pandemic, MASN has slashed costs, dropping on-air talent from both Orioles and Nationals coverage, cutting bumper studio programming around live games, and drawing the ire of fans by continuing with remote broadcasts at the start of 2022 (though they eventually reversed course there).
On Tuesday, Monumental Sports and Entertainment, owned by Washington Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, purchased the two-thirds of NBC Sports Washington that the company didn’t already own. Soon after, the Washington Post reported that Leonsis was emerging as a potential buyer of the Nationals, whose currently ownership is exploring a sale of the team.
That’s where MASN comes into play, as the Post reports that any buyer of the Nationals would have to deal with the MASN situation.
How Monumental’s media pursuits dovetail with Ted Leonsis’s interest in the Nationals remains to be seen. The Mid-Atlantic Sports Network owns the television broadcast rights for the Baltimore Orioles and Nationals. The network has been an enduring point of contention between the franchises, leading to a decades-long legal dispute about rights fees. The network is controlled by the Orioles as part of an accord reached between Major League Baseball and the Angelos family, which owns the Orioles, when the Nationals relocated to the District.
Any would-be owner of the Nationals would have to reach a deal with the Orioles to gain control of the Nationals’ local television rights.
The Talk Nats blog shared a similar rumor on Wednesday morning, saying that Leonsis could buy out the Nationals’ rights deal with MASN.
Source: Leonsis/Monumental will now try to buy-out the #Nats portion of the TV rights from MASN. MLB tried to broker this before and it didn't work. Could Angelos get it done? Who knows. It would give O's immediate cashflow to be a big player in free agency. Smart for both sides.
— Talk Nats (@TalkNats) August 24, 2022
In June, the Post also discussed the MASN fiasco, reporting that the situation with the rights fees could be a factor in the sale.
“I don’t think you’d be able to close on a sale without a resolution one way or another [on MASN],” said Robert Malandro, a managing partner at Whitecap Sports Group, an investment bank that has consulted with major league teams on sales. “If someone is going to spend $2 billion, I would think they would need some certainty on the media rights.”
That could be in the works, according to two people with knowledge of the MASN agreement, who said they believe there will be an attempt to settle the dispute as an investment bank hired by the Lerners explores a sale.
The MASN agreement between the Orioles and Nationals will also continue, despite a possible Nationals sale.
“In the event that either the Orioles, the Nationals, or the RSN [regional sports network] are sold …” the agreement reads, “all subsequent purchaser(s), assignees or transferees shall be unconditionally bound to all terms and conditions of this Agreement.” The meeting summary refers to the length of the deal as “in perpetuity.”
In a joint statement to The Washington Post, MASN and the Orioles reaffirmed their position that the agreement is necessary and firmly in place.
“The adverse effects that MLB’s decision to relocate the Expos to Washington inflicted on Baltimore, the state of Maryland, and the Orioles will continue indefinitely so long as the Nationals play in Washington,” the statement reads. “Accordingly, under the 2005 MLB-Orioles Settlement Agreement, MASN’s exclusive ownership of both the Orioles’ and the Nationals’ telecast rights throughout the Orioles’ Exclusive Home Television Territory continues in perpetuity, regardless of who the owners are of each Club.”
Needless to say, this is still a pretty sloppy situation.
Leonsis would be in a great position to immediately give the Nationals a comfortable landing if a buyer does get the MASN situation resolved, with Monumental now owning NBC Sports Washington, the other RSN in the DC area. The Monumental Network, which is Monumental’s streaming platform, also allows for a potential direct to consumer offering for the Nationals, as it may with the Capitals and Wizards. And if Leonsis ends up as the buyer of the Nationals with the MASN situation resolved, he and Monumental would be in a great position in the DC sports market.
