For the first time since moving from Montreal, the Washington Nationals will have the opportunity to take their broadcasting rights to the open market next year.
MASN, the network they’ve been forced to call home since 2005, would like the Major League Baseball franchise to consider sticking with them (and the Baltimore Orioles) instead.
According to the Baltimore Sun, Orioles President of Business Operations Catie Griggs said that MASN and the Nationals have “begun talks over whether the Nats will continue to share a television network” with the Orioles.
When the Nats moved to Washington, D.C., then-Orioles owner Peter Angelos was unhappy with the arrival of a new MLB team in a market so close to his. MLB and Angelos struck the deal to create MASN and gave control of the Nationals’ television broadcasting rights to the RSN. Nationals fans were often frustrated by a sense that MASN, which is majority-owned by the Orioles, favored that club over theirs. When Washington was displeased with a league-mandated decision on the team’s revenue share, they took MASN to court for a protracted legal battle over fees.
Recently, the Orioles were ordered by a court to pay over $300 million to the Nationals in fair market value disputes stemming from the arrangement for the years 2022-2026; the third such decision the courts have levied on the club since 2019.
In March, MLB announced that Nationals games would air on MASN under terms of a new agreement after which they would be able to sell their rights to the highest bidder. While the assumption has been that Ted Leonsis’ Monumental Sports Network would be the front-runner to land them, MASN has been making it clear ever since that they’d like to keep the Nationals around.
Per the Sun, Griggs said that discussions between MASN and the Nationals began in early July. Of course, MASN will want to keep the Nationals in-house, even at a much steeper price, as their departure would diminish the appeal and value of their network.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.