The document discusses the television rights agreement between the Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals who share the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. It notes that while the Orioles and Nationals have to share the regional sports network MASN, unlike the Yankees and Mets they do not have separate TV deals. The document outlines the history of the agreement where the Orioles assumed majority ownership but were supposed to pay the Nationals a fair market rate starting in 2011. However, the two teams now disagree on what constitutes a fair market value, with hundreds of millions of dollars at stake in a current legal dispute as they both hope to host future All-Star games.

1. MASN and a New TV Deal
Paul Brandley

2. Since 2005, the Baltimore Orioles have had
to share a general metropolitan area with
the Washington Nationals, formerly the
Montreal Expos. Baseball-wise, it doesn’t
pose much of a problem. The Expos
became the Nationals and joined the NL
East Division, avoiding having two teams in
the same city vie for the same pennant. It’s
just like the New York Yankees and Mets,
except for one thing:

3. The Yankees and Mets have their own
individual TV deals

4. • In 2005, the Expos moved into the Baltimore-Washington
DC metro area, which was until then the exclusive
broadcast area of the Baltimore Orioles, as per the deal first
reached in 1972
• With the move, it became necessary for the Nationals to
have access to TV broadcast, and a settlement was
reached to make the Baltimore Orioles and Washington
Nationals co-owners
• Because of their previous establishment, the Baltimore
Orioles assumed a majority interest in MASN and pay the
Nationals a fixed amount (between $20-29 million per year)
• This agreement was put into place until 2011, when the
Nationals were supposed to start receiving payment
commensurate with fair market value

5. The second problem then arises: the two
teams disagree on what constitutes “fair
market value”

6. • After they presented the case to the MLB’s Revenue
Sharing Definitions committee last year, the panel
decided that the Nationals were owed somewhere
around $300 million for seasons between 2012-
2016
• However, the holding company for MASN disagreed
with amount and wound up suing the Nationals and
the MLB for “abuses and deficiencies” in the
arbitration, including the fact that the law firm
representing the Nationals also represents the MLB
and all three teams represented by the arbitration
panel

7. • With a court date scheduled for May 18 in the New
York Supreme Court, both sides have a lot of
money at stake
• Fortunately, new MLB commissioner Rob Manfred
has said “I think in reasonably short order, there will
be a resolution of MASN, either by the litigation
being done or some other mechanism.”
• So, at least things are looking up

8. • Hopefully the teams can get things worked out
sometime this year or next, before either has a
chance to enter a bid for the next All-Star Game
(San Diego was awarded 2016)
• Both the Baltimore Orioles and the Washington
Nationals are vying for an All-Star game, which has
been absent from Washington DC since 1969
• Baltimore hosted it when Camden Yards first
opened in 1993, but would like to host it again while
they are still enjoying their great success in the AL
East

9. • A crushing loss to the Kansas City Royals might
have dampened the mood for this offseason, but the
O’s will certainly be back next year
• We’ll see how the team reshapes this year, with
new personnel and, hopefully, a new TV deal