An appeals court in New York state ruled in favor of the Washington Nationals on Tuesday in their dispute over television rights fees with the Baltimore Orioles, who control their shared regional sports network, Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
The ruling confirmed the fair market value of Nationals TV rights, which comes as the Lerner family explore a sale of the franchise.
After an arbitration committee appointed by Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that the value for 2012 through 2016 should be set at $297 million, the Orioles appealed, arguing the process should have been facilitated in another forum.
“The parties agreed to an industry insider-controlled process with a full understanding of the commissioner’s involvement,” Judge Madeline Singas wrote in the court’s decision. “MASN and the Orioles cannot now complain that they received something different than what they bargained for through the insider process they selected.”
The Orioles and Nationals have gone back and forth in the dispute almost as long as the Nationals franchise re-located from Montreal to Washington in 2005. The Orioles argued that the Nationals entering their media market would hurt them financially, and the league had the teams strike a deal for MASN to broadcast both clubs’ games.
The Nationals were supposed to receive “fair market value” for their media rights starting in 2012, but MASN determined that that value was around $40 million per year, while the Nationals asked for $118 million per year.
The MLB panel ruled that Washington should have received $20 million more per year than MASN agreed to pay, or $100 million in all. The Orioles appealed, leading to Tuesday’s court defeat in Albany, N.Y.
The ruling should clear one roadblock before the potential sale of the Nationals, owned by the Lerner family since mid-2006. The family may have a potential buyer in Ted Leonsis, owner of the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals, but ahead of Opening Day of the 2023 season, the team reportedly “officially paused” the sale process.
–Field Level Media