Orioles, Nationals Reach MASN Deal, This Time Without Legal Drama

There is another settlement in the long-running Mid-Atlantic Sports Network saga. The last agreement took more than a decade to hash out; this one required only a few weeks of negotiations.

The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals have agreed on the teams’ local media rights for the 2017-21 seasons, jointly telling the Supreme Court of the state of New York that they concur with a recent MLB arbitration decision that each club is due $304 million for those five years, amounting to nearly $61 million annually.

The agreement marks a massive change in tenor compared to the more than 12 years the clubs spent in an active and bitter legal dispute over the 2012-16 rights term, a situation resolved only this past summer when the Orioles-controlled MASN agreed to pay the Nationals some $100 million in incremental rights fees for that period.  

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.

Up Next: Reviving Nats Sale?

The Orioles, Nationals, and MASN will now move to determining the rights fees for the 2022-26 period, though those talks will be overshadowed by cord-cutting and accelerating disruption across the media landscape. 

Still, the additional settlement could also help revive a lagging sale process for the Nationals, as they can now provide additional clarity on its revenue picture. Ted Leonsis, the owner of the Washington Wizards, Capitals, and Mystics, has expressed continued interest in adding to his sports empire.

The deal also provides some needed clarity for the Orioles, who have been entangled in their own uncertainty surrounding club ownership and a much-discussed lease extension for Oriole Park at Camden Yards.