The legal battle between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles over television rights that began in 2012 has been put to rest. Major League Baseball (MLB) announced on Monday that the Nationals will no longer be bound by their agreement with the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) after the current season concludes.
For 2025, Nationals games will continue to be aired on MASN under a newly forged one-year contract, according to MLB. “Post this term, the Nationals will be at liberty to seek other options for their television rights starting in 2026,” stated MLB. The announcement further highlighted that any historical disputes over media rights between the Nationals, Orioles, and MASN have now been amicably settled, with all related legal proceedings set to be discontinued.
MASN was created back in March 2005 following the relocation of the Montreal Expos to Washington, which was previously a broadcast-exclusive area for the Orioles since 1972. The Orioles initially secured a dominant partnership interest in MASN, standing at 90%, whereas Washington contributed $75 million for a starting 10% interest.
The structuring of the original agreement anticipated an annual increment of 1% in Washington’s equity commencing at the end of the 2009 season, with a ceiling of 33%. Initial rights payments from the network to both teams were pegged at $20 million for the years 2005 and 2006, increased to $25 million in 2007, with annual hikes of $1 million until 2011.
Subsequent to this period, the network was expected to pay fair market value, and any disputes concerning the Nationals’ rights were supposed to be settled by MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee (RSDC), composed of officials from three MLB clubs. The RSDC first reviewed the case in 2012, leading to lawsuits filed in 2014 in New York Supreme Court.
The litigation on fees from 2012 to 2016 culminated in a 2019 RSDC verdict that valued those at $296.8 million. Debates routed to the New York Court of Appeals resulted in a settlement agreement in June 2023.
In 2023, another RSDC ruling determined that MASN owed approximately $304.1 million to Washington for 2017-2021, adjusting downward by nearly $45.5 million due to the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. This decision received confirmation in New York Supreme Court.
Additionally, an RSDC determination in December awarded the Nationals about $320.5 million for the period from 2022 to 2026. The rights fee for 2022 and 2023 was maintained at around $72.8 million, consistent with that for 2021, but dropped to about $58.3 million annually for 2024-26 due to declining regional sports network economics.
A court hearing regarding this latter decision had originally been slated for March 13.
