Tex and the Nats...

[MrMadison]

rumors rumors rumors. Yawn.

Please Mark just sign with the Angels already so I can say "I told you so"

fixed.

[HalfSmokes]

I agree, but we shouldn't have to do any of the above.

Within Tex's contract: Zimmermen, Milledge, Dukes, Flores, Lannan, and anyone else who turns out to be good and comes up in the next two years will want big raises either through arbitration or long term contracts. We have two first round picks this year including the number 1 overall, that will be a huge signing bonus. To make up for it, the only bad contracts comming off our books soon are Kearns, Young, and Johnson. Our payroll won't be huge, but will rise over the next couple of years. I just don't  see us going higher than $75,000,000 unless attendance improves.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Scott Boras is a douchebag.

That is all.

[blue911]

According to published sources the Nationals received $25M from MASN for broadcasting rights.

I'd offer Mark Teixeira the proceeds from the MASN deal through the year 2020.

[HalfSmokes]

According to published sources the Nationals received $25M from MASN for broadcasting rights.

I'd offer Mark Teixeira the proceeds from the MASN deal through the year 2020.

Hopefully the nats can get back their own broadcast rights before then

[blue911]

Hopefully the nats can get back their own broadcast rights before then

The $$$ were for 2008 ONLY. Let Angelos pay for Teixeira.

[HalfSmokes]

The $$$ were for 2008 ONLY. Let Angelos pay for Teixeira.

long term that deal screws us

[tomterp]

Hopefully the nats can get back their own broadcast rights before then

At the moment I doubt we could do better than $25m.

[blue911]

long term that deal screws us

How can you wring more than that out of 9,000 viewers?

[HalfSmokes]

How can you wring more than that out of 9,000 viewers?

The amount gets re-negotiated down the road, its not locked in forever.

[blue911]

The amount gets re-negotiated down the road, its not locked in forever.

I still would give Teixeira the MASN money just to stick up Angelos' ass.

[tomterp]

The amount gets re-negotiated down the road, its not locked in forever.

Right, and 9,000 viewers is not going to get the Nats a mega-contract.  However, in tandem with the Orioles, the collective weight of the two teams and two markets gives MASN sufficient leverage so far to get onto all the cable and satellite providers.  There may start to be some pushback with the Nats numbers being so low, but for now that's a better place for the Nats to be, I hate to say. 

Hate to say because I have nothing but contempt for MASN.

[HalfSmokes]

I still would give Teixeira the MASN money just to stick up Angelos' ass.

I would love to see the team grow a pair and put an sign under every MASN banner in the stadium.

[Nat of the Living Dead]

Chico over on the Nats Journals says the Angels might be cooling off on Tex.

Posted at 08:12 AM ET, 11/25/2008
So the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Angels are cooling toward Mark Teixeira and warming toward CC Sabathia. Seems the Angels don't want to give Tex more than seven years.... Interesting.[/img]

[PANatsFan]

I would love to see the team grow a pair and put an sign under every MASN banner in the stadium.

Why rub it in? 25 millions dollars for 9000 viewers - I bet they LOVE MASN

[HalfSmokes]

Chico over on the Nats Journals says the Angels might be cooling off on Tex.

Posted at 08:12 AM ET, 11/25/2008
So the Los Angeles Times is reporting that the Angels are cooling toward Mark Teixeira and warming toward CC Sabathia. Seems the Angels don't want to give Tex more than seven years.... Interesting.

I think the Red Sox will be the real competition. The Yankees probably can't make a serious offer until some of their offers to pitchers come off the table; and the O's may not have the money- their attendance is as bad as ours and they are probably bleading money on MASN.

[BerkeleyNat]

I think the Red Sox will be the real competition. The Yankees probably can't make a serious offer until some of their offers to pitchers come off the table; and the O's may not have the money- their attendance is as bad as ours worse than ours and they are probably bleading money on MASN.

Fixed.

We averaged almost 30,000 a game, while they barely made it over 25,000 a game. They would be really hurting if they didn't have those Yankees and Red Sox fans to boost their attendence numbers.

[tomterp]

I think the Red Sox will be the real competition. The Yankees probably can't make a serious offer until some of their offers to pitchers come off the table; and the O's may not have the money- their attendance is as bad as ours and they are probably bleading money on MASN.

Why would they be bleeding money on MASN?  They are getting paid a fixed amount per household connected, and it's a very steep fee.  I bet MASN's revenue topped $75m last year, and if the Nats are getting $25m, you better believe the Orioles are doing even better.

[blue911]

Why would they be bleeding money on MASN?  They are getting paid a fixed amount per household connected, and it's a very steep fee.  I bet MASN's revenue topped $75m last year, and if the Nats are getting $25m, you better believe the Orioles are doing even better.

You may be high on the $75M but I'd bet that MASN makes at least $50M/yr and that number is growing with their expansion into North Carolina. On top of the Nats take, the Lerners also receive an increasing ownership % from MASN, so in no way does the MASN deal hurt the Nationals. Although the programming sucks, It would still suck if I was an Orioles/Ravens fan.

[HalfSmokes]

Why would they be bleeding money on MASN?  They are getting paid a fixed amount per household connected, and it's a very steep fee.  I bet MASN's revenue topped $75m last year, and if the Nats are getting $25m, you better believe the Orioles are doing even better.

The Nationals get paid a fix amount, viewership has nothing to do with it (until the terms expire and get renegotiated).

What do you think will happen to advertising revenue next year based on this years numbers and the economy? MASN is only in 5.2 million households, I doubt subscriber fees are enough to make them profitable on their own, unless we get more than NESN, http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/71329.

[blue911]

The Nationals get paid a fix amount, viewership has nothing to do with it (until the terms expire and get renegotiated).

What do you think will happen to advertising revenue next year based on this years numbers and the economy? MASN is only in 5.2 million households, I doubt subscriber fees are enough to make them profitable on their own, unless we get more than NESN, http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/71329.

I don't understand how that would have any effect on the Nats/MASN deal.

[tomterp]

The Nationals get paid a fix amount, viewership has nothing to do with it (until the terms expire and get renegotiated).

What do you think will happen to advertising revenue next year based on this years numbers and the economy? MASN is only in 5.2 million households, I doubt subscriber fees are enough to make them profitable on their own, unless we get more than NESN, http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/71329.

I believe MASN gets around $1 per household per month, which would be $62m annually per the 5.2m subscribers number.  Add to that advertising revenue, of course.  Yes, as ratings decline, so does the revenue, but the base subscriber fee is the huge solid base of their revenue totals.

[HalfSmokes]

I believe MASN gets around $1 per household per month, which would be $62m annually per the 5.2m subscribers number.  Add to that advertising revenue, of course.  Yes, as ratings decline, so does the revenue, but the base subscriber fee is the huge solid base of their revenue totals.

The figures are old, but that would make MASN comparable with NESN in terms of revenue, and there is no way that is true http://sportsbiznews.blogspot.com/2006/12/major-league-baseball-2007-haves-vs.html

[tomterp]

Here's a recent article from the Baltimore Sun, which discusses a little about the economics of MASN, including that the Orioles get the same $26m that the Nats do. 

As 4th season closes, MASN's balancing act carries on
By Jeff Barker
September 26, 2008

MASN has overcome early growing pains but still faces challenges - low ratings and complaints by Washington Nationals fans - to better establish itself in Baltimore and Washington.

No one ever believed MASN's task was easy: to win the hearts and minds of Orioles and Nationals viewers, two distinct fan bases from cities often cast as rivals.

So how is MASN faring as its fourth season comes to a close? It depends whom you ask.

To the Orioles, who hold majority control of MASN, the network is fulfilling its goals of televising both teams' games while providing the franchises predictable revenue in good economic times and bad. The Nationals have a minority MASN stake that can grow to as much as 33percent over the next several decades.
This year's MASN payment to the teams is $26million each. The annual rights fees are locked into an agreement that Orioles owner Peter Angelos negotiated with Major League Baseball before the Nationals arrived in Washington for the 2005 season. Angelos said winning TV rights to both the Orioles and Nationals was critical to ensuring the long-term viability of his club.

Andy MacPhail, Orioles president of baseball operations, said: "It's important to have a steady stream of revenue that you can count on going into the future that's substantial. It's unlike other revenues that rise and fall."

Its advocates believe the arrangement protects the clubs from situations where - after a bad year on the field - they would have to negotiate at a disadvantage with networks vying for broadcast rights

Orioles executives know well what happened several years ago in Minnesota. The Twins began a regional sports network but couldn't get primary cable operators to carry it. The club, after complaints arose from fans about games not being televised, abandoned the network and negotiated a new deal with a Fox regional sports network.

MASN, too, had early difficulty getting games on the air. Comcast SportsNet had broadcast rights to the Orioles through the 2006 season. Many Nationals fans couldn't get MASN for most of 2006 because of a dispute between the network and Comcast over the cost of carrying the network.

But today, MASN says it's available in 5.2 million households from Harrisburg, Pa., to Charlotte, N.C. It says it has doubled its advertising from 2007 and recently opened a Silver Spring sales office. "MASN is fully intertwined in the sports fabric of Washington and Baltimore," spokesman Todd Webster said.

Many Washington fans still believe the network promotes the Orioles more than the Nationals and produces better-quality broadcasts for Baltimore's games than Washington's. MASN insists everything - from production to marketing - is 50-50.

The Nationals were averaging a 0.39 rating - worst by far in baseball this season - and 9,000 households in the Washington market, according to a midseason report in SportsBusiness Journal based on Nielsen Media Research data. The Journal, which published its data a week before the All-Star break, said the Orioles averaged a 3.05 rating and 33,000 households in its market.

The Nationals' ratings are certainly affected by the club's woes on the field. Last in the National League East, Washington is one of the worst-hitting teams in baseball. Its lineup has been severely hurt by injuries.

"I do think it [the ratings] will turn around once the team starts winning," said John Mansell, a Northern Virginia sports media analyst.

Nationals president Stan Kasten declined to comment.

Fans in both markets wondered during the season why MASN didn't show more games in high definition than the 40 for each team. MASN said the format posed technical challenges and that there were also issues of getting carriers' HD slots.

MASN announced Sept.16 that it is roughly doubling the number of HD games in 2009 by launching dedicated high-definition channels with its cable and satellite carriers. The upgrade means 160-200 of the two teams' 324 games will be in HD.

Mansell said the Nationals face a longer-term issue - rights fees.

"If you look at rights fees, they are generally based on the size of the market. And the Washington market is really much larger than the Baltimore market, so they ought to be getting a bigger rights fee," Mansell said. He said the arrangement Angelos made will deprive the Nationals of creating their own network as other teams have done.

Angelos said last year that the deal was needed because the Nationals had crossed into what was once Orioles territory. "That was the driving force - to save this franchise from competition introduced immediately in its backyard," he said.

[blue911]

The figures are old, but that would make MASN comparable with NESN in terms of revenue, and there is no way that is true http://sportsbiznews.blogspot.com/2006/12/major-league-baseball-2007-haves-vs.html

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/article/71329.

Acourding to the bottom link,NESN is recieving in excess of $83M/yr from the 4.2M subscribers. I would question the subscriber numbers, that looks low to me.