Nats and Orioles MASN deal dissolved. Nats fully own TV rights after 2025 season

[bluestreak]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/03/03/mlb-ends-masn-deal-orioles-nationals/

Unclear how much of the previous years’ fees will be paid.

Maybe this will accelerate a sale. Especially if the Nats end up on Monumental.

[welch]

Cannot be anything but good news.

[Natsinpwc]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2025/03/03/mlb-ends-masn-deal-orioles-nationals/

Unclear how much of the previous years’ fees will be paid.

Maybe this will accelerate a sale. Especially if the Nats end up on Monumental.

Thanks for posting.  Just saw that. 

Sale is the best outcome but don;t see it right away.

Ted gets his foot in the door with broadcasting rights and buys a minority share with an agreement to take over later.   Which keeps the team in limbo for years and we have the same old. 

[Kevrock]

This is huge. LFG

[Smithian]

Wait

What

It's over?

Right now?

We see a post-MASN world?

I don't believe this. This feels like a cruel joke before we get put into some worse agreement.

[HalfSmokes]

Thanks for posting.  Just saw that. 

Sale is the best outcome but don;t see it right away.

Ted gets his foot in the door with broadcasting rights and buys a minority share with an agreement to take over later.   Which keeps the team in limbo for years and we have the same old. 

I think the accelerates a sale. With the rights belonging to the nats, the team can actually be valued now

[Smithian]

All jokes aside and in full sincerity, I'll miss Bob Carpenter.

[imref]

fantastic news.

[NatsLSU]

Thank goodness. 20 years…

[Natsinpwc]

I think the accelerates a sale. With the rights belonging to the nats, the team can actually be valued now

Yes but no one watches the games.  Team won’t be worth what they think.

[RobDibblesGhost]

All jokes aside and in full sincerity, I'll miss Bob Carpenter.

I think he was planning to to retire after this season anyway.

[Smithian]

And Forbes reporting we're selling the stadium naming wrongs and a jersey logo this season.

Lots of change ongoing.

I can't figure out if this morning is a result of the Lerners deciding they're in it long term or if they're having good talks on a sell. Either way, as someone who believes the Lerners were still sort of looking, some certainty would be very welcome for this franchise.

[Mattionals]

AOL Teddy is probably on the phone right now.

[Natsinpwc]

AOL Teddy is probably on the phone right now.

He's using a dial up connection for an internet call.

[imref]

And Forbes reporting we're selling the stadium naming wrongs and a jersey logo this season.

Lots of change ongoing.

I can't figure out if this morning is a result of the Lerners deciding they're in it long term or if they're having good talks on a sell. Either way, as someone who believes the Lerners were still sort of looking, some certainty would be very welcome for this franchise.

This is all very good news if, and only if, they plan to use the funds to bolster the roster.

[HalfSmokes]

This is all very good news if, and only if, they plan to use the funds to bolster the roster.

[varoadking]

This is all very good news if, and only if, they plan to use the funds to bolster the roster.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that this was nothing but sarcasm...

[nfotiu]

They would have probably received more money over the next 4-5 years from letting MASN run the course than they'll get on the open market.

Local MLB TV rights are almost worthless right now.   They're best long term bet is if MLB is still trying to package multiple local rights with other teams to sell to someone like Netflix/Apple/Amazon.    Leonsis still seems to think that local TV rights on RSNs are still a viable model, and gets to play with Middle East money so, there is a chance he overpays, but he's not going to be bidding against anyone else in the RSN space.

The rights are probably only actually worth 5-10 million/year in a post RSN bubble market.

My guess is the options are:

1. Sell as part of MLB package to Amazon/Apple/etc.
2. Sell to Monumental for an overpay - 30-40 million/year.   That's not sustainable without foreign subsidies though, so could all bankrupt in a couple years.
3. Monumental bids what they're actually worth at <10 million/year and Nats have to decide whether to take it, or go with the stop gap MLB produced MLB.tv deal like the Padres have that likely wouldn't pay much more.   Probably preferrable to go with the latter and hope they can be early participants if the MLB streaming package gets going later.

None of these will be a financial bonanza for the Nats, and will actually be a short-medium term loss of revenue.   They'll be in the same boat as most of the other teams though at least.

[Slateman]

Oh cool, more money into the pockets of the Lerners

[Section214]

Just please get our games streaming on any platform for any price, just stream.

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

Ya know, this should be a good thing but god knows Mark is going to screw this up. He'll probably just re-up with MASN for 10 years.

[OfftheBat]

Awesome news, hopefully the Lerners can sell the team to great new owners shortly.

[HalfSmokes]

They would have probably received more money over the next 4-5 years from letting MASN run the course than they'll get on the open market.

Local MLB TV rights are almost worthless right now.   They're best long term bet is if MLB is still trying to package multiple local rights with other teams to sell to someone like Netflix/Apple/Amazon.    Leonsis still seems to think that local TV rights on RSNs are still a viable model, and gets to play with Middle East money so, there is a chance he overpays, but he's not going to be bidding against anyone else in the RSN space.

The rights are probably only actually worth 5-10 million/year in a post RSN bubble market.

My guess is the options are:

1. Sell as part of MLB package to Amazon/Apple/etc.
2. Sell to Monumental for an overpay - 30-40 million/year.   That's not sustainable without foreign subsidies though, so could all bankrupt in a couple years.
3. Monumental bids what they're actually worth at <10 million/year and Nats have to decide whether to take it, or go with the stop gap MLB produced MLB.tv deal like the Padres have that likely wouldn't pay much more.   Probably preferrable to go with the latter and hope they can be early participants if the MLB streaming package gets going later.

None of these will be a financial bonanza for the Nats, and will actually be a short-medium term loss of revenue.   They'll be in the same boat as most of the other teams though at least.

Has mlb ever released numbers for in market streaming for the teams they control rights for?

[nfotiu]

Has mlb ever released numbers for in market streaming for the teams they control rights for?

If I remember right, MLB was paying a decent percentage of what the lost contract would have paid, but only for the first year.   

I found this on a random facebook account, but the numbers sound reasonable.   I'd guess most teams don't have much more than 40,000 fans willing to pay $100/year.     You're basically pricing out all the casual fans, and the revenue numbers are pretty ugly when you only have to account on the more die hard fans.

I've been doing some digging on the Padres local TV deal and it isn't pretty.  MLB will control the broadcast rights for 6 teams in 2025, including the Padres.  Last year, the Padres got $15 million from MLB for those rights.  I don't know who gets the advertising revenue, but I suspect that MLB does.  I've also been unable to find out if any of that revenue gets split with the Padres.  In addition, there were 40,000ish subscribers to MLB's streaming service, but I suspect that number includes season ticket holders who get it for free.  Still, assuming the most optimistic numbers, that is probably worth about $6 million (probably less) of which the Padres will probably get some percentage.

[Count Walewski]

This is like inheriting a railroad in 1960. But it does make the team more sellable.