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

[HalfSmokes]

Does $6 million even cover the cost of producing the games?

[Natsinpwc]

Does $6 million even cover the cost of producing the games?

On MASN. But not a real broadcast team.

[nfotiu]

Does $6 million even cover the cost of producing the games?

Probably about at the break even point.  I think production costs are in the neighborhood of $50,000 per game.

[bluestreak]

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.

40000 total subscribers seems awfully low

[HalfSmokes]

40000 total subscribers seems awfully low

Paying either 100 a year of $15 a month is going to scare away every casual fan. I wouldn’t be shocked if that number was juiced - someone posted that it was given away with certain season ticket packages

[nfotiu]

40000 total subscribers seems awfully low

Look at the average number of people who watch games back when the channel was included on most people's cable package. Padres seemed to average in the 50k viewer range back when it was on everyone's cable package.   Getting 40k people to willingly spend $100/year would be on the optimistic end of my guess.   

The current iteration of the Nats are getting less than 40k viewers, so they'd probably get a few less subscribers.

[imref]

probably a large crossover of Nats fans who would also watch Caps/Wiz, so assuming Ted makes a play for the rights, it's not going to be to attract new viewers to Monumental but rather to attract new advertisers.

[bluestreak]

Look at the average number of people who watch games back when the channel was included on most people's cable package. Padres seemed to average in the 50k viewer range back when it was on everyone's cable package.   Getting 40k people to willingly spend $100/year would be on the optimistic end of my guess.   

The current iteration of the Nats are getting less than 40k viewers, so they'd probably get a few less subscribers.

I was reading the quote as 40000 subscribers across all of MLB. If it’s just for one team, that makes more sense.

[2k6nats]

This is a monumental event. The lack of clarity on the rights has impacted the team from the beginning. All systems go for the new era of the team, I'm excited.

[Dave in Fairfax]

As a practical matter for fans, what does this mean? Will they just divide assets and make MASN an Orioles Network and MASN2 a Nationals Network? Will the Orioles keep horse racing and the Nationals take Belgian basketball and major league hackysack or whatever?

[Natsinpwc]

Assume after this season MASN is just orioles and Nats will have their own network. Probably on Monumental.

[HalfSmokes]

I would assume Os sell their rights too. MASN with just the Os may not be viable

[SkinsNatFan21RIP]

As a practical matter for fans, what does this mean? Will they just divide assets and make MASN an Orioles Network and MASN2 a Nationals Network? Will the Orioles keep horse racing and the Nationals take Belgian basketball and major league hackysack or whatever?

It means, we will either be on Monumental next year or MLB will do what they did for the other squads this past season and produce it themselves and sell us a yearly package. I think it was $100 for the teams MLB produced which means I can finally get rid of Xfinity.

[imref]

I hope Zuckerman lands somewhere. He's bounced around quite a bit over the last few years.

[nfotiu]

Neither RSNs or the $100/year MLB.tv stop gap are long term solutions.   Signing on long term to Monumental's doomed business model is probably the worst case scenario.

Going with Monumental long term could keep us out of whatever Manfred has planned for a more national streaming approach to local rights.  We'd be stuck on a legacy plan that likely is worse for both the fans and the team.

[HalfSmokes]

The problem with a national approach is that without the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies, it’s going to be hard to get a good deal and those teams are not going to be inclined to sign on

[varoadking]

I hope Zuckerman lands somewhere. He's bounced around quite a bit over the last few years.

He can always fall back on his Facebook gig...

[nfotiu]

The problem with a national approach is that without the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Phillies, it’s going to be hard to get a good deal and those teams are not going to be inclined to sign on

It will be a battle for sure, and probably a huge part of the CBA negotiations.   I'm not sure the Red Sox and Yankees are really in that great of a spot if they maintain the status quo.  The hundreds of millions they were getting in carriage fee money is drying up fast and will get worse when ESPN and others go standalone this year.   

What's the best case scenario for those teams if they have to rely on a $100/year DTC product?   200-300,000 subscribers each?   That's only 20-30 million/year and no exposure to casual fans.

The current model is pretty ugly for everyone but the Dodgers.

[HalfSmokes]

It will be a battle for sure, and probably a huge part of the CBA negotiations.   I'm not sure the Red Sox and Yankees are really in that great of a spot if they maintain the status quo.  The hundreds of millions they were getting in carriage fee money is drying up fast and will get worse when ESPN and others go standalone this year.   

What's the best case scenario for those teams if they have to rely on a $100/year DTC product?   200-300,000 subscribers each?   That's only 20-30 million/year and no exposure to casual fans.

The current model is pretty ugly for everyone but the Dodgers.

I think the Yankees are better off selling their rights locally than taking 1/30th of whatever MLB can get for a national ‘local’ package. Ideally, someone like Amazon would buy all rights and offer something like mlb.tv with no blackouts

[varoadking]

In the olden days, we had a thirst for sports coverage.  I took a transistor radio to school in 1959 to listen to the World Series during recess.  We'd turn on the games as soon as we got home from school to catch the last few innings of a black and white TV broadcast of a Cubs game on WGN. 

The 1980 Olympics were broadcast on a delay.  USA Today and Sports Illustrated were viable publications.

Now we're saturated with sports...24/7.  There is far too much content for anyone to consume in a meaningful way, and it's become overrun with the gambling aspect because the sport itself is less relevant.

Supply has far exceeded demand, and something has to give...


 

[imref]

He can always fall back on his Facebook gig...

His social media profile is "I didn't invent Facebook, but I do cover the Washington Nationals for MASNsports.com and co-host the Nats Chat podcast: www.natschatpodcast.com"

[Ali the Baseball Cat]

I had to look that up...ouch, Dodgers winning the WS right after moving to California, talk about salting the wounds, like the Avs winning the Cup in their first season out of Quebec.

In the olden days, we had a thirst for sports coverage.  I took a transistor radio to school in 1959 to listen to the World Series during recess.  We'd turn on the games as soon as we got home from school to catch the last few innings of a black and white TV broadcast of a Cubs game on WGN. 

The 1980 Olympics were broadcast on a delay.  USA Today and Sports Illustrated were viable publications.

Now we're saturated with sports...24/7.  There is far too much content for anyone to consume in a meaningful way, and it's become overrun with the gambling aspect because the sport itself is less relevant.

Supply has far exceeded demand, and something has to give...


 

[Copecwby20]

The real tragedy here is that they didn't get this done sooner so that OldChelsea could have watched games on TV as he refused to watch MASN because of that douchebag in Baltimore.

[nfotiu]

I think the Yankees are better off selling their rights locally than taking 1/30th of whatever MLB can get for a national ‘local’ package. Ideally, someone like Amazon would buy all rights and offer something like mlb.tv with no blackouts

The Yankees still have to pay half of their local money into the revenue sharing pot though, so there is some leverage there to get them on-board.  Also, if they sign their own streaming deal, they won't be able to hide that money in a team owned RSN any more.

The Dodgers have a special deal that caps the value of their tv contract for revenue sharing purposes at 134 million.   They have a ridiculous advantage over everyone else if nothing changes.

[Slateman]

The real tragedy here is that they didn't get this done sooner so that OldChelsea could have watched games on TV as he refused to watch MASN because of that douchebag in Baltimore.

Indeed