Orioles, Nationals Reach Agreement In TV Rights Dispute: Report

BALTIMORE, MD — After almost a decade of litigation, the Baltimore Orioles and Mid-Atlantic Sports Network have reached an agreement with the Washington Nationals on the value of TV rights revenue paid to the District of Columbia team, according to reports.

Citing multiple sources with knowledge of the agreement, The Washington Post reported that MASN would pay the Nationals about $99.2 million, resolving at least some of the years-long litigation.

In April, the New York Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled unanimously against MASN and its majority shareholder, the Orioles, finding the Nationals were underpaid for the value of their TV rights from 2012 to 2016.

• RELATED: NY Court Rules Against Orioles, Says Nationals Should Get Paid More

The case ended up in New York due to Major League Baseball's Midtown Manhattan headquarters.

The complex media rights case dates back nearly two decades, when the MLB relocated the Montreal Expos to D.C., after which the team became the Washington Nationals. The move ended the Orioles' monopoly over the mid-Atlantic viewing audience.

From 1972 through 2005, the Orioles were the only MLB team in the Mid-Atlantic region and thus drew many fans from the D.C. metro area. But since 2005, the Nationals have operated in the Orioles' television market.

To compensate for any lost revenue after the Expos were moved to D.C., the MLB allowed the Orioles sizable control over the Nationals' media rights. The MASN TV station was created to show both Orioles and Nationals games, but the Baltimore franchise was given a majority stake in the network.

Negotiations broke down over telecast rights fees for the 2012-2016 time period when the Nationals said they should be paid more than what MASN and the Orioles were offering.

• The Nationals valued their rights at more than $110 million per year on average.
• MASN only wanted to pay them at a rate starting at around $34 million for 2012 and rising to about $45.6 million in 2016

MLB's Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee ultimately concluded the Nationals' rights would be set at about $55 million in 2012 and rise to about $62.4 million in 2016. However, MASN and the Orioles disputed that figure in court while paying the Nationals far less, according to a separate Baltimore Banner report.

Under the new agreement, the Nationals will be paid the discrepancy between what MASN paid the team from 2012 to 2016 and what Major League Baseball and multiple New York State courts ruled the Nationals were owed. The discrepancy totaled nearly $100 million, the Washington Post reported.

As for the next step, the teams must determine how much MASN owes from 2017 to 2021, the Post reported. Meanwhile, the overarching agreement in which the Orioles control the Nationals' TV rights remains in place.