BALTIMORE — The Baltimore Orioles and Washington Nationals have settled their long lasting legal dispute over televised broadcasting rights on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN).
With the 2025 Major League Baseball (MLB) season opener around the corner, Nationals games will continue airing exclusively on the network.
After the season the Nats will be free to shop and sell their televised game rights to any network they choose.
With that, both clubs are dismissing all litigation involving MASN media rights.
The dispute dates back to 2004 when MLB purchased the Montreal Expos, and relocated them to Washington D.C. where they became the Nationals.
MORE: Orioles lose lawsuit against Nationals over MASN television rights fees
The Orioles objected to the move out of fear the Nationals would impact television market revenue.
That's how MASN came about, allowing games for both teams to be telecast.
Initially the Orioles owned 90 percent of the network, which was to be dropped to 67 percent by 2032, leaving the Nats a 33 percent stake.
In turn MASN paid each team the same amount to broadcast games.
But since the Orioles maintained majority ownership of the network, they remained more profitable.
This prompted the Nationals to question whether they were receiving fair market value from MASN.
In 2012 the network offered the Nationals $34 million per year, maxing out at $45.6 million by 2016.
The Nationals rejected that offer, leading to mediation.
A committee later ruled the Nationals should've been paid $53 million in 2012, and $67 million in 2016.
The Orioles and MASN then sued MLB and the Nationals.
A judge threw out the committee's recommendation, and the case ultimately ended up at New York's highest court, which unanimously ruled the committee's decision should've stood.
As result the Orioles and MASN technically owed the Nationals roughly $100 million, although the court ordered both parties to "resolve any disputes over nonpayment of those fees in accordance with their agreement."
That's how both teams reached today's agreement.
