KEN ROSENTHAL: Sources: Panel to decide Nats’ TV fees – FOX Sports
The Washington Nationals and MASN (owned by the Baltimore Orioles/Peter Angelos) have not come to an agreement on TV rights fees:
Now, according to sources, a panel of baseball officials will decide what the two teams could not resolve in negotiations — the annual rights fee that the Nationals will receive from MASN.
The matter went to arbitration after talks between the Orioles and Nationals sputtered. While there is no known deadline for a decision, the panel is meeting regularly due to the urgency of the situation, sources say.
The decision of the panel will be binding, and could double or even triple the reported $29 million annually that the Nationals currently receive, sources say.
Angelos made a corrupt bargain with MLB commissioner Bud Selig over the Nats TV rights and under the former’s watch, most of the first two seasons were unavailable on most D.C. area cable systems.
If Angelos doesn’t feel like paying for televising Nats games, he is welcome to give it up to somebody who does.
For what its worth, Thomas Boswell thought Selig was going to stick it to Angelos. Perhaps that panel was created so Selig wouldn’t have to be the bad guy to anybody. Seems about right.
I fully expect the Nats to get a raw deal on this, since they always have in this saga.
