aericfisher.bsky.social
Newsletter writer at Front Office Sports. Veteran journalist. Proud alum of St. Bonaventure University.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aeric-fisher/
https://frontofficesports.com/newsletters/front-office-sports/
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Prolific Poster
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Could actually be 11 for the Big Ten. At least 10 look pretty solid at this point.
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It also didn't hurt that pretty much everybody involved in the original construction and litigation of the MASN deal - inc. Bud Selig, Bob DuPuy, Peter Angelos, and Ted Lerner - are not involved anymore. Still not an easy thing to get done, but there's essentially an entirely new cast of characters.
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Now the big thing to watch: whether the Nats shift over to Ted Leonsis' Monumental Sports Network. Leonsis and the Nats' Lerner family are already close (and Mark Lerner is a part-owner in MSE). Leonsis has long been interested in local baseball rights, and potentially buying the Nats.
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The dispute went in/out of court & MLB internal processes forever, and many people tried to resolve this, to little success. Ultimately, though, there were three main catalysts toward a deal: A 2019 ruling favoring the Nats, the O's change in ownership, and overall disruption in local media market.
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A little history: MASN itself was created 20+ yrs ago as a move to compensate former O's owner Peter Angelos for Nats coming to DC. That structure tied the Nats' TV rights to Angelos, and in majority control to the O's. But as the O's are now owned by David Rubenstein, the Nats are breaking free.
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This has been one of the league's thorniest issues for so long, but it's now finally done. Nats are a potential sleeping giant with an improving team, local media rights coming available, and maybe/finally stadium naming rights.