Nats owner says MASN dispute puts team at competitive disadvantage
Nationals owner Ed Cohen blamed the team's ongoing MASN dispute with their Orioles for putting them at a competitive disadvantage.
By
Mike Axisa
•
2 min read
This has not been a great offseason for the Nationals. They were able to sign Daniel Murphy, and the Ben Revere pickup is a nice little under-the-radar move, but they lost Jordan Zimmermann to free agency and stand to lose Doug Fister and Ian Desmond as well.
On top of that, Washington has missed out on several big-name free agents. The Nationals made big offers to Yoenis Cespedes and Jason Heyward, but landed neither. They were also turned down by Darren O'Day, and Brandon Phillips invoked his no-trade clause to block a deal to the Nats. Not great.
Last week, in a sworn affidavit filed in a New York Supreme Court, Nationals principal owner Ed Cohen said the club's ongoing MASN dispute with the Orioles puts them a competitive disadvantage, reports James Wagner of the Washington Post.
“While the Nationals have a strong business, with access to revolving credit lines, and maintain adequate cash reserves, the Nationals nevertheless have various cash flow needs necessitated by payroll and other ongoing expenses,” Cohen said. “MASN’s underpayment of rights fees has already required the Nationals to fund payroll and other expenses from its own reserves, and further delay could require the Nationals to seek further financing.
“This is not only burdensome in its own right, but it places the Nationals at a competitive disadvantage to other baseball clubs, which typically receive fair market value from their regional sports networks for their telecast rights.”
The Nationals are stuck with a complicated TV deal that was negotiated by MLB before Ted Lerner -- Cohen's father-in-law -- bought the team in 2006. Both the Nationals and Orioles are broadcast on MASN, and in exchange for allowing the Nats to move into their broadcast territory, the O's receive the majority of the TV rights money. The two sides have been locked in a legal battle over TV money for years.
Do the Nationals have a crummy TV situation? Absolutely. Their broadcast rights are controlled by another team. That said, the Nationals have an beautiful eight-year-old ballpark, and their $165.7 million payroll last season was the fifth highest in baseball. Only the Dodgers, Yankees, Red Sox, and Giants spent more on players.
Cash was not the problem this offseason. The Nationals reportedly offered Heyward $200 million or so, but he took less to go to the Cubs. They offered Cespedes a $100 million deal, but he took less to go to the Mets. The team had the financial resources to make huge offers. The players just decided to go elsewhere.
The Nationals have a really great core -- I'd happily start a team with Bryce Harper, Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, and Anthony Rendon -- but I can't imagine they are anything but disappointed with their offseason. They wanted to do more after falling so far short of expectations in 2015.
Their TV deal is a major drag, it really is, but the club's offers to Heyward and Cespedes show they aren't hurting for cash.
