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Fox trying to buy MASN


Mr Snuffleupagus

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You need the Os and the Os' owners stake in MASN sold to one owner and as sacreligious as this may be it shouldn't be Cal in any more than a Nokan Ryan capacity.

You need it sold to Mark Cuban. He's a Pirates fan so it's not too far down the road where his allegiances lie.

But wouldn't that require a HUGE chunk of change from that possible owner?? I mean MASN and the O's together with their current deal owning all the rights might push 1.5 billion.

Seems like at that price it would limit the field of prospective owners considerably.

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I would think it would be for Angelos to sell both the O's and MASN together to an owner who is interested in using MASN to make the O's more relevant and simultaneously keeping a vested interest in continuing to have revenue unevenly distributed to the O's.

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But wouldn't that require a HUGE chunk of change from that possible owner?? I mean MASN and the O's together with their current deal owning all the rights might push 1.5 billion.

Seems like at that price it would limit the field of prospective owners considerably.

Someone bought the Dodgers right?

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You need the Os and the Os' owners stake in MASN sold to one owner and as sacreligious as this may be it shouldn't be Cal in any more than a Nolan Ryan capacity.

You need it sold to Mark Cuban. He's a Pirates fan so it's not too far down the road where his allegiances lie. Cuban, besides his Internet pedigree also is heavily into TV with his existing ownership stake in some cable stations.

PA tying payroll to attendance (and not using MASN money) makes a whole lot of sense right now.

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DC is almost the same size as Boston as a direct DMA. Baltimore is in the twenties. We will be at a severe disadvantage if we are left with a future leaning heavily on TV rights fees alone. DC is attractive there - BMore is not so much.

The idea is that to maintain financial competitiveness we need Angelos to sell both MASN and the Os together to a real owner not stay in his cash hoarding family or be chopped up separately. If its chopped up separately we are going to need a real benevolent new owner.

It all depends on the terms. BTW, the Orioles and Nats, not Angelos, own MASN. The discussion to sell and any payment would go to the teams. So obviously if Fox is going to pay an amount that exceeds a reasonable long-term cash flow projection, selling is the right move. That gives us an up front war chest in addition to ongoing TV rights, which, BTW, need to be negotiated in perpetuity to avoid any nasty squabbles at renewal time.

It could be a positive too. If you can offload MASN, Angelos is almost certainly more able to sell the team. And is there anyone who doesn't want that?

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But wouldn't that require a HUGE chunk of change from that possible owner?? I mean MASN and the O's together with their current deal owning all the rights might push 1.5 billion.

Seems like at that price it would limit the field of prospective owners considerably.

Sorry I wasn't clear there - an ownership group led by Cuban where he has decision making powers on financial matters. That's my fault. You are correct, one owner would limit things even for Cuban.

But even he could probably get a financing package together. It's not like he has to cut a personal check for the entire amount.

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It all depends on the terms. BTW, the Orioles and Nats, not Angelos, own MASN. The discussion to sell and any payment would go to the teams. So obviously if Fox is going to pay an amount that exceeds a reasonable long-term cash flow projection, selling is the right move. That gives us an up front war chest in addition to ongoing TV rights, which, BTW, need to be negotiated in perpetuity to avoid any nasty squabbles at renewal time.

It could be a positive too. If you can offload MASN, Angelos is almost certainly more able to sell the team. And is there anyone who doesn't want that?

No the Orioles and Nats do not own MASN - the owners of the Orioles and Nats do. Just like the Orioles do no own Angelos' law firm. If the O's owned MASN, Forbes would value the Os at $1.5 billion.

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Someone bought the Dodgers right?

There are only so many people out there with Magic Johnson money, in an area that has some of the richest people in the world to form an investment group like they did in L.A.

I never said it couldn't be done, I just said it would limit the field.

I mean it is hard enough getting a group together to buy a team period, not to mention a team AND a massive RSN together.

Cuban would be one of the very few logical choices.

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There are only so many people out there with Magic Johnson money, in an area that has some of the richest people in the world to form an investment group like they did in L.A.

I never said it couldn't be done, I just said it would limit the field.

I mean it is hard enough getting a group together to buy a team period, not to mention a team AND a massive RSN together.

Cuban would be one of the very few logical choices.

Magic Johnson cut I believe a $50 million check. The Guggenheim Partners cut the biggest check.

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That is all??? Wow.

Never knew that, I thought he had a much bigger part.

Jay-Z only owns like 1/10th of 1% of the Nets but you'd think he owned 50% the way the Russian Oligarch who does own the Nets markets the team. Nolan Ryan probably owns a tiny sliver of the Rangers too. I believe there are like 15 or so owners of the Rangers, but Ryan isn't near the top of the pecking order.

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This is a terrible idea to me. I like the fact that MASN is a unique enterprise in the market. Fox taking over, of all networks, to me signals the Orioles getting the short end of the stick coverage and talent-wise to the Nationals. I genuinely despise the way Fox covers sports.

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One last middle finger to the Orioles fans on his way out the door, King Pete never disappoints. Sell off MASN for a boatlaod of cash, and then sell the team off with no RSN that has little potential for huge profits like it does now with MASN owing the rights to the entire region. He will probably walk away with a billion dollars, if not more.

Then we have a new owner, with a small market backing and a very small TV rights package reflecting the true Baltimore market, without DC in the mix.

You just can't make this stuff up.

At least I am glad that most see that he has been hoarding money now, so at least we are making some progress around here.

PGA for president!

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