HHP: MASN/Nats/Orioles case (Inside the Courtroom)

[weams]

Wasn't Manfred the guy on 60 minutes who admitted to socializing with some bad actors and paying for evidence to put on A-Rod? Maybe I'm misremembering, but if not, solid choice for a Commish. Solid.

No idea. I thought that was Bud.

[Malike]

No idea. I thought that was Bud.

I'm 90% sure that Bud told Manfred to do whatever you need to do, and Manfred admitted to paying like 100k to some guy named Benny or something who had dirt on ARod. Seems to me that George Steinbrenner got banned from MLB for paying some guy to dig up dirt on Winfield back in the day. What great leadership we have in MLB. I have no worries about the future of the sport or any further corruption.

[Redskins Rick]

No no. That wan't the Orioles who went to court. That was MASN. And of course the Nats. Orioles are clean there.

Good, when do we buy our ASG tickets?

[Redskins Rick]

I'm 90% sure that Bud told Manfred to do whatever you need to do, and Manfred admitted to paying like 100k to some guy named Benny or something who had dirt on ARod. Seems to me that George Steinbrenner got banned from MLB for paying some guy to dig up dirt on Winfield back in the day. What great leadership we have in MLB. I have no worries about the future of the sport or any further corruption.

I thought Manfred denied the charges that he authorized the payment of $125K to dig up dirt?

[Malike]

I thought Manfred denied the charges that he authorized the payment of $125K to dig up dirt?

I can't confirm it right now, was just going by memory. I'm going to watch that 60 minutes later. I'm almost positive he admitted it, but I could certainly be wrong.

Found this quickly.

According to one source familiar with the proceedings, MLB COO Rob Manfred testified on Thursday, while being cross-examined by A-Rod’s attorney, Joseph Tacopina, that he authorized the payment of $125,000 in cash in return for documents from the shuttered South Florida anti-aging clinic Biogenesis.

http://nypost.com/2013/10/18/mlb-admits-paying-125k-for-a-rod-documents-source/

[Redskins Rick]

I can't confirm it right now, was just going by memory. I'm going to watch that 60 minutes later. I'm almost positive he admitted it, but I could certainly be wrong.

Found this quickly.

http://nypost.com/2013/10/18/mlb-admits-paying-125k-for-a-rod-documents-source/

That same article has this in it:

Reached by phone on Friday evening to address his testimony, Manfred told The Post: ?The fact that this player and his attorneys think it?s appropriate to talk about what I testified about is not going to convince me that it?s OK to violate the Basic Agreement.?

Tacopina, also in a telephone interview to discuss Team A-Rod?s testimony, said, ?The notion that we paid any money for any Biogenesis documents is patently false, and anyone who is leaking this information knows it?s false.?

I am not saying he didn't, but just because people familiar with the case claim he did, doesn't always make it correct.

[Malike]

That same article has this in it:

I am not saying he didn't, but just because people familiar with the case claim he did, doesn't always make it correct.

It appears to me that Manfred isn't denying his testimony, but is upset that they leaked it. In any event, I'm sure he's an honest and upstanding citizen and will serve well for the next 25 years.

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

[Redskins Rick]

It appears to me that Manfred isn't denying his testimony, but is upset that they leaked it. In any event, I'm sure he's an honest and upstanding citizen and will serve well for the next 25 years.

Sent from my LG-D851 using Tapatalk

I dont expect too much out of any commish, the baseball owners won't allow it.

[hoosiers]

To an extent, wasn't the Nats not getting their absolute fair share of the tv revenues the cost to move to DC.. in the middle of O's country? Why was that an acceptable consolation then but not now?

There seems to be some dispute regarding the application of the formula in question. Hey, I am an Os fan and I want what is best for the Os, but I have reservations about all of this because, from various sources and my own opinion, of the following:

- the Os ownership is making an absolute fortune from MASN

- that fortunate does not appear to be going into Os payroll, but ownerships' pockets. Everyone is entitled to a profit IMO,, but PA said the network would support the team and improve their footing and we see MASN keeping rights fees below market for both the Os and the Nats and MASN ownership receiving exorbitant profits

- MASN does not appear to be well-run from a financial perspective and appears to be charging well-below market rates for a network with two teams. Charging market rates would provide more $ for MASN and presumably for the Os and Nats.

- the $ being given to the Nats for rights fees is far, far below their market value.

- MASN was set up to protect Os fans and PA, but we are seeing that a competitive team in Bmore is probably generating substantial profits on its own even with a team in DC. I would speculate that PA is making more profits today (with the new TV deal, higher attendance, higher MASN fees and ticket price increases and possibly home playoff games) than at any point in his ownership (or at least the last 15 years) and that the MASN profits to Os ownership may even exceed those profits.

IF most of the above speculation is true, I have a hard time keeping the Nats financially under our thumb especially with a payroll that is under $110M. Especially with PA/Os ownership likely enjoying profits in the $50M-$80+M range between the Os and MASN and because PA is probably going to net over $500M in profits when he decides to sell the team/MASN.

[DrungoHazewood]

I dont expect too much out of any commish, the baseball owners won't allow it.

I'm not sure why they still call the position "commissioner" anymore. It used to be a kind of impartial position that kind of arbitrated between owners, players, the good of the game, etc. At least at times. When Bowie Kuhn wasn't scheming, or Ueberroth colluding. But now no one denies that the commish is just the lead representative of the owners. There is no one who is tasked with overseeing baseball from an impartial position. Well, besides Riccardo Fraccari. But I don't see him overruling Bud or Manfred.

Or maybe commissioner always meant leader of the owners, and Landis and his legacy skewed baseball's implementation for a while.

[Redskins Rick]

I'm not sure why they still call the position "commissioner" anymore. It used to be a kind of impartial position that kind of arbitrated between owners, players, the good of the game, etc. At least at times. When Bowie Kuhn wasn't scheming, or Ueberroth colluding. But now no one denies that the commish is just the lead representative of the owners. There is no one who is tasked with overseeing baseball from an impartial position. Well, besides Riccardo Fraccari. But I don't see him overruling Bud or Manfred.

Or maybe commissioner always meant leader of the owners, and Landis and his legacy skewed baseball's implementation for a while.

Some how the commish of the other sports, managed to make decisions for their sport, and not be just a mouth piece for the owners.

[weams]

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-08-15/news/bs-md-sun-investigates-orioles-20140814_1_june-30-decision-cash-reserves-washington-nationals

A lawyer for the Orioles-controlled Mid-Atlantic Sports Network told a judge the network's cash reserves would be nearly eliminated and its operating margin dangerously thin if a June 30 decision by a league committee is allowed to stand, according to court documents.

"It would cut their cash reserves to virtually zero," MASN attorney Thomas J. Hall told the judge Aug. 7. "It would cut their operating margins as thin as thin could be."

By the end of the year, MASN would owe the club about $19 million if the decision is sustained, the Nationals have said in court documents. That is the difference between what MASN now pays and what the committee said should be paid.

[weams]

"I'll resolve the motion for a preliminary injunction on the 18th," New York Supreme Court Judge Lawrence K. Marks told attorneys at the Aug. 7 hearing, according to a court transcript. "You will have a decision that day."

The ruling by the league committee would boost the TV-rights fees that MASN pays to the Washington Nationals to about $60 million a year from about $40 million. MASN and the Orioles share the network, and the Baltimore team currently gets 85 percent of the profits under a 2005 agreement intended to compensate the Orioles for losing exclusive rights to the Washington market when the Nationals arrived.

It's today.

[weams]

MASN, for all intents and purposes ? still weren?t happy with the amount the Nationals received. They filed a successful restraining order stopping baseball from forcing MASN to agree to it, instead seeking a decision in a court of law.

It?s difficult to believe after all this, Selig is going to turn around and reward the Orioles with an All-Star game. And he may not be particularly pleased with the Nationals? greedy appetite in this process, either.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/aug/10/will-nats-orioles-masn-dispute-keep-all-stars-away/?page=2#ixzz3AlLiShCp

Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

[Redskins Rick]

http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2014-08-15/news/bs-md-sun-investigates-orioles-20140814_1_june-30-decision-cash-reserves-washington-nationals

I dont trust business and the way some of the companies play with their books.

But, before everybody gets in an uproar. I have no evidence that MASN is one of those.

But, how many times, when businesses make a claim about losing money or not having enough money, its not always above board.

Look back at the movie, Coming to America, cost to produce 19 million, gross 150 million, and yet the studios with their bookkeeping methods, try to claim the picture lost money.

Just one of many many cases over the years.