Orioles wins the TV rights court case battle against the Nats and MLB

[mdbdotcom]

Justice Lawrence K. Marks vacated the decision and suggested that the parties settle the matter through a "neutral dispute resolution process."

The above, from the Sun on-line article, is very misleading. Justice Marks suggested, in footnote 21 on page 29, only that the parties might use a neutral dispute resolution if the Nats insist on keeping Proskauer as their counsel while Prosjauer is representing MLB in other matters. Not a real-world possibility.

Thanks for the clarification.

[weams]

"If a judge sides with the O's on this, well, I don't know what to say. "

[weams]

[mdbdotcom]

"If a judge sides with the O's on this, well, I don't know what to say. "

Weams, the Cryptic Editor

[weams]

Weams, the Cryptic Editor

Larry, the un-biased jurist.

[mdbdotcom]

Larry, the un-biased jurist.

[Going Underground]

Maybe old man Angelos and old man Lerner can come to an agreement that is good for both sides. A whisper to a scream.

[Can_of_corn]

Maybe old man Angelos and old man Lerner can come to an agreement that is good for both sides. A whisper to a scream.

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[BradyBunch]

EVERYONE said the Orioles would lose this round. EVERYONE.

I said orioles/masn would win in dispute topic. Massive conflict of interest and MLB tried to pull a fast on. Guess people didn't realize it was equatable if PA's firm ruled in favor of the firm in a worker's arb hearing.

[JLee2027]

I would be shocked to see them not at least file, but this will in no way be fast tracked. If they want more money, they will have to negotiate. In the short term. The attempt to bankrupt MASN and negotiate their own rights deal has failed.

That was exactly my conclusion as well. The Nats tried to blow up the TV deal completely by making outrageous demands they knew all along could not be met and then somehow got the arbitration stacked in their favor.

It's tough, but if someone isn't going to negotiate in good faith, there will never be a deal.

[Frobby]

EVERYONE said the Orioles would lose this round. EVERYONE.

Definitely not everyone. There were plenty of people here saying the O's would win. But I wasn't one of them; I thought the odds were against them, though the longer this dragged on, the clearer it was that Justice Marks was taking the Orioles' arguments very seriously.

Now the question is, what have they gained? Will a new arbitration actually come out materially differently? The judge certainly didn't endorse Bortz or mandate that it has to be applied. I don't have time to read the decision before the weekend so for now I'm just relying on what spiritof66 has reported (and I am sure it is an accurate summary).

[weams]

Definitely not everyone. There were plenty of people here saying the O's would win. But I wasn't one of them; I thought the odds were against them, though the longer this dragged on, the clearer it was that Justice Marks was taking the Orioles' arguments very seriously.

Now the question is, what have they gained? Will a new arbitration actually come out materially differently? The judge certainly didn't endorse Bortz or mandate that it has to be applied. I don't have time to read the decision before the weekend so for now I'm just relying on what spiritof66 has reported (and I am sure it is an accurate summary).

I assume that they won a reprieve, and possible dial back of 80+ million dollars. Since the other 80 would be transferred from one owned entity to another. I bet that someone will blink in the next two years. The probable length of time until the next phase would reach an enforced settlement phase. I posit that the Bortz method was neither supported or negated in this ruling. Also, the loans themselves were not determined to be a reason to set aside. As Rifkin had hoped to have supported.

Ultimately, it's a big a win as anyone could have hoped for since the day the board ruled in favor of the Nationals at 60 million.

[MDtransplant757]

That was exactly my conclusion as well. The Nats tried to blow up the TV deal completely by making outrageous demands they knew all along could not be met and then somehow got the arbitration stacked in their favor.

It's tough, but if someone isn't going to negotiate in good faith, there will never be a deal.

The Nats are trying to run the O's out of town, maybe replace them in Montreal. That's what the plan is, only DC is more pricy, the food sucks and so does the stadium when compared to Camden Yards.

[hoosiers]

I like the decision and believe I previously posted that the Os were railroaded in this decision. The decision was more written by the attorneys for MLB and the Nats as opposed to the owners of the Mets, Pirates and Rays. IMO, there is no way that three impartial smart folks (which should have disqualified Wilpon immediately) can come to the decision that MASN should be run at a 5% operating profit or that FMV for the Nats in 2012 was in the vicinity of $55M.

MLB should feel shamed. Manfred tried to pull a Goodell and bully this process through to the end by providing an "utter lack of fairness" in the process and then threatening penalties if someone did not accept the decision.

We'll see how this goes down. I do feel honest efforts should be made to the Nats fair market value - which IMO is not provided by Bortz.

End of day, very frustrating to think the MLB commission became involved in a process designed to bully and show lack of fairness to the Os. Glad they were called out.

[O's are Legends]

To borrow a line from the great Weams: this is all the news Angelos wants heard.