MASN dispute update

[bpilktree]

The organization seems not to care much about the fans.  Between the lack of spending on players which I understand to a point but then you have to do other stuff to get them interested.  I shouldn’t have to use the Yankees feed and watch a game in spring training.  

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Beetlejuice said:

March 17th came and went.  Anything happen?

They delayed the briefing schedule a few more weeks - final one due April 4.   Even once that happens, we’ll have to wait a while for oral argument and then a decision.  

[Frobby]

Here’s something reported in the Post today that either I didn’t know, or had forgotten: 

“People around baseball suspect that the Angelos family is preparing to sell the Orioles. If the latter happens, you know what becomes of the Nationals’ broadcast rights? They transfer back to the Nationals.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/04/24/masn-nationals-owners/

Assuming that’s true, that significantly impacts the potential sales price of the Orioles (including their ownership interest in MASN).   And the Nats’ for that matter.

 

 

[Beetlejuice]

1 hour ago, Frobby said:

They transfer back to the Nationals.

I don’t know how that slipped under the radar.  You would think those terms would have been spelled out in the settlement agreement.

As schewed as Angelos has been portrayed, I can’t imagine him accepting that condition, as it undercuts the value of the franchise.  But maybe Selig guaranteeing a floor price was the counterweight to that term?  What was that price?  IIRC it was one helluva plum for Angelos to get, but is a pittance to what the Os are now valued.  A sale now would be in everyone’s interest.  Especially fans.

[spiritof66]

2 hours ago, Beetlejuice said:

I don’t know how that slipped under the radar.  You would think those terms would have been spelled out in the settlement agreement.

As schewed as Angelos has been portrayed, I can’t imagine him accepting that condition, as it undercuts the value of the franchise.  But maybe Selig guaranteeing a floor price was the counterweight to that term?  What was that price?  IIRC it was one helluva plum for Angelos to get, but is a pittance to what the Os are now valued.  A sale now would be in everyone’s interest.  Especially fans.

I don't have my copy with me, but the publicly available version of the settlement agreement was heavily redacted -- that is, it was blacked out. That may have been the case with this provision since it doesn't bear on the dispute that was arbitrated and then litigated.

[TradeAngelos]

One would think that stripping down the payroll to a roll of toilet paper, and saving a few grand on travel here and there would signal some type of pending sale.  But this is the Orioles we are talking about, you could argue they have been "prepping for a sale" for.....4 years now.  I'll believe it when I see it.  

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

8 hours ago, Frobby said:

Here’s something reported in the Post today that either I didn’t know, or had forgotten: 

“People around baseball suspect that the Angelos family is preparing to sell the Orioles. If the latter happens, you know what becomes of the Nationals’ broadcast rights? They transfer back to the Nationals.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2022/04/24/masn-nationals-owners/

Assuming that’s true, that significantly impacts the potential sales price of the Orioles (including their ownership interest in MASN).   And the Nats’ for that matter.

 

 

Told you sale has been in the works. Heard something could be lined up too, but not as confident on that front.

[Frobby]

7 hours ago, Beetlejuice said:

I don’t know how that slipped under the radar.  You would think those terms would have been spelled out in the settlement agreement..

I have a copy and will look.  

[Pushmonkey]

55 minutes ago, NelsonCruuuuuz said:

Told you sale has been in the works. Heard something could be lined up too, but not as confident on that front.

Nashville?

[NelsonCruuuuuz]

20 minutes ago, Pushmonkey said:

Nashville?

They are staying in Baltimore.  

[Oriolesfan1988]

5 minutes ago, NelsonCruuuuuz said:

They are staying in Baltimore.  

This and I doubt MLB would approve a move to Nashville.

Edited April 25, 2022 by Oriolesfan1988

[Frobby]

2 hours ago, NelsonCruuuuuz said:

Told you sale has been in the works. Heard something could be lined up too, but not as confident on that front.

The article doesn’t corroborate a sale.  “People around baseball suspect” isn’t exactly proof that something is happening.   I’m not saying nothing is happening; just saying this article doesn’t add anything to that topic.  

[OsFanSinceThe80s]

41 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The article doesn’t corroborate a sale.  “People around baseball suspect” isn’t exactly proof that something is happening.   I’m not saying nothing is happening; just saying this article doesn’t add anything to that topic.  

 

[Justinlstn]

Getting my hopes up that this reign may come to end.

[spiritof66]

Everything the Orioles have done (that I know about) makes sense if you believe, as I do, that (a) the heir(s) who inherit the team on Peter Angelos's death plan to sell it because they're not interested in devoting their time and their inherited wealth to running the Orioles or because they don't believe a majority of team owners will vote to allow another 30 years or so of Angelos ownership of the Orioles, and (b) the team isn't going to be sold while Peter Angelos is alive, whether because of the additional tax burden that would impose or because he won't have any part of a sale, or both. (The only thing the Orioles have done that may not fit is forking over $7 million for Lyles. That may have been motivated to as a way to postpone the promotion the promotion of some of the better pitchers in the system, but it's an outlier for sure.) As an update, if you were the Angeloses and thought you'd be seeking the owners' approval for a transfer of the team, and your team had been attacked by owners and players (and probably umpires, concessionaires and grounds crews as well, it wouldn't make sense to ratchet up the tanking. But that's what the Orioles have done.

By the way, I don't think there's a chance in hell that the Orioles will move to Nashville. I noticed the other day, and I don't think it's been reported here, that Dave Stewart is heading up a group that's seeking to obtain an expansion team in Nashville, whenever MLB expands -- probably soon after resolving the Oakland and Tampa Bay messes. (With the Commissioner now getting more  involved, that could take another twenty years.) The Stewart group would be the first MLB ownership group with a majority held by minorities. I think that group would have a millipede's worth of legs up on the Orioles as prospective owners of the Nashville Cats, or whatever they would be called. 

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/2022/04/19/nashville-mlb-dave-stewart-diverse-ownership-initiative/7374741001/