MASN dispute update

[Roll Tide]

On 6/9/2022 at 1:02 PM, Beetlejuice said:

They published a correction.  If this place allowed PMs I’d tell you more

It does for plus members. You should consider joining.

[Frobby]

3 hours ago, Roll Tide said:

It does for plus members. You should consider joining.

We actually had a PM exchange.  

[Roll Tide]

30 minutes ago, Frobby said:

We actually had a PM exchange.  

So he can’t initiate or just didn’t know how?

[Frobby]

Apparently Diamond Sports Group, which has the local TV rights for 14 major league teams, is likely to go into bankruptcy.  Fangraphs has a long article about the reasons why, mostly dry and boring stuff about now LBO’s work.  But I did find this tidbit interesting:

“I’d be most worried about the future of local broadcast rights for teams that recently signed new deals with DSG. The Brewers signed a new deal in 2021, though the exact terms haven’t been reported. The Marlins signed a new one worth between $40 million and $50 million per year at the same time. The Royals signed a deal worth roughly $50 million per year in 2020. The Tigers signed a new deal after the 2021 season worth more than $50 million per year, though the terms aren’t public there either.”

https://blogs.fangraphs.com/diamond-sports-groups-bankruptcy-could-rock-the-baseball-revenue-boat/

The arbitration award in the MASN case has MASN paying both the Nats and O’s in excess of $60 mm for their TV rights.

[spiritof66]

Oral argument in the New York Court of Appeals is scheduled for Tuesday, March 14. There is a vacancy on the court, leaving six judges and making a tie possible. A tie would go the Nats since they won in the Appellate Division -- they don't play extra innings.

https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/calendar/2023/monthly/Mar23CaseIssues.pdf

[Frobby]

Here’s a bit more on the looming Diamond Sports Group bankruptcy.  Interesting comments from Manfred that could bear on MASN:

Commissioner Rob Manfred told reporters last week that MLB will be prepared to take over telecasts if Diamond cannot broadcast regular season games. “Our goal would be to make games available not only within the traditional cable bundle but on the digital side as well,” he added.

Exactly what an MLB-run version of local telecasts would look like remains to be seen. Still, the situation presents MLB with an opportunity to rethink the regional sports network model that yielded massive revenue for organizations over the past few decades but has succumbed to cord-cutting. Manfred said in December that the model is not sustainable, but untangling broadcast rights from big contracts is not easy, meaning the model is not easy to rethink or reshape quickly. It might give MLB a pathway to start solving the issue of local blackouts experienced by fans who do not have cable and try to watch games via streaming by paying for a subscription to MLB.tv.

Either way, change is coming to the way MLB delivers its product to customers. That change — and the financial ramifications it has for the game — might be here by Opening Day.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2023/02/14/spring-training-major-storylines/

 

[Can_of_corn]

I wonder if MLB is going to help out the other teams that are part of Diamond umbrella?

[NCRaven]

Really appreciate the updates on all aspects of the MASN litigation.  Hard for the layman to keep up with the news.

[spiritof66]

For those who can stand an update -- there must be a few of you out there -- New York State's highest court, the New York Court of Appeals, is scheduled to hear oral argument tomorrow afternoon at 2:00. The argument  is scheduled for twenty minutes.

According to its website, the Court of Appeals posts videos of arguments on the Monday after the argument (that is, a week from today). I'll circulate that when it's available unless someone does that before I get to it.

Here's the Court's summary of the case: https://www.nycourts.gov/ctapps/summaries/Daily/2023/March14.pdf

[Going Underground]

Hhh

Edited March 13, 2023 by Going Underground

[Going Underground]

Just now, Going Underground said:

Here is the link for the case  tomorrow 

The hearing is set to start at 2 p.m. in the New York Court of Appeals. Each side will have 10 minutes to argue their case. [Click this link for a livestream of the court proceedings.]

Edited March 13, 2023 by Going Underground

[Aristotelian]

21 minutes ago, Going Underground said:

The hearing is set to start at 2 p.m. in the New York Court of Appeals. Each side will have 10 minutes to argue their case. [Click this link for a livestream of the court proceedings.]

Lol, so we can watch the court case but not spring training games. 

[Too Tall]

1 minute ago, Aristotelian said:

Lol, so we can watch the court case but not spring training games. 

There's a CLOCK too!

[Moose Milligan]

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35859540/tv-rights-feud-os-nats-reaches-ny-supreme-court

 

This is going to the NY Burrito Supreme Court.  

Game on, mother****ers!  Do the Nats have what it takes to go the distance here?  Looking forward to seeing the outcome of the wrestling match between these two groups of fine legal minds.

I'd be more inclined to care here if these lawyers had to battle it out in a tag-team ladder match WWE style, or better yet an American Gladiators style competition where they have several different events they need to play in like Assault where they have a full minute to hit a target using different weapons while dodging tennis balls being shot at them at 100 mph or Joust where they have to battle each other with pugil sticks for 30 seconds and not fall off the platform.

If you'd want to add a wrinkle to this, each legal team could draft an original American Gladiators member as the ringer for their team and get to use that Gladiator in only two separate events.  If I'm the Orioles, I'm going with Nitro.

[Frobby]

20 minutes ago, Moose Milligan said:

https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/35859540/tv-rights-feud-os-nats-reaches-ny-supreme-court

 

This is going to the NY Burrito Supreme Court.  

Game on, mother****ers!  Do the Nats have what it takes to go the distance here?  Looking forward to seeing the outcome of the wrestling match between these two groups of fine legal minds.

I'd be more inclined to care here if these lawyers had to battle it out in a tag-team ladder match WWE style, or better yet an American Gladiators style competition where they have several different events they need to play in like Assault where they have a full minute to hit a target using different weapons while dodging tennis balls being shot at them at 100 mph or Joust where they have to battle each other with pugil sticks for 30 seconds and not fall off the platform.

If you'd want to add a wrinkle to this, each legal team could draft an original American Gladiators member as the ringer for their team and get to use that Gladiator in only two separate events.  If I'm the Orioles, I'm going with Nitro.

Not much you can divine from this article about how the Court was leaning.   I’ll have to watch the video when it becomes available.   

Edited March 15, 2023 by Frobby