Eventually there will come a day when the Washington Nationals won’t be on the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network. Major League Baseball has got to stop sending the Lerner family checks to financially compensate them for the bad television deal they were forced to sign with Orioles owner Peter Angelos in order to enter his broadcast turf. The whole thing is a mess and likely won’t be fixed until after commissioner Bud Selig is gone, but mark my words: it’s going to happen — even if it doesn’t end pretty.
The next logical question would be, where would the Nats go? Would they sell their TV rights to a channel like FOX Sports, as the Dodgers have done in their multi-billion dollar deal? Would they start their own regional sports network? Is Comcast Sports D.C. the best fit?
All seem to be realistic possibilities, but it’s a dark horse fourth contender that intrigues me the most – Ted Leonsis’ Monumental Network.
In its current state, Monumental Network provides written, audio and video coverage of the Leonsis-owned Washington Capitals, Wizards and Mystics. The website also features news on the Georgetown Hoyas, Baltimore Orioles and Ravens, D.C. United, Maryland Terrapins, Washington Nationals, Redskins and Kastles. MonumentalNetwork.com is much like a D.C. version of MASNSports.com, just without the television back end.
It also has a collection of affiliate sites, from fan-produced podcasts from the Ball Hogs Radio Network to Pressbox D.C. and Baltimore to individual team-specific websites like Caps Today. There’s a lot of information from a lot of different voices and sources under one seemingly half-finished roof. But it’s definitely coming together.
The next phase of Monumental Network has to be television and that’s likely the reason that Mark Lerner is part owner in Leonsis’ new company. It’s no secret that the Nationals want out of their deal with MASN and Leonsis wants control of the broadcast rights for his teams. It’s my belief that eventually Monumental Network will feature more live game broadcasts and original content that both CSN Washington and MASN combined.
Could you imagine a new local RSN carrying the NBA, NHL and MLB franchise in the nation’s eighth largest television market? That’s the goal for Monumental Network and I’m guessing that reality has to keep the big wigs CSN and MASN up late at night.
Competition is a great thing though. In Baltimore, the Nationals leaving MASN will certainly have financial implications for the Orioles as they are dependent on the Nats to create revenue as a team in the 27th rank TV market in the country. But losing the Nats should push MASN to more original content on the channel. Besides game broadcasts, pre and post game shows and a weekday news show, MASN isn’t much more than reruns of ESPN News and infomercials. The online magazine show Caps Red Line is just one of many examples of the type content that MASN should be producing for Orioles fans and broadcasting to their viewers daily. With a little local competition, maybe we’ll start to see some shows like that one.
MASN will be forced to grab viewers through more original content rather than relying on half of their audience from D.C. fans. Financially, this will greatly affect the Orioles primary revenue stream, but after reading Jonah Keri’s tell-all piece about Peter Angelos’ lack of spending, it’s my personal belief that the Orioles owner has undervalued his payroll due to the reality of losing the Nats on his RSN. In all likelihood, changes to the O’s owner’s spending habits will be subtle, if noticeable at all.
Who knows how far away we are from this actually becoming a reality? I do think that baseball’s next commissioner will be forced to deal with the Orioles-Nationals TV spat, but it could take years to finally resolve. When the Nats do leave though, look for Monumental Network on a cable provider near you.
