The Neighbor Problem
When the Montreal Expos packed up and moved to Washington in 2005, they didn’t just bring baseball back to a city that had been without it since 1971. They walked straight into the Orioles of Baltimore’s backyard. That collision created MASN—the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network—and set off a legal war that would last 20 years.
The numbers started modest. From 2005 to 2006, the Nationals of Washington and the Orioles of Baltimore each earned 20 million dollars annually from their broadcasting rights. By 2007, that jumped to 25 million. Both teams had a deal. Both had money coming in. But nobody knew how long the peace would last.
When 25 Million Dollars Stopped Being Enough
After 2011, the agreement fell apart. The core fight was simple: how much were those rights actually worth? The Nationals of Washington, a newer team with a growing fanbase in a major market, believed their share should be higher. The Orioles of Baltimore, protecting their turf and their revenue, disagreed. The dispute went to court.
While lawyers argued, something unexpected happened: the Nationals of Washington couldn’t be sold. Mark D. Lerner, who had owned the team since its arrival in the capital, wanted to move on. Buyers came looking. But no serious investor was going to write a check for 2 billion dollars for a franchise when its television revenue—a core part of any team’s value—was locked in litigation. The uncertainty was poison. The sale froze.
Twenty years. That’s how long the Nationals of Washington sat in limbo, unable to change hands because of a broadcasting dispute that neither owner could resolve. In that time, other teams changed hands multiple times. Ownership groups came and went. But Washington’s franchise was stuck.
The Deal That Came in March
On March 3, 2025, it ended. The two sides reached an agreement. Starting in 2026, the Nationals of Washington will broadcast on Nationals.TV, a platform produced by Major League Baseball itself. The Orioles of Baltimore keep their own arrangement. The Nationals are no longer shackled to MASN, and the path to a sale opens.
This wasn’t a compromise that made everyone happy. It was a resolution that made everyone move forward. Mark D. Lerner finally has a clear answer to the buyer’s question: How much are the TV rights worth? David M. Rubenstein, who had been involved in the ownership structure, and the broader Nationals of Washington organization can now operate without the shadow of litigation hanging over every business decision.
The shift to Nationals.TV means the franchise controls its own broadcast destiny. No middleman. No shared revenue disputes with a regional partner. That clarity is what a buyer needs to make an offer that sticks.
Why It Still Matters Now
The MASN fight was never really about television. It was about what television is worth in modern baseball—and who gets paid when a market overlaps. The Nationals of Washington arrived in a region that the Orioles of Baltimore had owned for 50 years. Both teams had legitimate claims to those fans and that advertising money. The law couldn’t sort it out quickly. Business couldn’t move forward until it did.
Now, in 2026, the answer is written. The Nationals of Washington own their broadcast future. That matters not just for Mark D. Lerner or the next owner, but for how baseball values franchises in overlapping markets. It’s a template. It’s a precedent. And it’s finally closed.
The number: A 20-year dispute over TV rights between the Nationals and Orioles froze Washington’s team sale until March 2025, when the Nationals moved to their own streaming platform.
Ownership data verified as of 2026-08-12.
