The Nationals recently asked the New York State Supreme Court to require MASN to award the club $15.65M on April 1, the latest development in the ongoing media dispute with the Orioles-controlled RSN. The amount is the first ’15 quarterly rights fee payment, as prescribed by an MLB Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee ruling that is now under dispute in the court case. The sought-after installment payment is also $5.1M higher than what MASN plans to pay the Nationals on that date. In a letter to Judge Lawrence Marks, Nationals attorney Stephen Neuwirth said a recent delay in the planned trial in the case from March 2 to May 18 has placed the club “at a competitive disadvantage compared to other teams, and are hamstrung in their ability to invest in efforts to improve the team and the stadium.” MASN attorney Thomas Hall responded the request is in direct violation of a temporary restraining order Marks placed last summer on the RSDC award, pending the outcome of the case. He added the Nationals’ activities in the offseason, including a $210M contract with P Max Scherzer, run in direct contrast to any claim to the club being hamstrung. “The Nationals, operating on the Bortz-calculated telecast rights fees, has been among the most aggressive clubs in signing new players this offseason and has not been harmed by the preservation of the status quo,” Hall wrote. It is not known whether Marks will respond to the letters, particularly since the Nationals’ request is not the form of any legal motion. MASN did offer to place the disputed $5.1M on that quarterly payment in a bond. That sum would add to existing bond of more than $20M representing the ’14 rights fees monies for the Nationals still under dispute.
