MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on Thursday said MASN in the long-running media rights dispute has engaged in a “pattern of conduct” to avoid terms of the ’05 settlement agreement that paved the way for the Expos to relocate to DC. A New York Supreme Court judge last November vacated a MLB Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee ruling in favor of the Nationals, and since then the parties have engaged in a legal battle to determine the next venue. The Nationals and MLB are seeking a return to the RSDC, while MASN wants neutral-third party venue. “It is important to bear in mind the fundamentals,” Manfred said. “The fundamentals are that the Orioles agreed the RSDC would set the rights fees for MASN and the Orioles every five years. The Orioles have engaged in a pattern of conduct designed to avoid that agreement being effectuated." MASN quickly shot back with a statement of their own, insisting it was the league that has ignored the tenets of the agreement, which calls for the RSDC to determine the fair market value of the rights “using the RSDC’s established methodology for evaluating all other related party telecast agreements in the industry.” MASN in getting the original RSDC rights fee ruling for the Nationals vacated successfully showed how Proskauer’s representation of the league, Nationals and RSDC committee members created “an utter lack of concern for fairness.” The RSN said, "Contrary to the Commissioner’s statement, a New York court actually found it was MLB’s pattern of conduct, including its pervasive conflicts of interest that incurably compromised the telecast rights fees arbitration and deprived MASN of any semblance of fairness in the proceedings. Moreover, MASN and the Orioles never agreed to allow the RSDC to set the telecast rights fees at its sole discretion. The 2005 Settlement agreement expressly required the RSDC to apply a specific methodology that had long been used by MLB to determine the Nationals’ rights fees. MLB and the RSDC refused to apply that contractual methodology in this arbitration. Regrettably, the Commissioner’s statement again makes it clear that MASN cannot receive a fair, objective and impartial hearing before MLB or the RSDC on these matters.”
