The long-running MASN media rights dispute will not be sent back to MLB’s Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee next month after the Orioles-controlled RSN scored another major legal victory yesterday. New York Supreme Court Judge Lawrence Marks issued a partial stay in favor of MASN that formally blocks a bid by the league and the Nationals to revert the matter in early August back to MLB’s internal arbitration panel regarding media rights. MASN last year successfully argued the RSDC acted improperly in its initial review of the dispute, and had a league ruling in favor of the Nationals vacated. That vacatur is now before the court’s appellate division to determine to the proper forum to hear it next. Marks in this latest order said returning the matter to the RSDC while those appeals continue would create a drain on the judicial system. “It is inefficient for a court to have motions and appeals regarding confirmation and vacatur of different arbitration awards, at the same time, all stemming from the same dispute,” Marks wrote in his order. “The conclusion that the parties should not be arbitrating, again, without a final determination [in] the arbitral process or forum, is clear.” The ruling legally enjoins MLB for a second time in the case, and represents the latest in a string of court victories regarding MASN for Orioles Owner Peter Angelos. “As we’ve said consistently, MASN and the Orioles have a fundamental right to a fair, neutral and independent forum to decide this dispute,” said MASN attorney Thomas Hall. The Nationals have argued the MASN dispute and the ongoing inability to capture higher media rights fees has created a significant drag on the its cashflow and team operations.
