The MASN media rights dispute will now go to a private mediator after the Orioles-controlled RSN and the Nationals were unable to agree on the next steps in the long-running issue. Following last November’s ruling by the New York Supreme Court to vacate a MLB Revenue Sharing Definitions Committee ruling in favor of the Nationals, MASN sought to have the dispute moved before a neutral arbitrator. The Nationals, conversely, want to have the issue returned to the RSDC. But Judge Lawrence Marks instead ordered the sides to select a mediator. Eric Green, a prominent Boston-based mediator who has heard cases involving Microsoft, Enron and Visa among others, will now hear the MASN issue on April 12-13. The parties “chose to go to private mediation and selected their own mediator,” Marks wrote in a court document filed late yesterday. However, Nationals attorney Stephen Neuwirth in a separate court document said that the mediation route would have been imposed by the court if not voluntarily agreed to first by the club and MASN. "Under pressure, the Nationals agreed to mediate,” Neuwirth said. In mediation, the neutral party seeks to facilitate some sort of an agreement between the opposing parties, but does not have authority to impose a decision. Binding arbitration, conversely, would tie the parties to an outcome should that occur in this case. It is not yet known how much the upcoming mediation will focus on the ongoing legal process and timing in the MASN case, as opposed to the core media rights fee dispute itself now in its fifth year. But industry sources said all issues are on the table, and Marks wrote, “the court in no way seeks to discourage or limit counsel from discussing the underlying dispute with the mediator, if they so decide.” MASN has long sought to have the periodic reset of the Nationals rights fees heard by a neutral party, believing MLB’s RSDC is too conflicted to render an objective ruling. The Nationals continue to argue they are receiving below-market rights fees under the MASN settlement structure, to the point of damaging baseball operations.
