With the information that the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles have reached an settlement on one portion of their long-disputed MASN tv rights deal, the highway to the sale of the Nationals — probably to Wizards and Capitals proprietor Transparent Ted Leonsis — has had one vital roadblock eliminated.
Speculation is that although there’s a second five-year span of shared cable cash to nonetheless be negotiated between the 2 warring factions.
The breakthrough on a bitter and prolonged battle over the five-year share from 2012 to 2016 might make it simpler to succeed in a deal on the following determine, although I’m not positive why anybody can be optimistic about that. The Angelos household has proven they’d reasonably pay attorneys than the Lerners.
Still, the $100 million settlement that presumably will discover its manner sometime quickly into the Lerner household pockets ought to crack among the ice on the frozen gross sales talks for the workforce.
The final time we visited that situation, the main contender to purchase the workforce — really, seemingly the one horse within the race — was a bunch led by Transparent Ted and his deep-pocketed accomplice, David Rubenstein.
OK, don’t all stand and cheer directly. Did you learn what I wrote? Transparent Ted could also be one step nearer to being the Washington Nationals proprietor.
Hey, is that this factor on? Hello? Hello? Testing?
Unlike when the day comes when Josh Harris and his group purchase the Commanders from Dan Snyder, a sale of the baseball workforce to Transparent Ted received’t possible set off celebrations within the streets.
While his inventory in Cava — the restaurant chain that Transparent Ted backed along with his Revolution Growth fund again in 2015 — hit a $4.7 billion valuation of their market debut final week, his inventory on the road is at an all-time low.
My podcast accomplice, Kevin Sheehan, carried out a ballot on his radio present on Team 980, posing this query: “Do you want Ted Leonsis to buy the Nationals?” With 1,308 votes, the result was 68% voting no.
Ouch.
The persevering with state of failure of the Wizards, the newest episode being the bungling of the $251 million Bradley Beal contract extension final 12 months, adopted by the Beal commerce this week, dinged Transparent Ted’s popularity. The harm will possible solely worsen when basketball season opens and the Wizards embark on their several-season journey of shedding in an area that may resemble a mausoleum.
Transparent Ted often is the solely man in Washington who doesn’t need Dan Snyder to promote the Commanders.
Transparent Ted, although, wants the baseball workforce, along with his rebranding of NBC Sports Washington into an expanded Monumental Network, he desperately wants these 162 baseball video games for programming. The Capitals have a restricted viewers and no one goes to be watching the bottom-feeding Wizards.
The Lerners, who due to the MASN dispute had shut down the sale after placing the workforce available on the market in April 2022, will presumably entertain sale talks once more as soon as the second a part of the MASN negotiations come to a conclusion — every time that might be.
Then comes the precise gross sales discussions with the Lerners, which can rival the MASN negotiations. Or, like I’ve mentioned earlier than, have you ever ever tried to purchase a field of paper clips from the household?
Since the workforce went up on the market, there have been a minimum of two different baseball franchises that had their valuations set. The Texas Rangers, with 10% of their workforce up on the market, had been valued at $3 billion, in line with Forbes. And a 16.25percentstake within the Philadelphia Phillies was offered just lately, placing the valuation of that group at $2.8 billion.
The Los Angeles Angels had been available on the market in 2022, however proprietor Arte Moreno modified his thoughts and pulled them off. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Moreno mentioned he acquired three bids for the workforce that had been greater than the $2.4 billion the New York Mets had been bought for in 2019, the final Major League Baseball franchise offered. The Angels had been valued at $2.7 billion within the newest Forbes itemizing.
The Nationals, in line with Forbes, are valued at $2 billion. Transparent Ted’s group reportedly provided the Lerners “more than $2 billion” final 12 months, the Washington Post reported.
The Nationals usually are not within the neighborhood of the Mets, Angels, Rangers or Phillies. But the Lerners might not see it that manner, and conceivably may maintain onto the workforce till they get their worth.
There received’t be any parade for that final result, both.
⦁ You can hear Thom Loverro on The Kevin Sheehan Show podcast.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com