For the first time in the franchise’s history, the Washington Nationals will have free rein over their local media rights inventory next season. But MASN, the Baltimore Orioles-controlled regional sports network that has aired Nats games since the franchise moved to Washington D.C. in 2005, is seemingly prepared to make a run at retaining the team’s rights.
Catie Griggs, MASN’s president of business operations, appeared on the SBJ Sports Media Podcast earlier this week and said the network is “certainly” interested in keeping Nationals rights, despite recently mediating a years-long dispute with the franchise that allows them to take their rights to the open market.
“The Nationals have been a great partner,” Griggs said. “We recognize that we have fans across the D.C. and Baltimore areas. We’d love to keep them, but we recognize we want to make sure that we’re keeping them in a way that makes sense for both of us. So, we look forward to having that conversation later this year.”
One potential suitor for Nationals rights is Ted Leonsis’ D.C.-based Monumental Sports Network, which airs the Washington Wizards and Washington Capitals in the D.C. market. Leonsis has also been linked to a potential purchase of the Nationals, though talks have recently stalled, which may lessen his appetite for Nats rights.
Earlier this week, MASN launched a direct-to-consumer streaming service, MASN+, allowing Orioles and Nationals fans to purchase access to games without a pay TV subscription.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for a long time,” Griggs said. “We know this has been a pain point not only for Orioles fans, but also for Nationals fans. And as soon as we had the ability to get into a place where we could actually roll this out, we’ve been running as fast and as hard as we can to get it out as quickly as possible.”
With the launch of MASN+, the Houston Astros become the final MLB team without a direct-to-consumer streaming service.