Orioles beat Nationals in baseball TV rights dispute - NY judge

By Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Baltimore Orioles persuaded
a New York state judge to throw out an arbitration panel's
ruling that the Washington Nationals deserved millions of
dollars of additional fees for broadcasting their baseball games
on a network controlled by the Orioles.
In a decision on Wednesday, Supreme Court Justice Lawrence
Marks in Manhattan overturned a June 2014 ruling by a Major
League Baseball panel that the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network
should pay the Nationals about $60 million a year, rather than
$40 million.
MASN had obtained broadcast rights to Nationals games after
Orioles owner Peter Angelos agreed to let the Nationals relocate
from Montreal, where they were known as the Expos, starting with
the 2005 season.
The Washington, D.C. area had been considered part of the
Orioles' market since the former Washington Senators relocated
after the 1971 season and became the Texas Rangers.
But the Orioles and Nationals in 2012 were unable to agree
on rights fees, prompting the arbitration and subsequent
litigation.
In ruling for MASN, Marks pointed to evidence that the
arbitration panel might have appeared biased toward the
Nationals.
He noted concerns raised by the Orioles that the law firm
Proskauer Rose represented the Nationals, despite concurrently
representing Major League Baseball and representatives of teams
that made up the arbitration panel.
"MASN and the Orioles have established that their
well-documented concerns fell entirely on deaf ears," he wrote.
Marks suggested that the parties find a neutral arbitrator
to resolve their differences.
A Nationals spokeswoman said the team is "assessing" Marks'
decision.
The Orioles welcomed the decision, after an arbitration that
lacked "fundamental fairness," its lawyer Arnold Weiner said.
"We are hopeful that this fairness will be achieved in a future
and independent process."
Major League Baseball said it is reviewing the decision.
Proskauer Rose was not a defendant in the case.