Wizards, Caps Renewal With CSN Mid-Atlantic A Done Deal; Monumental Gets Stake In RSN

Eleven months after NBC Sports Group reached a broad agreement to renew its local-rights deals with the Wizards and Capitals, a pact finally has been signed. A formal announcement is coming this afternoon on a deal that gives the teams’ owner, Monumental Sports & Entertainment, an equity stake in CSN Mid-Atlantic. NBC Sports Group will get a minority stake in the Monumental Sports Network OTT platform that eventually will be launched. Sources said Monumental will pick up a 33% equity interest in the RSN. Monumental will occupy two of the six seats on the CSN Mid-Atlantic BOD; NBC Sports Group will have two of the six seats on the Monumental Sports Network board. Taking out upfront payments and equity considerations, the Capitals license fee will adjust to an annual average of $28M per year from $13M; the Wizards will increase to a $35M-per-year average from $17M. The deal runs through the '31-32 NBA and NHL seasons, sources said.

INNOVATIVE DEAL: Both NBC and Monumental execs describe the deal as innovative, especially since it sets up a localized OTT platform to be complementary to a basic cable channel instead of competitive. All Wizards and Capitals games will appear on CSN Mid-Atlantic; the OTT channel will not carry either of them. The subscription-based Monumental Sports Network, which is expected to launch soon, will carry games from the local WNBA and AFL teams both owned by Monumental (plus an NBA D-League team that Monumental wants to bring to the DC market). “This deal is a one-of-a-kind deal, at least of the deals that we’ve been a part of in the markets where we operate,” said NBC Sports Regional Networks President David Preschlack. "We don't think there’s anything like it relative to how we partner with Monumental.” Because both companies have ownership stakes in the other, they will market and promote programming on both platforms, according to MS&E Founder, Chair, CEO & Majority Owner Ted Leonsis. “The idea is for both networks to live side-by-side,” Leonsis said. “We can live in both the cable and OTT worlds in a very synergistic way. We’ll learn together. To have both networks live in harmony and there is equity ownership and board management that is common is very, very innovative.”

DECIDED AGAINST NEW RSN: Leonsis said he considered keeping his rights and launching his own RSN in the market, but "wouldn't say that we went far down the road because we’ve been having these conversations for a couple of years." He said, "It just took longer because they’re a really big company.” Leonsis said an OTT platform is perfect for sports like the WNBA, AFL and D-League, which do not bring the mass audiences to RSNs. Leonsis: "We have a fulcrum of new sports, or different sports, that probably weren’t right long-term for a cable plant that had mass reach." From NBC Sports Group’s point-of-view, these are the type of deals it wants to make, especially on the local level. “The companies complement one another well,” Preschlack said. “We need to be looking at deals going forward where we can serve fans as best we can and in as many ways as we can and in ways that complement each other."