Nats: D.C.'s Second-Favorite Baseball Team

One last indignity before the year ends

OK, so maybe this Nationals thing might take a while to catch on.  The Nationals aren't even this city's most popular baseball team, at least according to eyeballs, says sportsbusinessdaily.com.

The Orioles drew more viewers to TV in Washington than the Nationals did, hon.  Second class citizens in their own city?  That's right up there with the "Natinals" fiasco.

Overall, reports SBD, the Orioles got 16,000 miserable saps to watch their lousy product in D.C.  The Nats, meanwhile, dug up another 14,000 gullible fools to watch their dogcrap product.

That 30,000 total?  That's still among the lowest in the league of any pro city.  (Although depending on who's pitching for the O's or the Nats, calling it "professional" might be a bit of a stretch.)

Heck, even 29,000 people dragged themselves to the TV to watch the stinkin' Royals.

It's a good news/bad news sort of thing for Peter "C. Montgomery" Angelos, owner of the O's.  He also owns the Nats' TV rights and owns the controlling share of MASN.

While I'm sure he's pleased as punch that his O's are more popular in D.C. than the Nats are, that all evaporates when he's writing that giant $25 million check to the Nats for their TV rights.  They're top 10 in TV rights, but bottom of the league in eyes; that's not a winning combo for ol' Petey.

MASN is trumpeting that the Nats TV ratings are way up, a massive 67 percent increase.  But if a bum on the street finds a dime on the sidewalk to go with the one in his pocket, his personal wealth doubled, too.

Although if things continue to climb at this pace, the Nats might be approaching the major league average by the time their lease is up, freeing them to move to Portland.

Copyright FREEL - NBC Local Media
Contact Us