MLB Teams Cashing in on TV Rights
SPORTSBRIEFCASE on 02-10-2012 
The USA Today ran a nice feature Friday on the large TV rights deals that baseball franchises have been negotiating. Two of the largest deals, recently have been the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim and the Texas Rangers. The Rangers completed its deal in 2010 with Fox Sports Southwest that was believed to be worth $3 billion over 20 years. The Angels inked their contract this past December for a figure slightly higher than those terms.
The Angels and Rangers were big spenders in this year's free agent market. The Angels backed up the truck and unloaded $240 million on Albert Pujols and the Rangers invested $111 million in Japanese product Yu Darvish.
It signals a power shift at the top of Major League Baseball. The past decade has seen a 1-2 show put on by the Yankees and Red Sox trying to outbid one another. The Yankees are still the kings when it comes to revenue. Its YES network is the most lucrative regional sports network in baseball and the Yankees own 34% of it.
The next wave of teams expected to negotiate large TV deals are the LA Dodgers, Phillies, Mariners, Diamondbacks, and Nationals. The Dodgers are expected to be sold in the coming months for over $1 billion and its TV package which expires after the 2013 season is expected to bring in $4-5 billion. The Phillies are predicted to top that figure with its deal expiring in 2015.
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Forbes Sports Money on the YES Network has more:
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