Wizards and Capitals games to be broadcast on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic through 2032

When Monumental Network was created in January 2013, I was quite interested in whether Wizards and Capitals games would be streamed online through that website in future years.

After all, the Capitals' broadcasting rights were to expire after the 2016-17 NHL season and the Wizards' rights would expire in the 2020-21 season. Finally, Mystics home games have been available on Monumental Network since the 2013 season, provided that a user lives within 100 miles of Washington, D.C.

On Monday, John Ourand of the Sports Business Daily reported that Monumental Sports has agreed to extend the Wizards' and Capitals' broadcasting deals with Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic (CSNMA) through the 2031-32 NBA and NHL seasons.

Currently, CSNMA pays an average of $17 million a year to broadcast Wizards games and $13 million a year to broadcast Capitals games. With the new deal, the two teams' rights have more than doubled. Wizards' rights are now worth an average of $35 million a year and the Capitals' rights are worth an average of $28 million per years. These new payouts will be effective in the 2017-18 NBA and NHL seasons.

Monumental will also receive a 33 percent equity interest in CSNMA, which goes along what other CSN regional affiliates have been doing in order to keep their broadcasting rights with sports teams. For example, the ownership groups of the Chicago Bulls, White Sox, and Cubs have equity interests in CSN Chicago, while the Boston Celtics' ownership group has a stake in CSN New England.

This is big news for Monumental Sports since the company has successfully doubled the amount of revenue for Wizards and Capitals games. The ownership stake in CSNMA also shows that Monumental is still moving in the direction toward having its own television channel alongside or with Monumental Network. However, the company is also doing this in a more gradual fashion than what some may have been anticipating.