Area TV may not carry opener

The sweetheart offer, however, has not produced an agreement. Some baseball sources speculate that Mr. Angelos is motivated, in part, by a desire to mute — via a late-arriving TV deal — the Nationals’ efforts to market their team.

Mr. Angelos was the only owner of a Major League Baseball team to vote against the relocation of the Montreal Expos to the District, a move he publicly opposed for years.

Mr. Angelos and Mr. DuPuy, in New York yesterday for more negotiations, were not available to comment yesterday. Mr. Tavares has no direct role in those negotiations.

Mr. DuPuy’s confidence that Monday’s game would be televised prompted sources to speculate that a contingency plan is ready should MLB fail to strike a deal with Mr. Angelos. However, no such plan has been disclosed.

Industry sources said Comcast SportsNet, an Orioles TV rights holder, still hopes to broadcast the Nationals opener. CSN also is considered a likely home for Nationals broadcasts.

CSN has experience producing games, particularly National Hockey League playoff contests, on short notice. Comcast’s corporate headquarters are in Philadelphia, increasing the resources and manpower that the network could send quickly to the Nationals-Phillies game.

But with no direct precedent for what the Nationals are facing, getting the game on TV will be anything but simple.

“It’s not impossible, but we’re all looking at a big, big challenge,” one local TV executive said.

The Nationals also have another solution available: The club could strike a deal that allows the simulcast of the Phillies’ broadcast on a Washington-area station.

However, executives for the Nationals; Comcast, the Phillies’ primary rights holder; and KYW-TV, the Philadelphia CBS affiliate that will show the opener, said there have been no discussions of such a plan.

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