Details Emerge About Final Orioles Sale Negotiations

Current Baltimore Orioles owner John Angelos apparently forget a key item as he and the state were negotiating the Camden Yards lease.

The Baltimore Orioles are set to have a new majority owner soon — but it wasn’t without its issues.

Earlier this week, the Angelos family agreed to sell the team to a group led by David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti for $1.725 billion. The sale is contingent of the approval of the other 29 team owners and Major League Baseball.

Assuming the sale goes through, Rubenstein, a long-time Orioles fan who is also the co-founder of a private equity firm called The Carlyle Group, will assume control of the team, even though he and Arougheti won’t be the majority owners yet.

Per the agreement, their group — which also includes Baseball Hall of Famer and Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr. — will own 40% of the team, with Rubenstein serving as the controlling owner.

The group will have the option to purchase the remainder of the team from the Angelos family once John Angelos, who bought the team in 1993, passes away. His son, John, currently controls the team.

Once ownership is transferred, John Angelos will serve as a senior advisor.

Rubenstein’s interest in ownership was first reported in December. At the time, John Angelos was negotiating with the state of Maryland to extend the club’s lease at Camden Yards. Those negotiations included Angelos’ desire to acquire land development rights around the ballpark.

Well, the news of John Angelos’ talks with Rubenstein took members of the state’s negotiating team by surprise. Pamela Wood of the Baltimore Banner wrote a piece about the lead-up to the sale, and not only did John Angelos not inform the state there were negotiations but he denied it when confronted with the news by state treasurer Dereck Davis.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore told the Banner that the “transparency that was required — it was not there.”

Maryland state comptroller Brooke Lierman said that “John’s behavior displayed an incredible lack of respect for the state and our role in working with the Baltimore Orioles and our role as the owners of the home of the Baltimore Orioles.” Leirman also said it was “…incredibly disappointing, although, frankly not surprising.”

The hiccup did two things. First, Leirman confirmed to the Banner that the state and the Orioles negotiated a deal that had no bearing on who owned the team.

Second, John Angelos didn’t get the land deal he wanted.