Orioles Place Right Around League Average in Franchise Value According to New Study

The Baltimore Orioles have not been around as long as some other MLB franchises, but their team valuation is still near league average compared to others.

Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein claps while walking on the field before the game against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. / Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have had a very up and down past few years, going from perennial bottom-feeders at the bottom of the MLB to competing for another postseason berth and building off of their young talented core of players. This turnaround took a decent amount of time, but the fanbase stuck true with the franchise, and now they have been rewarded with a team that is, at minimum, much better than its previous iterations.

When it comes down to the monetary side of things, it becomes more interesting, as the MLB has a rather intriguing way of handling their financial side of things compared to other leagues. The difficulty with this is there are many challenges when it comes to calculating the true value of what an MLB team is worth, and where they rank compared to the other franchises both in the league and in other sports.

With recent additions like sports betting to the equation as well, there are lots of factors to consider when attempting to put a value on every team. A recent study did just this, as Michael Ozanian of CNBC went through the painstaking process of calculating these values across the MLB, as well as additional information regarding revenue, earnings after deductions, and debt as a percentage of the team valuation.

When it comes to the Orioles, they rank No. 19 in value with $1.85 billion (compared to $2.62 billion league average in this study) showing revenue of $338 million, earnings before deductions of $44 million, and a debt percentage of 12%. In all reality, the value number is not horrible given league average is dragged up by the upper echelon of teams, and the revenue numbers are actually ranked good to great.

Considering the teams that Baltimore is between on this list have earnings before deductions of $3 million and $9 million, they are in a good place when it comes to the income they have. The debt rate is also not particularly concerning, given there are plenty of teams in similar or worse scenarios with that rate.

The difficult part is that they are the second lowest value in the American League East, with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox in the top three, as expected, but also the Toronto Blue Jays ahead, ranked at No. 14. The one team they have remained ahead of is the Tampa Bay Rays, who rank down at No. 29.

Overall, the numbers show positive signs for the Orioles, as they are making revenue to supplement their franchise, and the debt value is not all that high. While they still rank on the lower side of halfway in the league, they are showing signs that this may not be the case in the future.

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