On the baseball side, the reaction to the Baltimore Orioles’ valuation at $1.725 billion has been one of surprise and in some cases disbelief.
Seven industry analysts and rival officials, who were granted anonymity in exchange for their candor, all used the same word to describe the price:
“Bass.”
The Orioles on Wednesday officially announced the sale of the franchise to a group led by David Rubenstein, a Baltimore native and founder of private equity firm The Carlyle Group. According to Puck News, which first reported the sale, the Rubenstein group will initially purchase around 40% of the club. The group, according to a source briefed on the terms, will then have the opportunity to gain full control after Peter Angelos’ death, pending approval from Major League Baseball.
That approval would likely take months as the league conducts financial and background checks on members of Rubenstein’s group and reviews the sale through internal committees. People in sports have offered a number of potential reasons why Peter’s son, Orioles managing partner John Angelos, accepted the $1.725 billion valuation, although higher offers might have been available in both past and future.
Those reasons included John’s possible frustration with the recently included lease negotiations for the Orioles at Camden Yards, cash flow problems the family may be having, and the influence of Georgia Angelos, John’s mother and Peter’s wife . John Angelos manages the club in the absence of his father, who is 94 and has been incapacitated due to illness since 2018.
A spokesman for John Angelos declined to comment.
Other major league teams have sold for less than the Orioles in recent years. The Miami Marlins were valued at $1.2 billion in 2017, the Kansas City Royals at $1 billion in 2019. The Cleveland Guardians, under the same type of control-path deal used by the Orioles, were valued at $1 billion of dollars in 2022.
While Miami and Cleveland they are media markets larger than Baltimorethe Orioles are seen as a franchise with greater potential due to the current quality of the team and the passion of their fan base.

Georgia and Peter Angelos at an event in 1996. (Andre Chung/Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Peter Angelos purchased the Orioles in 1993 for $173 million. Forbes estimated the Orioles were worth $1.713 billion last March. That assessment, however, did not include the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN), of which the team is the majority shareholder in a dual ownership with the Washington Nationals.
MASN is included in the Rubenstein Group’s purchase, and some in the industry expect the group to sell the network to Ted Leonsis, owner of the NHL, NBA and WNBA franchises in Washington and another regional sports network, Monumental, which broadcasts all three teams. Like all regional sports networks in this era of cord cutting, MASN is no longer the same value it once was. But at least Leonsis may want to buy the Orioles’ TV rights to enhance its programming on Monumental in the spring, summer and fall.
In late 2022, Leonsis made an offer to the Nationals with similar intentions, providing perhaps the most relevant data point in evaluating the Orioles’ valuation. Leonsis offered $2.2 billion for the Nationals, according to a source briefed on the discussions. The Lerner family, owners of the Nationals, did not budge on the proposal, apparently believing the team was worth more.
Washington is a bigger market than Baltimore, but the Nationals became a junior partner in MASN as a condition of moving from Montreal to Washington in 2005. So why wouldn’t John Angelos, president and CEO of the Orioles in his father’s absence, should have done it? resist a price similar to that proposed by Leonsis for the national teams?
The deal between the Orioles and the Rubenstein Group appeared to come together quickly, catching Maryland state officials and another group interested in the club by surprise.
Just over six weeks ago, the Orioles reached an agreement with the state on a new long-term lease to remain at Camden Yards. The deal included $600 million in public funds for stadium upgrades and potential development rights around the stadium.
‘If John (Angelos) can hear me now, it is deeply disappointing and troubling that you would look your state in the eye and blatantly lie to us about your intentions.’ Maryland State Treasurer Dereck Davis told the Baltimore Sun: “We had a right to know, given the amount of investment we were making.”
People in the game, however, cited a combination of factors that could have increased Angelos’ urgency to sell and convinced him to move forward with the deal as soon as possible:
The final terms of the Orioles’ new lease
Angelos, in his negotiations with the state, has sought to develop an area around Camden Yards and make it similar to The Battery Atlanta complex adjacent to the Braves’ Truist Park, which opened in 2017.
He didn’t get those rights.
All the Orioles received was an option to end the 30-year lease after 15 years if they didn’t reach an agreement with the state on a development plan that perhaps wasn’t even feasible. The land needed for such a project around Camden Yards does not exist. The stadium is located in downtown Baltimore, while Truist was built in a suburb 10 miles from Atlanta.
Angelos fought hard for the development rights, apparently believing they were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. When he failed to secure them, he was left without, at least in his view, a potentially profitable source of revenue and a vehicle to increase the value of the franchise.
Cash flow problems
The Orioles’ bill in their years-long dispute with the Nationals over television rights fees is coming due.
In June, the Orioles-controlled MASN agreed to pay the Nationals about $100 million in unpaid royalties for the period between 2012 and 2016. In November, a league-appointed committee ruled MASN owed the Orioles and Nationals approximately $300 million each for the period between 2017 and ’21. Rights fees for 2022 through ’26 have not been determined.
MASN held approximately $105 million in escrow ahead of the possibility of the first payment. It’s unknown how the network — and by extension, Angelos — planned to source the money for 2017-21.
What is known is that the Angelos family is trying to become more liquid sell off various land assetsincluding One Charles Center, a 22-story office tower in downtown Baltimore.
family considerations
The influence of Georgia Angelos, Peter’s wife and John’s mother, was no small factor in the family’s decision to sell, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
Georgia’s exact motives are unclear, but she and John are being sued by her other son, Louis Angelos, for control of the team in 2022. According to the lawsuit, Georgia determined that it was in the family’s best interests to sell the team, but John tricked her into thinking he was working towards that goal when he ultimately wanted to thwart it.
Second court documents of the caseGeorgia’s lawyers wrote that her husband did not intend for the family to own the team forever, saying, “Although Peter felt that the Orioles should be sold upon his death so that Georgia could enjoy the great wealth they had amassed together, He felt that ultimately the decision was Georgia’s.”
By identifying a buyer before Peter’s death, the family reaches a solution. The two-step sale – 40% now, 60% later – allows the family to receive a cash infusion while avoiding the full capital gains tax they would incur if they sold the entire club before Peter’s death.
In a statement Wednesday, John Angelos said, “When I took on the role of president and CEO of the Orioles, we had a goal of returning the franchise to elite status in major league sports while keeping the team in Baltimore for the years to come.” and revitalize our partnership group. The relationship with David Rubenstein and his partners confirms that we have not only achieved but exceeded our objectives”.
The deal could work for Angelos. The question is whether it will create a downward ripple effect on other teams’ ratings going forward.
(Top photo (left) of Louis Angelos, Orioles executive vice president Mike Elias, John Angelos in 2018: AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)