During a visit to Baltimore Ravens training camp on Monday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore again expressed optimism about the Orioles signing a new lease to remain at Camden Yards.
“There will be baseball in Baltimore for generations to come,” Moore said.
Of that there seems little doubt. Rob Manfred said at last year’s Winter Meetings the Orioles would stay in Baltimore as long as he remained commissioner, and repeated those sentiments at the All-Star break.
But few things come easily in negotiations involving the Angelos family, from Orioles owner Peter Angelos, who has been incapacitated by illness since 2018, to his son, managing chairman John Angelos.
As John Angelos deals with heavy criticism over his removal of play-by-play announcer Kevin Brown from the Orioles’ television booth, his negotiations with the state carry even greater meaning for the franchise’s future.
Orioles broadcaster Kevin Brown is expected to return to the booth on Aug. 11, sources tell @Britt_Ghiroli.
But one has to wonder what kind of message his initial removal sends to anyone in the organization.https://t.co/Ti8JD56ADa
— The Athletic (@TheAthletic) August 8, 2023
The Orioles’ lease expires Dec. 31. State officials under Moore, echoing the governor, expressed optimism a deal will be struck. But a statement from William Cole, a board member of the Maryland Stadium Authority, offered insight into the underlying tension of the negotiations at the board’s monthly meeting on Aug. 1.
“I would like to express my frustration over the Orioles’ lease situation,” Cole said, as first reported by The (Baltimore) Sun. “The Orioles promised a resolution by the All-Star break. That deadline has now passed … I remain perplexed why a lease hasn’t been executed already.”
Stadium authority chairman Craig Thompson responded to Cole by saying, “I can let you know that the discussions have been very productive.” Cole spoke with John Angelos the next day, and Angelos has continued his discussions with Moore over the past week, according to sources briefed on those conversations. But while Angelos and Moore released a joint statement on July 13, saying they are determined to reach agreement, “and soon,” a deal is not yet in place.
The problem is that John Angelos desires a lease that includes more than the commitment by the state to unlock $600 million in public funds for ballpark improvements. He also wants to develop an area around the park similar to The Battery Atlanta, a complex adjoining the Atlanta Braves’ Truist Park, which opened in 2017.
Angelos declined comment, as did Cole. A spokesperson for Moore cited the previous joint statement the governor made with Angelos, which said in part, “we’ve laid the groundwork for success, and progress is also being made on our vision to expand and revitalize the Camden Yards campus.”
Angelos and Moore visited The Battery in March. The necessary land for such a project around Camden Yards, however, does not exist. The ballpark sits in the middle of Baltimore, while Truist was built in a suburb 10 miles outside of Atlanta.
An aerial view of Camden Yards on May 31, 2020. (Rob Carr / Getty Images )
No matter how much Angelos might want the state to turn over control of property adjacent to the park, no matter how much he might protract negotiations in the manner of his father, he lacks leverage. Manfred will not let him leave, and Angelos himself has made no threats to that end, even telling Baltimore business leaders in 2019 that the Orioles would remain in Baltimore “as long as Fort McHenry is standing watch over the Inner Harbor.”
Moore, a Democrat who was elected governor last November, is not likely to publicly undercut Angelos, one of his campaign donors. Angelos contributed $6,000 to Moore, according to a campaign finance report released last August, and $10,000 to the Democratic State Central Committee of Maryland in September, according to the Federal Election Commission.
Satisfying Angelos, though, might be another matter.
Moore and Angelos issued their joint statement in July when it became clear that a wish expressed by Angelos during spring training — “I’d love to have (the lease) as an All-Star break gift for everybody, really, in the community” — would not come to fruition.
“What comes next for the Camden Yards campus must serve our entire community and the city as a whole,” the statement said. “From the ballpark and surrounding neighborhoods to Harborplace and the Inner Harbor, we are committed to making the downtown corridor a premier destination that benefits Baltimore and Maryland residents year-round.”
Angelos’ desire to replicate The Battery Atlanta is understandable. The Braves posted record revenue of $588 million in 2022, including $53 million from The Battery Atlanta, according to Braves Holdings, which is indirectly owned by Liberty Media, a publicly traded company. The Battery, however, sits on 60 acres. Building an office complex, entertainment district or even a sole apartment building at Camden Yards would appear impractical.
The only open spaces around the ballpark and B&O Warehouse are parking lots to which the Ravens share mutual rights. Some of those lots sit directly above the Howard Street rail tunnel. The Ravens, who play only 10 home games per season but have sold out every regular-season date at 71,008-seat M&T Bank Stadium since arriving in Baltimore in 1996, undoubtedly would oppose the elimination of parking spaces. And, according to a state official who was granted anonymity so he could speak candidly, “the engineering costs of building over the Howard Street tunnel are far beyond anybody’s capability to make a buck.”
So, what is Angelos holding out for?
The state’s $600 million commitment for ballpark improvements, a significant investment with increasingly fewer local governments willing to subsidize professional sports teams, would appear non-negotiable. Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan signed legislation in April 2022 allowing the stadium authority to borrow up to $1.2 billion for upgrades to the Orioles’ and Ravens’ stadiums, with the teams splitting the money evenly provided they signed long-term leases. The Ravens, with nearly five years left on their previous lease, agreed in January to a new deal through at least 2037 and possibly 2047.
The Orioles, whose lease expires in less than five months, face a more pressing timeline. Yet John Angelos appears to be following his father’s playbook, holding out as long as possible for a better deal. Only in June did the Orioles settle their 11-year dispute with the Washington Nationals over local television rights fees. The agreement covered only the period from 2012 to ‘16. No agreement has been reached from 2017 to ‘21.
Cole cited the Orioles’ surprising 2023 performance while expressing his frustration about the lease negotiations to the board. Even though Manfred and Angelos have pledged the team will remain in Baltimore, fans in the area remain sensitive to any hint of unrest following the Colts’ departure for Indianapolis in 1984.
“We’re in the middle of one of the most surprising and exciting seasons in recent memory and yet the situation casts needless uncertainty over the city and state,” Cole said. “As a taxpayer and city resident, a board member and lifelong Orioles fan, I’m hoping we can get some good news about this situation before we get to the playoffs.”
The Orioles, owners of the best record in the American League, entered Tuesday with a 97 percent chance of reaching the postseason, according to Fangraphs. Their first playoff game would be less than two months away.
–The Athletic’s Britt Ghiroli contributed to this story
(Top photo: Rob Carr / Getty Images)
