David Rubenstein Reportedly In Talks To Buy O's As Camden Yards Lease Nears End
As the Baltimore Orioles and the state haggle over a new lease for Oriole Park at Camden Yards ahead of a year-end deadline, reports surfaced Thursday afternoon that Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein is engaged in talks to buy the team from majority owner Peter Angelos.
Citing anonymous sources, Bloomberg reported Rubenstein is among those interested in buying the team. Those sources also told the publication a deal isn't imminent and could fall apart.
Angelos, 94, has owned the Orioles since 1993. Rubenstein, 74, was born in Baltimore and founded the Carlyle Group in D.C. He has a net worth of $4.6B, according to Bloomberg.
News regarding a potential team sale comes as the Orioles' lease for Camden Yards expires in roughly three weeks, and the team and state haven't been able to reach a deal despite celebrating an agreement to sign a new deal in September.
The Maryland Stadium Authority held its final scheduled meeting of the year on Tuesday at the Baltimore & Ohio Warehouse offices at the ballpark, but its board took no action on a new lease.
Stadium Authority officials told reporters following their meeting the entity remains at an impasse with the team over whether to include development rights for the property surrounding the ballpark as part of a new lease.
“I think at this point the ground lease will be separate from the stadium use agreement, because the ground lease is much more complex, and there are some legal things involved,” Stadium Authority Executive Director Michael Frenz told the Baltimore Business Journal.
Frenz also said the sides may need to ink a month-to-month or short-term deal if the team and state can't reach an agreement by Dec. 31. Yet Frenz also told reporters that finalizing a new deal before the existing pact expires remains “the goal.”
“My message to the public is that everyone’s intention, including the Orioles', is for the Orioles to remain in Baltimore for a very long time,” Frenz told The Baltimore Banner.
In September, after months of negotiations on a new stadium lease, the team announced during a game that it had reached an agreement on a new deal for the ballpark.
During the game on Sept 28, with Orioles CEO John Angelos and Gov. Wes Moore sitting in the owner's box, the team posted a message on the scoreboard and social media that said, “30 MORE YEARS IN BALTIMORE.”
“This deal is not only a good use of state resources, but will also drive economic growth in downtown and across the city,” Moore said in a statement at the time. “Today, we take a big step toward a more vibrant and thriving Baltimore — with good-paying jobs, a diversified economy, and opportunity for all. This deal is good for the city and the state, and I’m grateful for the partnership that got us to this day. The Baltimore renaissance is here.”
However, the next day, both sides released statements clarifying they had not finalized a new lease but consented to a memorandum of understanding. An MOU is an agreement to proceed rather than a closed, legally binding pact.
The governor's statement included details on the framework for a new pact, such as a 99-year deal granting the team development rights for areas surrounding the ballpark, for which the team would pay $94M in rent over the term of the development deal.
Granting the team development rights for the properties around the stadium has acted as a hurdle to signing a new deal since the negotiations intensified earlier this year.
The team has yet to say what it plans to build if granted development rights to the properties around the stadium. Even so, the state and team previously said any new projects will focus on stimulating development in areas described as “underutilized and under-occupied” that will “breathe new life into the area around the most popular entertainment attraction in the city.”
