Baltimore Orioles reportedly being sold to private equity billionaires

Not since the birth of the Baltimore Ravens has there been a bigger change to sports in the Charm City.

John Angelos is selling the Orioles to David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti for $1.725 billion, according to John Ourand of Puck News. The veteran sports business scribe, who recently joined Puck after a long career with Sports Business Journal, said that the two sides had been in discussions since December 2023. The news comes after the Angelos family announced that it was exploring a sale for the team during the 2023 season. Peter Angelos led a group to buy the team in 1993 for $173 million.

The new owners will have a 40% stake in the team but will take full ownership upon Peter's death.

The Orioles have been in Baltimore since 1954 when a group of local businessmen purchased the St. Louis Browns and relocated the franchise. After nearly four decades in Memorial Stadium, the team moved to the groundbreaking Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the retro-styled ballpark that sparked a new stadium construction boom throughout the United States that has yet to fully subside.

Oriole Park certainly must play a role in the current valuation, but a competitive team and a regional sports channel that is finally working through its years-long conflict with the Washington Nationals helped pull the asking price upward.

While Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, and Arougheti are known for their private equity firms, it is difficult to say whether or not they will bring the controversial approaches of that industry to their stewardship of the team. The Orioles are far from a "distressed asset" these days and as many a billionaire can attest to (hello, David Tepper!), running a sports franchise is a far different challenge than other industries where they've had success.