Orioles Owners Reach Surprising Deal to Sell Franchise

The Baltimore Orioles franchise is reportedly being sold.

The rumors that the Angelos family would potentially sell the Baltimore Orioles had been running rampant throughout the winter.

It was something that surfaced as the Orioles were looking to extend their deal to stay at Camden Yards for the foreseeable future.

Well, those rumors have officially come true as John Ourand of Puck News reported John Angelos has agreed to sell the franchise to to a group led by David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti, two private equity billionaires, in a deal that is reportedly worth $1.725 billion.

Rubenstein had long been a name connected to a potential sale.

He is a Baltimore native and is the co-founder and co-chairman of the private equity firm, The Carlyle Group.

He reportedly will become the "control person" of the Orioles.

Arougheti is the co-founder of Ares Management Corp. and lives in New York. The extent to which he'll be involved is currently unknown.

Ourand also reports that the group will start off by owning 40 percent of the franchise and will buy out the remaining stake from the Angelos' when the family patriarch Peter Angelos, who was the original owner who bought the Orioles back in 1993 before becoming incapacitated by illness, passes away.

Peter's son John took over as the "control person" when his father became ill.

It should be noted that this deal is not official.

The terms have just been agreed to but it will need to be finalized by the other 29 owners and Major League Baseball.

They will receive details of the sale at their annual meeting in Orlando next week, which could make this deal become official soon if approved.

Baltimore has long been one of the teams not able to compete on the free agency market with other teams, especially in their division, because of the lack of finances the Angelos family invested into the club.

Rubenstein has a valuation estimated at roughly $3.7 billion and could usher in a new age of Orioles baseball as the front office has already been able to build a contender through savvy drafting and signings.