Deal to Acquire Baltimore Orioles May Be Close

The Baltimore Orioles might be close to exchanging hands as a private equity founder is in talks to purchase the franchise away from the current owners.

Not only have the Baltimore Orioles opened eyes of people across the baseball world with their young talent who exploded onto the scene in 2023 to the tune of winning the most games in the American League, but it seems like they've drawn the attention of potential buyers as well.

According to Gillian Tan of Bloomberg, ownership of the Orioles could be changing hands soon.

"Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein is in talks to acquire Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles, according to people with knowledge of the matter," she reports.

The current owner, Peter Angelos, has owned the team since 1993 when his group purchased the franchise for a then-record $173 million from Eli Jacobs.

Angelos, now 94, had declining health in 2019 that caused his sons Louis and John to take more of a leadership role. Major League Baseball told them they needed to tell the league who is actually controlling the team because of those internal changes.

John is the chairman and CEO of the Orioles currently, but Peter remains the majority owner.

It's unclear if the Angelos' are actually interested in selling the team or not. They publicly committed to keeping the team in Baltimore during a statement in 2019.

"Rubenstein is among suitors pursuing a transaction, said one of the people, all of whom requested anonymity discussing confidential information. Nothing has been finalized and talks may still fall apart, the people said ... Rubenstein told key backers of the Orioles that he would consider buying the team if it comes up for sale, Bloomberg News reported last year," Tan writes.   

She notes that representatives for both sides declined to comment about the possibility of a sale, but also mentioned that this deal could be finalized and announced as early as the first half of next year if completed.

According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Rubenstein has a net worth of $4.6 billion and is a Baltimore native.

This is definitely a situation to monitor as it would directly impact the future of the franchise going forward.