Orioles ownership and Maryland failed to reach an agreement to extend the baseball team’s lease.
It must not be very much fun rooting for Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles franchise. The guy running the team, John Angelos, has not made many Orioles rooters happy recently. He dressed down a Baltimore reporter during a news conference honoring the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. when he was asked about the problems between Angelos and his brother in a financial squabble that is in court and how that might impact the future of the business in Baltimore. Angelos replied. “Fear not, the Orioles will be here. The Orioles are going to be here for the long term. We have been here, and I’ve said many times publicly, unsolicited, unprompted, we’re never going anywhere.” But people who root for the Orioles might not have any tolerance for John Angelos after he and the state of Maryland could not reach a lease agreement for the Orioles’ use of the state-owned Baltimore baseball park. Angelos’ lease with the city ends on December 31st, 2023. But Angelos has nowhere to go as there is no other city on the North American continent that can properly house a Major League Baseball franchise
There have been rumors that Angelos might want to take his business to Nashville. Angelos’ Baltimore Orioles public relation department and Maryland Governor Wes Moore put out a statement that the two sides want a “multi-decade, public-private partnership” for the stadium. Maryland allocated $600 million to renovate the Baltimore baseball park. Recently the National Football League’s Baltimore Ravens ownership signed a deal with the Maryland Stadium Authority to remain in the Baltimore city owned football field through 2037. The football stadium is getting a $600 million makeover. MLB is not saying much about the Angelos court battle but Baltimore is just another problem for the industry that has problems attracting young fans.
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