Orioles Will Reportedly Have New Owners With $1.725 Billion Bombshell Deal In The Works

According to a new report, the Baltimore Orioles will be changing hands.

It's not exactly clear when the deal will be finalized, but Puck News is reporting that current Orioles owner John Angelos has agreed to sell the team for $1.725 billion

On the other end of the reported deal is a group led by a pair of private equity billionaires David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti.

Rubenstein — who started the Carlyle Group — is from Baltimore and is being called the "control person" which is MLB terminology (very PC-sounding terminology) for team decision-maker.

As for Arougheti, he's a New Yorker who co-founded Ares Management Corp., but his role in the new group isn't as clear as Rubenstein's.

The Rubenstein-Arougheti group will reportedly purchase a 40 percent stake in the team, before eventually buying out Angelos' remaining stake after the death of his father Peter Angelos.

The elder Angelos — who is 94-years-old — bought the team in 1993 for $173 million. The Baltimore Sun reports that this was Peter Angelos' request. This way, his wife, Georgia, can “enjoy the great wealth they had amassed together.”

He has become incapacitated due to illness since then. There has been some in-fighting between family members. In 2022, Lou Angleos — John's younger brother — sued his mother and brother over what he says were John's attempts to take over the family's assets and fortune.

As previously stated, there's no timeframe for when the two parties will close the deal. However, the league's other owners will reportedly be briefed on the details of the deal next week at meetings in Orlando.

If there's new ownership on the way, there are questions about whether the team's recent approach of trying to win by spending as little money as possible will continue.

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