Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved of David Rubenstein as the new owner of the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday.
The vote was conducted via conference call which means that for the first time in three decades, the Orioles will have a managing owner without the last name of Angelos on Opening Day.
Rubenstein is a private-equity billionaire who co-founded the Carlyle Group and is a longtime Washington D.C.-area philanthropist. The accelerated sale gives him and his ownership group 70 percent of the Orioles. The sale comes four days after longtime owner Peter Angelos passed away at 94 years old.
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The Orioles’ $1.725 billion valuation is the third highest for the sale of a baseball team behind Steve Cohen’s $2.4 billion deal for the New York Mets in 2020 and the $2.15 billion purchase of the Los Angeles Dodgers by a group led by Mark Walter in 2012. To compare, Angelos bought the Orioles for $173 million in 1993.
“Baltimore was always my first interest because I grew up in Baltimore. I was raised there, I was educated there,” Rubenstein said in a recent phone interview with The Washington Post. “It’s much more appealing to me for many reasons. And also, I think the team is actually in extremely good shape despite the fact that they didn’t have a lot of money in recent years.”
Rubenstein, 74, brings with him a long list of investors including Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr., Michael Bloomberg, Basketball Hall of Famer Grant Hill, and former Baltimore mayor Kurt Schmoke. This group will be tasked with infusing the team with cash, bringing in marquee-free agents, or locking up young talent long-term. The current payroll is one of the league’s lowest at $96.6 million.
In a statement, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred thanked the Angelos family “for their many years of service to the game and the communities of Baltimore” and said that “as a Baltimore native and a lifelong fan of the team, [Rubenstein] is uniquely suited to lead the Orioles moving forward.”
Rubenstein said that he doesn’t plan to make major changes when it comes to baseball decisions and that he will leave the on-field decisions to general manager Mike Elias and manager Brandon Hyde.
“If you’ve got the general manager of the year in the American League and the manager of the year in the American League, do you really think they need my advice on who to play?” Rubenstein said. “My thinking is, you guys are the best in the business, I’m here to support you. I’m not going to be meddling in a lot of things that are not my area of expertise.”
With the sale final, it marks a new era of Baltimore Orioles baseball on and off the field and a new season begins Thursday at Camden Yards against the Los Angeles Angels.
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