In a bit of news that Birdland desperately needed today, after the week we’ve had around here, Major League Baseball owners unanimously approved the sale of the Baltimore Orioles from the Angelos family to David Rubenstein’s group.
MLB’s owners just approved the sale of the Orioles to David Rubenstein on a conference call. Officially official. pic.twitter.com/0V8YbvxxeH
— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) March 27, 2024
Major League Baseball announced today that the owners of the Major League Clubs have unanimously approved the new ownership group of the Baltimore Orioles led by incoming control person David Rubenstein. The vote was conducted today during a conference call. The closing of the sale is expected to occur later today.
Among those excited and relieved? Mr. Rubenstein himself:
I'm breathing again…MLB just unanimously approved the deal! @orioles, the Next Chapter has begun! Go O's!
— David M. Rubenstein (@DM_Rubenstein) March 27, 2024
My video message to @Orioles fans…the Next Chapter starts now: pic.twitter.com/52h2swTHSn
— David M. Rubenstein (@DM_Rubenstein) March 27, 2024
Rubenstein has been calling his acquisition of the team “The Next Chapter,” on X for a couple weeks. Now that it’s official, Birdland can truly turn our attention to the upcoming 2024 season, instead of having the pending sale approval – along with fears of potential pitfalls – hanging over us as the first pitch was thrown.
We have no idea what a Rubenstein ownership tenure will look like, but based on his comments over the last few days, things appear to be looking up.
For one thing, Rubenstein appears eager to put an end to the ongoing MASN dispute, ASAP, per The Baltimore Sun.
At the center of the MASN ordeal is the amount of broadcast fees paid to the Orioles and the Washington Nationals, whose television rights were awarded to the club by former commissioner Bud Selig when the Nationals moved to Washington in 2005. While commissioner Rob Manfred has the power to stipulate that the rights be returned to the Nationals in the event of a sale, Rubenstein expressed optimism in reaching an agreement after the sale is finalized.
“I am working on it,” Rubenstein said. “I just think it’s premature to say what the resolution will be but my goal is to take this away from the lawyers and give it back to the business people to resolve. So, I’m hopeful and I have reason to believe that I can get this done, but I’m not a miracle worker.
“It’s been going on for a long time but I think the commissioner of baseball would like to get this resolved. I think all the owners would like to get this resolved, and I would like to get it resolved. But I don’t have an easy answer yet. If it was easy, it would have been resolved of course, but I think it’s something I am really focused on and I think I have reason to believe that we can get something done.”
Dave (I can call him Dave now, right?) also wants to get Cal Ripken Jr. more involved, starting with throwing out the first pitch tomorrow.
Rubenstein spoke highly of Ripken, who joined his ownership group as a minority partner and “wants to get more involved” with the team after maintaining a distance from the team with which the Hall of Famer spent his entire 21-year career. Ripken will take on a community engagement role with hopes of drumming up more support as the Orioles take aim at making a deep playoff run this season.
The Birds dropped this video just after the results of the vote were announced.
Writing the next chapter in Orioles history. pic.twitter.com/mqSCL9iUiF
— Baltimore Orioles (@Orioles) March 27, 2024
Yeah, they were ready for this.
Welcome, Dave! And cheers, Birdland.
