There has been a twist in the local professional baseball team ownership sagas. Bloomberg reports that David Rubenstein, billionaire and co-founder of the Carlyle Group, is in talks to acquire Major League Baseball’s Baltimore Orioles.
This news comes after Rubenstein had previously been rumored to be part of a group with Ted Leonsis, owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, trying to make a deal with the Lerner family for the Washington Nationals. Rubenstein and Leonsis also reportedly shared previous interest in the Orioles.
A Washington Business Journal report from August of 2022 claimed that Leonsis and Rubenstein’s group was a serious contender to purchase DC’s baseball team. Now, Rubenstein, a Baltimore, Maryland native, could be close to a deal to buy the Orioles, with a potential announcement as soon as the first half of 2024.
Although Rubenstein is native to Baltimore, he also has deep ties to the DC area. His seemingly never-ending list of connections includes being deputy domestic policy advisor to former President Jimmy Carter, the chairman of the Kennedy Center, the chairman of the National Gallery of Art, the chairman of The Economic Club of Washington, DC, and former chairman of the Smithsonian Institution.
The Orioles’ current owners, Peter Angelos’s family, saw lawsuits regarding John Angelos purportedly seizing control of the team from his brother Louis Angelos and mother Georgia, dropped less than a year ago. With that process cleared up, rumors of an impending sale have picked up steam.
Theoretically, Rubenstein’s purchase of the Orioles could kickstart a makeover for both local baseball franchises. In MLB, no owner is allowed to own more than one franchise, so the Leonsis-Rubenstein duo each purchasing a franchise could lead to a powerhouse partnership given their past connections.
With the launch of Leonsis’ Monumental Sports Network this past fall, Rubenstein and Leonsis could also help solve the seemingly never-ending MASN network dispute between the two clubs and get both teams onto TV on the same network. Leonsis has seemed keen on doing exactly that, as it would give his network the compelling summer programming that it currently lacks.
Toward the end of 2022, Leonsis reportedly offered the Lerner family over $2 billion to buy the Nationals. Sports Business Journal added last March that while the Lerner’s intended to hold out through the 2023 MLB season, the auction for their club was expected to pick up again over the offseason, which are currently smack dab in the middle of.
The one potential road block for all of these plans is that MASN dispute. According to the Washington Post, Leonsis inquired about purchasing MASN, but was rebuffed by the network, saying the company was not for sale.
If Leonsis lands the Nationals without any new agreement with MASN, he will acquire the same deal the Lerners have currently with the network. And that deal is one that features years and years of lawsuits regarding rights fees and profit sharing.
Headline photo: Ian Oland/RMNB
