Orioles lease saga: Timeline of twists and turns in past year of negotiations

The year is almost over, and along with it the Orioles’ current lease.

The agreement with the Maryland Stadium Authority that allows the team to play at Camden Yards expires in fewer than three weeks. Despite what seems to be continued progress toward a new deal, one has not yet been finalized, with a Dec. 31 deadline looming.

The final year of the current lease has brought with it plenty of ups and downs, including a misleading proclamation on the ballpark scoreboard, missed self-imposed deadlines and an agreed-upon deal put on pause on the verge of being announced. Here’s a look at all of the twists and turns the past year has brought in the Orioles’ lease saga.

Jan. 4: Ravens lease extension approved

With five years remaining on their lease with the MSA, the neighboring Ravens of the NFL agreed to an extension keeping them at M&T Bank Stadium through at least 2037. By doing so, they gained access to up to $600 million in public funds to renovate the venue, which would also be the case for the Orioles with a new long-term lease. Notably, the Ravens’ agreement requires that both teams using the Camden Yards complex receive equal benefits and treatment from the state.

Jan. 16: Angelos’ MLK Day news conference

Between announcing a $5 million donation to a local nonprofit and berating a reporter for asking about his family’s future owning the Orioles amid a legal feud, CEO and Chairman John Angelos reiterated the team would remain in Baltimore.

“We’re never going anywhere,” Angelos said, reiterating a comment he first made in September 2019 that the Orioles will play in Baltimore “as long as Fort McHenry is standing watch over the Inner Harbor.”

Angelos’ news conference also included him telling reporters he would invite them back to the ballpark the “next week” to “show you the financials of the Orioles,” a meeting that 11 months later has yet to take place.

Jan. 18: Moore takes office, ending Angelos’ negotiations freeze

In a Jan. 31 letter to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore, Angelos revealed that he paused lease negotiations with the MSA between when Moore won the gubernatorial general election and when he took office, a period of nearly 10 weeks as the agreement entered its final year. The letter between Angelos and Moore, who have a friendship predating Moore’s election, also included Angelos suggesting the parties agree to a two-year extension of the current lease to give them time to design a deal that included not only the ballpark lease but also plans to redevelop the Camden Yards complex and surrounding areas.

Feb. 1: Orioles turn down option for five-year extension

The original Camden Yards lease, a 30-year agreement spanning 1992 to 2021, included a one-time option for the team to extend the deal by five years. When the Orioles and the state agreed to a two-year extension in 2021, it also pushed back that option. On Feb. 1, the Orioles declined the option, leaving the lease to expire at the end of the year. A statement from the Orioles and Moore after the decision referenced plans for the eventual lease to also include plans to revitalize the ballpark and surrounding areas.

Then-MSA Chairman Thomas Kelso later told The Baltimore Sun he never heard from Angelos as the option deadline approached, only becoming aware the Orioles declined the option because “it didn’t happen at 11:59 p.m.” There was hope at the time the impending deadline would serve as motivation toward completing the lease, though the Ravens’ new agreement came with five years left on their previous one.

Feb. 6: Angelos family lawsuits settled

Days after the option deadline passed, the Angelos family’s eight-month legal battle came to an end, with the lawsuits pitting John Angelos and his mother, Georgia, against his younger brother, Louis, being withdrawn.

In his initial suit in June 2022, Louis Angelos claimed his brother was trying to take control of the Orioles with their father, Peter, incapacitated and potentially move the team to Nashville, Tennessee. A suit from Georgia Angelos not only disputed that claim but also stated that Peter Angelos felt the Orioles “should be sold on his death so Georgia could enjoy the great wealth they had amassed together.”

Feb. 17: Moore nominates Thompson as MSA chair

Soon after replacing Larry Hogan as governor, Moore also went about replacing Kelso as MSA chair — effectively the role as lead negotiator with the Orioles and Ravens.

To replace Kelso, who had been the chair of Hogan’s 2018 reelection campaign, Moore nominated his own campaign chair: Craig Thompson, an attorney at Venable LLP who formerly worked for the law office of Peter Angelos. Thompson told The Sun he didn’t have a personal relationship with any member of the Angelos family.

“This is an extremely important endeavor and one that I’m anxious to work with the MSA team and Gov. Moore and the Orioles to generate a positive result,” Thompson said.

Feb. 19: Angelos says new lease could be ‘All-Star break gift’

Amid a nearly 40-minute meeting with reporters at the Orioles’ spring training complex in Sarasota, Florida, Angelos said he hoped a new lease would be an “All-Star break gift,” meaning complete by mid-July. He repeatedly mentioned the idea of “live, work, play, 365,” meaning a redesign of the Camden Yards complex that would encourage people to visit throughout the year rather than only for Orioles and Ravens games.

“The actual facility use agreement, renewing a 30-year-old document, that’s really a minor sidebar,” Angelos said.

March 9: Angelos, Moore visit Atlanta’s ‘The Battery’

Moore’s first out-of-region trip as governor was to Atlanta, where he and Angelos toured the Braves’ Truist Park and “The Battery,” an adjacent development with shops, restaurants and more that serves as a potential model for the pair’s plans at Camden Yards. The next day, Moore visited the Orioles’ spring training complex in Florida, throwing the ceremonial first pitch ahead of an exhibition.

“I’m very confident that we are moving fast on this,” Moore said before the game. “It should not be lost on anybody that the first trip that I took outside of the state was down here, was to spend time with the Orioles, to make sure they understand how big of a priority this is for me and how big a priority this is for the state.”

July 13: All-Star break passes without new lease

Angelos’ hopes of an “All-Star break gift” didn’t come to fruition, another promise he failed to deliver. In a joint statement from Moore and Angelos issued on the final day of the midseason break, they said they were making progress on their “vision to expand and revitalize the Camden Yards campus” but provided no concrete details on where negotiations stood.

“We are determined to make it happen, and soon,” the statement read.

Days earlier, while in Seattle for the All-Star Game, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred expressed little worry about the continued uncertainty.

“I have every confidence that there will be a resolution on these issues,” Manfred said. “They’ll stay in Baltimore.”

Aug. 11: Angelos’ asks come to light

Despite months of negotiations, little had been revealed about what specifically either party was seeking. About a month after the All-Star break, The Sun reported Angelos proposed receiving the development rights to parking lots A, B and C, which are shared with the Ravens and would require the NFL team’s approval to alter.

Throughout negotiations, Angelos also sought an additional $300 million from the state — on top of the $600 million in public funds that would be unlocked with a long-term lease — and proposed the Orioles not be required to pay rent.

Aug. 18: Ferguson expresses desire for separate deals

Although Moore and Angelos’ public comments around the lease were always about a deal handling both keeping the Orioles at Camden Yards and converting the surrounding area into an entertainment district, that plan wasn’t supported by all other Maryland politicians.

“I think it’s premature to talk about investments around the facility when we don’t have a partner that is committing to be there for the next 20 to 30 years,” State Senate President Bill Ferguson, a Democrat who represents the stadium area, said during the Maryland Association of Counties summer conference.

Aug. 21: Angelos details plans to New York Times

As the Orioles’ surprisingly found themselves atop the American League East, The New York Times published a profile of Angelos in which the CEO mentioned possible outcomes of the team’s negotiations with the city beyond the entertainment district, including an elementary school in the B&O Warehouse, a health and wellness clinic, and internship programs for Baltimore youth.

While Angelos spoke of a bright future for the areas around the playing field, he also cast doubt about the Orioles’ future on it, saying the team could have long-term troubles affording the young talent it has collected.

“When people talk about giving this player $200 million, that player $150 million,” Angelos said, “we would be so financially underwater that you’d have to raise the [fans’] prices massively.”

Sept. 28: Angelos, Moore make midgame announcement as Orioles clinch AL East

With the Orioles six innings from clinching the AL East for the first time since 2014, Angelos and Moore appeared together on the Camden Yards video board, with a significant announcement on the screen below.

“Earlier today, the Orioles, Governor Wes Moore and the State of Maryland, and the Maryland Stadium Authority agreed to a deal that will keep the Orioles in Baltimore and at Camden Yards for at least the next 30 years!!” the announcement read.

Representatives from both the state and the Orioles declined comment, saying more details on the “deal” would be announced the next day. Moore, meanwhile, was seen on the Camden Yards concourse repeatedly celebrating that the agreement was for 30 years.

Sept. 29: Scoreboard ‘deal’ revealed to be non-binding memorandum of understanding

Despite the fanfare that accompanied the midgame announcement from Angelos and Moore, it was revealed the next day the “deal” celebrated on the scoreboard was a non-binding memorandum of understanding, with representatives from the team and the governor’s office acknowledging no lease was in place and that an extension of the current lease by at least a year might be needed to sort out remaining details.

The MOU laid out “key components” of a potential lease, which would be for 30 years. Those elements included the Orioles no longer paying rent to the state for use of the ballpark while assuming responsibility for stadium operations and management. The deal also included a development rights agreement, in which the Orioles would pay $94 million in rent over a 99-year term for the right to develop land surrounding the ballpark.

The midgame announcement — viewed by some fans as misleading — came together hastily, with The Sun later reporting that Moore initially planned to announce the MOU a day later, leaving several team and government employees caught off guard by the premature scoreboard reveal.

Dec. 7: Report suggests Orioles might be considering sale

With the Orioles’ lease in its final month, Bloomberg reported David Rubenstein, a billionaire Baltimore native and co-founder of the Carlyle Group Inc., is in talks to acquire the team, though it cautioned that those talks “may still fall apart.”

Days earlier, stadium authority Executive Director Michael Frenz said the development rights deal “is envisioned to be separate from the stadium-use agreement,” later noting that while the documents would proceed through formal channels separately, he expected they would remain on the same timeline. Asked what would happen if no long-term agreement or extension was agreed to by Dec. 31, he said the team and state could end up on a “month-to-month” lease.

“Certainly, we’re not going to kick them out on [Dec. 31] or Jan. 1,” Frenz said, reiterating in a subsequent statement that the MSA “is committed to finalizing a long-term deal with the Orioles.”

Dec. 8: Moore pauses lease deal

On Friday, the Orioles and the MSA had agreed to a lease, with elected officials being briefed on the details of the deal. But Moore paused the agreement when Ferguson continued to express concerns about the stadium and development rights being packaged together.

“Fundamentally, I believe that the long-term lease for the use of the ballpark should not be conditioned on whether or not a private owner receives a 99-year ground lease to develop land owned by Maryland taxpayers,” Ferguson said in a written statement. “This is more relevant today, as recent news has heightened uncertainties about the future ownership of the team,” referring to the Bloomberg report.

The tentative lease agreement featured some notable differences from the MOU announced in September. Under the lease, the Orioles would have had four years to decide on a development plan; if agreed upon with the state, the lease would be for 30 years, but with no development agreement, the Orioles would be able to end the lease after 10 years.

David Turner, Moore’s communications director and senior adviser, said in a statement that “the administration will continue to work to address those concerns with the stadium agreement that the Maryland Stadium Authority, the Moore-Miller Administration, and the Baltimore Orioles have put forth.”

Any lease would require extensive approvals. If the state and team don’t come to an agreement before the current deal expires Dec. 31, they would likely need to sign a brief extension.

Baltimore Sun reporters Hayes Gardner, Jeff Barker and Jean Marbella contributed to this article.