Orioles ownership needs a reality check
As discomfiting as the “Free Kevin Brown” debacle proved to be — including a happy-to-be-back statement issued under the Orioles announcer’s name that read suspiciously like the product of a soulless corporate AI computer (“John Angelos and I have a solid dialogue based on mutual respect ... ”) — the suspension of the well-regarded play-by-play man was far from the most troubling recent news to filter out of Camden Yards. That title would go to the slowly leaked details of what’s been holding back Orioles chairman and CEO Angelos from signing a long-term, long-promised lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority. As previously reported, it’s the absence of a deal to create an entertainment district on par with The Battery outside Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves. But what’s new is just what ownership expects from the MSA: $300 million (on top of $600 million in facility upgrades) and the deed to state-owned land adjacent to the ballpark to build this mix of retail, residential and commercial space.
Did the gag reflex kick in just there? Maybe it should have. We don’t begrudge Orioles ownership from seeking the best arrangements for the team today or in the future. Don’t we all want to maximize our income and assets? And, as we’ve noted before, a successful Major League Baseball team, a thriving Oriole Park at Camden Yards and other nearby tourist attractions whether in Harbor East, along the Inner Harbor or elsewhere downtown is good for this city and this state — for jobs, for the tax base, for the economy. But we also keep a sense of proportions. Sometimes, there can be a little too much taxpayer-funded largesse going toward the deep-pocketed and politically connected. At what point does everyone involved get a little embarrassed by close to a billion dollars being thrown at a sports franchise? How about when the city can’t house its disadvantaged? On Aug. 1, the Housing Authority of Baltimore City opened its waiting list for public housing. Know how many people signed up on the first day? That would be 17,000. On the waiting list. A total of 26,000 signed up within 10 days.
That’s a number roughly the same size as Timonium, if the population of that Baltimore County community more than doubled overnight.
Maybe that isn’t a fair comparison. This newspaper has endorsed public investment in the downtown stadiums before. And we think most Marylanders want the Orioles, and their neighboring Ravens, to prosper. This season has so far been an extraordinary one for the young Orioles players, a more talented, tighter-knit and likable group of athletes you will rarely see. They seem destined for the playoffs. But this is also a community that has seen bad ownership. And we know what it’s like to lose big-time franchises whether it’s the Bullets basketball team or the Colts football team. Wasn’t the involvement of attorney Peter Angelos, John’s father, 30 years ago (who bought the O’s for $173 million) supposed to put an end to unreliable out-of-town ownership? What happened to his stand-up-for-the-little-guy, including victims of asbestos, pride-in-Baltimore tradition?
Let’s be blunt. Gov. Wes Moore has been an enthusiastic cheerleader for Baltimore and for its sports teams. But if public opinion keeps crashing down on John Angelos — as it’s already started doing this month — does anyone really think the governor is going to squeeze the MSA and his fellow Democrats in the Maryland General Assembly for that $300 million? Not if he wants to be reelected. People root for Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson, not for ownership. It’s one thing to have disagreements over details of the lease; it’s quite another to attempt a fleecing of the taxpayers. Angelos has made all kinds of assurances about keeping the team in Baltimore and about committing to a long-term lease. The clock is ticking and patience has begun to wear thin. He needs to make good on those promises — and he needs to do it without taking shelter, food and other essentials from people who can’t afford to attend one of his games let alone stay at a fancy hotel, eat in a 4-star restaurant or buy a luxury condominium.