The Baltimore Orioles are reportedly being sold

On Tuesday, news surfaced that the Orioles have been bought by a group headlined by two billionaires

Oriole Park at Camden Yards
Oriole Park at Camden Yards / Kirby Lee/GettyImages

How's this for some Tuesday night news? News broke on Tuesday night that the Orioles are reportedly being bought by a group led by billionaires David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti.

In December, news came out that Rubinstein was reportedly in talks to purchase the Orioles from the Angelos family. Now, the deal is reportedly done, with the purchase value at $1.725 billion according to both Puck News and Sportico.

Billionaires David Rubenstein and Mike Arougheti have reportedly purchased the Orioles

The Orioles were one of the best teams in baseball last season, with burgeoning young talent in the majors and possessing baseball's best farm system for a few years running. The main thing holding them back has been John Angelos not wanting to increase the team payroll despite the success and telling fans that prices at the ballpark would have to dramatically increase if they wanted to extend young stars.

The Orioles were also close to potentially being without a home thanks to Angelos, as a deal for a 30 year lease at Camden Yards announced in September didn't get finalized until December due to the demands of Angelos.

Rubenstein, the reported new control person of the Orioles, is a Maryland native who made his fortune through the Carlyle Group, an international investment company that he co-founded. He has spent tens of millions of dollars to purchase historical artifacts that he has donated to museums for others to appreciate and has donated money to help schools and libraries among other sites in the Maryland area.

Arougheti is a co-founder and current CEO of Ares Management, a global alternative investment group. A Yale graduate, Arougheti built up his fortune while employed by the Royal Bank of Canada and Indosuez Capital, a wealth management company.

According to Andy Kostka, Danielle Allentuck and Pamela Wood of the Baltimore Banner, baseball ironman and Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr is also a part of the new ownership group.

While this deal is not done yet and will need to go through the formal approval process to be official, this signals the start of a new era for Baltimore Orioles baseball.

feed