A hint of a rumor that you will like

[Jimbo81]

That is interesting... Buried in one of Roch's recent posts was this nugget..

In Ripken's perfect world, he would take on a role similar to Nolan Ryan in Texas. Ryan is the Rangers' principal owner, president and CEO. He's responsible for shaping the organization, but Jon Daniels handles the contracts, negotiations and trade talks.

Not just his but everyone's perfect world!

[Can_of_corn]

If Cal gets involved he will need someone with serious purse-strings in the wings behind him. This team doesn't need another ownership group that is relining on the team to be a big source of income. Plank is worth close to half a billion, he could be one of the guys. Might make for some ugly uniforms though.

[Dipper9]

Not just his but everyone's perfect world!

In a perfect world, A Mayflower truck will drive into town driven by Jim Irsey. He will pick up Peter Angelos and clean out his offices. He will then swing over to the castle and pick up Cam Cameron. They will then all drive off into the sunset never to be heard from again.

[Dipper9]

If Cal gets involved he will need someone with serious purse-strings in the wings behind him. This team doesn't need another ownership group that is relining on the team to be a big source of income. Plank is worth close to half a billion, he could be one of the guys. Might make for some ugly uniforms though.

Gepi would also be involved, me thinks.

[MikeAD]

Hope its true!

As far as Ripken...I'd much rather have Palmer as the guy to be in the Nolan Ryan style role.

[Nigel Tufnel]

Gepi would also be involved, me thinks.

Didn't Geppi's house go to foreclosure auction a year or two ago? I suppose that could have been some kind of strategic business move, but you generally don't see that happening to guys with enough money to buy a significant piece of an MLB team.

[Danielos38]

If Cal gets involved he will need someone with serious purse-strings in the wings behind him. This team doesn't need another ownership group that is relining on the team to be a big source of income. Plank is worth close to half a billion, he could be one of the guys. Might make for some ugly uniforms though.

Don't think he'd be interested. He's still heavily involved in growing UA and he's a football guy, at heart. Could he even afford the team if he wanted it?

[Can_of_corn]

Didn't Geppi's house go to foreclosure auction a year or two ago? I suppose that could have been some kind of strategic business move, but you generally don't see that happening to guys with enough money to buy a significant piece of an MLB team.

I just did a quick google and Geppi seems to be in dire straits.

As part of the legal back and forth, Geppi has stated that while he was worth over $20,000,000 in 2007 when the deal was signed, and indeed provided paperwork to that effect (right) to guarantee the continued payments to Montana’s family, as of 2011 he was worth less than a million.

[Can_of_corn]

Don't think he'd be interested. He's still heavily involved in growing UA and he's a football guy, at heart. Could he even afford the team if he wanted it?

Like I said he has a net worth close to half a billion. That isn't close to enough to buy the O's with MASN but it is enough to be a rather large player in a deal for just the Orioles. I was just throwing him out there as a local guy that has ties to the area and a large worth.

I certainly wasn't trying to suggest he could swing the deal by himself, nor would I want him to.

[Birds of B'more]

It would be kinda hard to step down but you're right, as bad as PA is, EBW was worse.

Don't forget Eli Jacobs.

Different sport, but Robert Irsay was worse than PA, EBW and Jacobs combined. The point being, things can always get worse.

[TonySoprano]

All a single potential owner would have to do is buy out Angelo's 51% share. An ownership group would likely buy out all of the current owners.

These "hints of rumors" have been happening for years. The state of the Orioles offseason is excitement over rumors of rumors (Angelo's selling, Hart as GM)

[TonySoprano]

All a single potential owner would have to do is buy out Angelo's 51% share. An ownership group would likely buy out all of the current owners.

These "hints of rumors" have been happening for years. The state of the Orioles offseason is excitement over rumors of rumors (Angelo's selling, Hart as GM)

[allstar1579]

I thought it was pretty much a "gimme" that the Orioles would stay in the family and be passed down to his sons

If that was the plan he wouldn't have bothered to get a guaranteed sale price in his deal with MLB for the Nats.

[Birds of B'more]

I would hope he sells MASN with it. Otherwise the O's just went from a team with a potentially big budget that controls the media of one major TV market (DC) and one mid-size market (BMore) to basically a team who will get a TV deal which will be tiny to represent their ratings...

The only hope would be that CSN is willing to fork out big money to get baseball back (not out of the question, IMO). It still wouldn't be ideal for the Orioles, but it could end up being the best option. If the O's end up on MASN without any ownership stake, expect their coverage to be buried well behind the Nats. The thing that concerns me is that we know the network is a cash-cow and at this point is almost a turn-key operation for Angelos if he wants to keep it and pass it down to his heirs. And while not selling it as part of a package will devalue what he gets for the Orioles, he does have that MLB-guaranteed floor of $363 million for a sale price, which is still slightly more than double his initial investment.

[bandy75]

Mark Cuban has been trying to get into MLB for a while now. A group with Ripken would certainly help him gain some approval.