Is Angelos quietly shopping the Orioles?

[NewMarketSean]

Why would anyone "quietly shop" the team. The only way to get the best price is to get as many bidders as possible involved. You don't do that quietly.

He might just want to find out how much the team is worth and decide whether he wants to sell it or not.

He may also not want to get our hopes up also, since this would be the best news for fans short of winning the world series.

So i can see why he would want to do something like this on the DL, at least to start out the process.

[LookinUp]

As for MASN, I don't know how long the TV contract runs, but Angelos keeping MASN would only be good for the length of the current contract. After that, the new owner could move to Comcast or O'sTV or HTS or whatever the heck they wanted. MASN is nothing without the Orioles.

This was part of a longer post and it may have been missed, so I want to quote this for truth. PA selling the O's w/o a very long MASN deal in place seems unimaginable to me. It makes more sense to get a bigger lump sum now and just sell it all, if the market is there.

I've wondered aloud on this site a few times about the O's paring payroll and expenses. Part of me wonders if this had something to do with PA trying to retain AM and/or the failed GM search.

If I were PA, I'd see this stained product and either sell or commit to a complete makeover. How much ego can there be in consistent failure? It has to be about money, and he's old and probably in line for a really nice lump sum. Selling makes sense. Unless his sons convince him otherwise.

[Can_of_corn]

I think what really hurts is all of the Abramoff lobbiest money from DC now goes to the Nats. Tons of political money migrated 45 minutes down I-95. I think that had the impact of thousands upon thousands of fans a game.

I think folks underestimate how much of an impact the Nats have had.

[DrungoHazewood]

Why would anyone "quietly shop" the team. The only way to get the best price is to get as many bidders as possible involved. You don't do that quietly.

This isn't a normal business, it's Major League Baseball. The winner isn't the high bidder it's the group that Bud and the other owners like the most, and are most convinced won't rock the boat.

[sakata_catching]

I think folks underestimate how much of an impact the Nats have had.

And how that effect is about to snowball.

[cnmilton]

I could be wrong, but I believe there is a stipulation in the MASN contract with MLB that MASN must be owned by a Majority MLB owner. I could be wrong, though.

[Enjoy Terror]

Considering the market and history of the franchise, even though the Orioles have been terrible, reigniting the fans and turning it into a successful franchise would be pretty easy I think. Surprised there wouldn't be a ton of interest.

[TheBee]

I have had off the record personal conversations with someone who most of you would assume would be a part of a group of potential buyers of the Orioles if Angelos were ever to sell. He indicated to me that this subject (the potential sale of the team) has come up numerous times over the past few years (at which point my excitement grew) but never actually goes anywhere (at which point I got the feeling that he too gets very frustrating/mixed signals from Angelos). I have since taken the attitude that I don't expect him to ever really sell. Just my opinion.

[Can_of_corn]

I could be wrong, but I believe there is a stipulation in the MASN contract with MLB that MASN must be owned by a Majority MLB owner. I could be wrong, though.

If you could find that information I would be very pleased.

[Frobby]

I think folks underestimate how much of an impact the Nats have had.

I don't. The O's lost over 1 million fans before the Nats got here. If you look at how their attendance has correlated with Nats attendance since they arrived, there is only a very weak relationship. The O's have lost another 900,000 fans since the Nats arrived and I'd guess that no more than 250,000 of that is due to having another team in the region, and 650,000 is their lousy, losing ways.

[flashjordnk]

I don't. The O's lost over 1 million fans before the Nats got here. If you look at how their attendance has correlated with Nats attendance since they arrived, there is only a very weak relationship. The O's have lost another 900,000 fans since the Nats arrived and I'd guess that no more than 250,000 of that is due to having another team in the region, and 650,000 is their lousy, losing ways.

Yeah I live in DC and would still go to more O's games than Nats games. And despite losing the MARC bus back (that also hurt my chances of going to games) still regularly attend O's games and only a handful of Nats games despite the fact they are just 4 metro stops away from where I live.

If the O's had a 85 win type team every year there is no doubt in my mind, Nats or not that they could still sell out the house.

[glenn__davis]

Love the Junkies, but I'm not putting any stock into an EB tweet. I don't see Angelos selling anytime soon.

[Skeletor]

With Selig and MLB emphasizing RSNs, I would have to think that they would insist MASN be part of the deal. Either that or a very, very lucrative rights deal.

[Yardball85]

If only the Orioles were a public traded company. Then we could file a class action derivative suit as public shareholders and sue Angelos for breach of fiduciary duties.

God knows he has breached duties of care to the nth degree (albeit that is a difficult standard to prove in court.)

[Ohfan67]

Angelos is 83. Odds are that the Orioles will have a new owner in 6.26 years.

http://www.annuityadvantage.com/lifeexpectancy.htm