Statement from John Angelos

[wildcard]

Looks like the Bill authorizes bonds for 600M for Camden Yards and 600M for M&T.  

"Kelso said any detailed stadium renovation plans will be put forward by the Ravens or Orioles, and further noted that all improvements will look to improve the fan experience at the stadiums. He said improvements could include video and Wi-Fi improvements so fans can better follow their fantasy teams or adding private clubs, sports bars, and sports betting facilities within the stadiums.

“The idea is to make these stadiums economically-viable 365 days a year,” said Kelso.

He also mentioned better tying Oriole Park at Camden Yards to the Pratt St. Corridor and University of Maryland Baltimore, as well as tying M&T Bank Stadium into the Warner Street District developing south of the stadium.

He said the warehouse could be turned into more of a live/work/play building. He also noted there is the potential for a mixed-used development complex, but noted there still needs to be enough on-site parking available."

https://www.southbmore.com/2022/03/24/maryland-bill-lays-groundwork-for-up-to-1-2-billion-in-stadium-upgrades-at-camden-yards-sports-complex-stadiums/

 

[Frobby]

20 minutes ago, Bahama O's Fan said:

Sorry, maybe I read too much into it. I assumed if the minor league system is fully rebuilt, the MLB team would start winning more. 

I think that’s logical, it’s just not anything John Angelos has said.  

[Can_of_corn]

3 minutes ago, wildcard said:

Looks like the Bill authorizes bonds for 600M for Camden Yards and 600M for M&T.  

"Kelso said any detailed stadium renovation plans will be put forward by the Ravens or Orioles, and further noted that all improvements will look to improve the fan experience at the stadiums. He said improvements could include video and Wi-Fi improvements so fans can better follow their fantasy teams or adding private clubs, sports bars, and sports betting facilities within the stadiums.

“The idea is to make these stadiums economically-viable 365 days a year,” said Kelso.

He also mentioned better tying Oriole Park at Camden Yards to the Pratt St. Corridor and University of Maryland Baltimore, as well as tying M&T Bank Stadium into the Warner Street District developing south of the stadium.

He said the warehouse could be turned into more of a live/work/play building. He also noted there is the potential for a mixed-used development complex, but noted there still needs to be enough on-site parking available."

https://www.southbmore.com/2022/03/24/maryland-bill-lays-groundwork-for-up-to-1-2-billion-in-stadium-upgrades-at-camden-yards-sports-complex-stadiums/

 

I'm sure that the emphasis will be on the fan's experience and not profitability.

No way that adding private clubs, sports bars or gambling on site is about money.  It's all for the average family going to the game.

[Sports Guy]

The team can make as much money as they want.  I don’t care.  You want it to be a facility used 365 days a year?  Great.  Make money off of it.  Do what you have to do.

But make sure you do what’s necessary to have a sustained winner. No one else cares about the rest of this fluff bs.  They want to win.  That’s it. 

[Aglets]

4 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The team can make as much money as they want.  I don’t care.  You want it to be a facility used 365 days a year?  Great.  Make money off of it.  Do what you have to do.

But make sure you do what’s necessary to have a sustained winner. No one else cares about the rest of this fluff bs.  They want to win.  That’s it. 

Well we already are 3 years into the 4-5 year plan now sir.     Aren't you excited?   That is means we are at LEAST 60% of the way done the rebuild and possibly as high as 75%!!!!

woooooooooooooooooooooo

[Frobby]

2 minutes ago, Sports Guy said:

The team can make as much money as they want.  I don’t care.  You want it to be a facility used 365 days a year?  Great.  Make money off of it.  Do what you have to do.

But make sure you do what’s necessary to have a sustained winner. No one else cares about the rest of this fluff bs.  They want to win.  That’s it. 

The more revenue they have, the more money available to spend on winning.   Doesn’t mean they’ll do it, of course.   

But I am largely with you on this.   Start winning and the rest is footnotes.   Fans go to see winning teams and the “fan experience” is greatly enhanced when you see the team win.   And fans are far more interested when their team is in the race than when they’re not.  
 

[interloper]

I have no real opinions yet about John other than it was silly to have a press conference about Paul McCartney. 

Clearly he is interested in a sort of overall "revitalization" of the organization, top to bottom from the front office to the Dominican academy to Camden Yards and surrounding area to how they bring in income. I don't have any problem with any of that. In most cases, many of these things are sorely needed. Businesses have to reboot a little every now and then. Even MASN, with all of its problems, has seen costly production upgrades, which is encouraging as much as the implementation is frustrating.

So, what remains is for John to make good on the obvious elephant in the room. The reason I'm more relaxed about this than most around here isn't because I'm a blind rainbows and unicorns guy, but because it stands to reason they would not undergo this dramatic of an organizational reboot simply to make a couple extra bucks on concerts and concessions. I believe the spending is coming (and I don't really disagree with those who say it should already be happening), but if it doesn't I will certainly be as critical as the next guy. 

John Angelos and the ownership group is on the clock. 

[Natty]

I don't see anything about spending money on quality ball players.

[Sports Guy]

John Angelos has a wife trying to make it in the country music world.  So far, it hasn’t gone well from my understanding.  So, what is he doing here?  
 

He’s trying to make entertainment important.  That is the world his wife is in and it’s the world, by default, that he finds himself in as well.  So, gambling, concerts, etc…make it an adult playground.  
 

There are few problems with this though:

1) Will people want to go into that city to play?

2) Does this mean that he plans on keeping the team because he sees the upside with this and it gives his wife even more of a chance to work within the industry she loves?

 

Again, I hope they make a ton of money off of this.  Kudos to them if they do.  He could make 5B a year off of this and I wouldn’t care…as long as he does what is needed for the team to win.  We know he is committed to the infrastructure of things which, let’s face it, is cheap (relatively speaking). And that’s good because his dad didn’t want to do this.  But he needs to show he will take this much further at the ML level.  Until then, none of this stuff matters to me.  It’s all a distraction.

[Moose Milligan]

Yeah, I really don't care.  

[Redskins Rick]

Exactly at some point, you have to walk your talk.

[hutchead]

51 minutes ago, owknows said:

On a more serious note... this is an awesome statement...  reaffirms the prospect of a bright future in which the club is devoted to building a sustainable contender...  and hopefully will put to rest some of continuous negative droning from Eeyore, Droopy, And those two old farts in the Muppet Balcony.  (at least for awhile).

Ha! Good luck with that!

[Can_of_corn]

17 minutes ago, Frobby said:

The more revenue they have, the more money available to spend on winning.   Doesn’t mean they’ll do it, of course.   

But I am largely with you on this.   Start winning and the rest is footnotes.   Fans go to see winning teams and the “fan experience” is greatly enhanced when you see the team win.   And fans are far more interested when their team is in the race than when they’re not.  
 

Why even bother with renovations?  Just cut them a check for 500M to sign the extension.  It saves the State 100M and maybe they will spend some of it on the team.

 

 

[BohKnowsBmore]

2 minutes ago, Can_of_corn said:

Why even bother with renovations?  Just cut them a check for 500M to sign the extension.  It saves the State 100M and maybe they will spend some of it on the team.

 

 

As I mentioned in the previous thread about the borrowing cap - it seems that the 600M number (for each stadium) is consistent with the recently-approved 600M for the convention center borrowing cap increase. Doesn't necessarily mean that number is already tabbed for specific projects.

Here...

 

[Sports Guy]

Btw, I’m all for the improvements and the idea of an “adult playground”.   I think it’s a great idea.

But I’m not sure it works in Baltimore until they clean up the city and get people in positions of power that care about crime.