Could the O's leave town?

[JackO]

If I recall correctly' date=' Angelos was guaranteed a sale price of $350 million if he ever decided to sell as one of the conditions of the Expos relocation to DC. Can't dig up a source at the moment though.[/quote']

good point...

So that opens another question. Maybe he is tanking the value of the club to get someone else. +cal cough cough+ a sweatheart deal. If the club is worth nothing -- and at this point it is not -- and MLB has to pay the difference in price, then perhaps he coudl sell the team fro the same $173 million he bought it for... or less.

[JackO]

12 years dude. 12 years.

12 years is a long long time.

12 years is a short enough period of time that angelos could negotiate a buy out.

[JTrea81]

But I can tell you right now he has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to the city's relationship with the Orioles as a team. bYou need to live here day in day out to understand that. You can have all the opinions you want, but they would be uniformed stupid opinions.

I am looking at it as an outsider I will admit, but seeing Boston and the Red Sox and seeing Baltimore and the Orioles, I can tell you Boston embraces the Red Sox 200% more than Baltimore embraces the Orioles.

In the city, I see business catering to Red Sox and Yankees fans, employees wearing Red Sox and Yankees gear. You never see that in Boston, never.

And the hotel business was really the biggest indicator when they didn't even take into account the surroundings of OPACY and sightlines when they built the Hilton.

This city to me has lost their pride of hosting the Orioles IMO. They've given up on the team.

The Ravens are what matter now and are the team that is most embraced. Baltimore is a football town with a baseball team.

[SilentJames]

12 years is a short enough period of time that angelos could negotiate a buy out.

Why would Angelos want to buy out the contract? Just because? Moreover, Angelos has money - but not that much money.

[TonySoprano]

We could get any number of minor league teams. The quality of play would be hardly any different. It would be the other team's that would be the biggest difference.

A minor league park with a capacity over 40,000???

Yeah, and the NFL would never let teams move out of historical footbal cities like Baltimore, Cleveland and Oakland!

Roll your eyes, for all I care. None of those teams played in a ballpark as unique as Camden Yards. BTW, the Colts team that left Baltimore was actually the second pro football team called the Colts that left town.

[SilentJames]

I am looking at it as an outsider I will admit, but seeing Boston and the Red Sox and seeing Baltimore and the Orioles, I can tell you Boston embraces the Red Sox 200% more than Baltimore embraces the Orioles.

In the city, I see business catering to Red Sox and Yankees fans, employees wearing Red Sox and Yankees gear. You never see that in Boston, never.

And the hotel business was really the biggest indicator when they didn't even take into account the surroundings of OPACY and sightlines when they built the hotel.

This city to me has lost their pride of hosting the Orioles IMO.

I have been to places in New York City and seen bartenders wearing Indians hats! That doesn't mean anything.

Do you understand how many Orioles hats I see in my school on a daily basis? You wouldn't because you don't live here and you are cherry-picking anecdotal "facts" to serve your own lame agenda.

Boston and New York crap is EVERYWHERE. When they come to Oakland you see it in everywhere too. My buddy in SF can attest to that.

[btownoriole]

Yeah, and the NFL would never let teams move out of historical footbal cities like Baltimore, Cleveland and Oakland!

Yeah, but baseball has the anti-trust exemption, which allows them to block moves. The NFL did not want those teams to move but were powerless legally.

[threedaysrest]

But I can tell you right now he has no idea what he is talking about when it comes to the city's relationship with the Orioles as a team. bYou need to live here day in day out to understand that. You can have all the opinions you want, but they would be uniformed stupid opinions.

You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to SilentJames again.

What the hell is wrong with some of you?! Moving the Orioles!? For whom, exactly? In my nearly three years here, this is the damned silliest thing I've ever read, and that says a lot.

Look, can any of you say for certain how Jones will turn out? Wieters? Tillman? Bergesen? DH? Reimold? Matusz? And Pie, for that matter? Yes, they've all failed to perform to expectations to this point, and Stick's off, too, but let's not give up on them. :angryfire:

Go O's!! :clap3::clap3::clap3:

[RayFink1e]

FWIW, I live about 15-20 minutes north of the Mason Dixon line and everyone around here still seems to be Orioles fans. I hear numerous people standing in line at stores strike up conversations about the Orioles if prompted by something along the lines of one of them sporting Orioles attire. Now, I don't know if they attend or even watch games but I would say they are ripe for the picking when/if the Orioles ever get a winning club.

[birdman57]

Does anyone get the feeling that the O's are about to leave town?

Look at it this way:

• The owner locked up a revenue stream for himself.
• He doesn't have a baseball stadium to sell, thanks to the fact that you and I own it through our tax dollars.
• He is not investing in the on-field product.
• He recently said that the Nat's success is his success.
• There has been little to no outreach to the fanbase.
• The O's resale value is absolutely shot because it has lost half of its fan base, that in the DC metro area, to the club in DC, it is losing the fanbase in the middle ground between DC and Baltimore and the on the field product is not enough to bring those in the Baltimore metro area to the ballpark that he does not own.
• When he lost the DC fan base, he also lost the wealthier part of his fan base that could spend more money on tickets and more on concessions.

Now, one could make the case that the O's have nowhere to go and that attendance is down everywhere. But has anyone considered that MLB might also be ripe for contraction? And that when contracting, the O's who are truly the dead weight in the American League East, could be ripe for contraction?

Just out of curiosity. Does anyone remember how fan apathy for the O's now compared to fan apathy before the Colts left town?

One can only hope:)

[DrungoHazewood]

A minor league park with a capacity over 40,000???

The 1993 or 1994 Baysox played at Memorial Stadium, which had a capacity of 54,000.

New Orleans had a AAA team in the 1970s that played in the Superdome with a capacity in the neighborhood of 80,000 or more.

I swear some minor league teams have played in BC Place in Vancouver, with a capacity of 60k. But wiki doesn't mention that.

The Buffalo Bisons played at War Memorial Stadium (where the Natural was filmed), with a capacity of 46,500.

The Denver Bears played in Mile High Stadium, which in the 1990s seated some garguantuan number of fans, north of 80k.

In 1944, after the Federal League-vintage Oriole Park burned down, the Orioles played at Municipal Stadium on the site of the future Memorial Stadium. They drew more fans to the Junior World Series that year than the real World Series drew.

[osfan83]

A minor league park with a capacity over 40,000???

Roll your eyes, for all I care. None of those teams played in a ballpark as unique as Camden Yards. BTW, the Colts team that left Baltimore was actually the second pro football team called the Colts that left town.

Don't get me wrong, I love Camden Yards...but it's hardley unique anymore. Almost every stadium built after OPACY has been build with that old style unique feel to it. There may be many reasons that the O's will never move out of Baltimore, but OPACY's unique feel compaired to other parks is not one of them.

[brendanmdeegan]

good point...

So that opens another question. Maybe he is tanking the value of the club to get someone else. +cal cough cough+ a sweatheart deal. If the club is worth nothing -- and at this point it is not -- and MLB has to pay the difference in price, then perhaps he coudl sell the team fro the same $173 million he bought it for... or less.

I'm missing something here. Why would Angelos tank the value?? Yes, MLB has guaranteed him a minimum amount, but wouldn't he want to greatly exceed that if at all possible?? I think I get your rationale of "give Cal the discount, I still get my money" but it seems extremely unlikely compared to maximizing his sell price like a normal business would.

[Moose Milligan]

Do it, Petey. You've tortured us long enough....now twist the dagger, pull it out and let us die a miserable fate.

Just when you think this team has hit rock bottom...I'm tellin you...

[ChaosLex]

You'll have a hard time convincing me that MLB will ever let Camden Yards go without a team.

Maybe they can move the MFY's down here. Then we'd finally be able to see Tex in Baltimore.