John Angelos has agreed to sell the Baltimore Orioles to a group led by Carlyle Group Inc. co-founder David Rubenstein, according to multiple reports on Tuesday.
The transaction reportedly values the Orioles at $1.725 billion.
Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, reportedly will take over as the team's controlling owner. He has assembled an investment team that includes Ares co-founder Michael Arougheti.
Major League Baseball still must approve the sale. Owners are scheduled to meet next week in Orlando, Florida. News of the deal was first reported by Puck.
A sale must be approved in a vote of at least 75% by the 30 major league teams. The sales approval process typically lasts several months.
The Angelos family has been in control of the Orioles since 1993, when Peter Angelos purchased the team for $173 million. Angelos' son John has been the team's chair and managing partner since 2020, as Peter suffers from dementia.
The Orioles recently finalized a deal with the Maryland Stadium Authority to remain at Camden Yards for the next 15 years, with a path to expand the commitment to 30 years.
Rubenstein previously had shown interest in buying the Washington Nationals.
Prior to forming Carlyle in 1987, Rubenstein practiced law in Washington. From 1977 to 1981, he was a deputy assistant for domestic policy to President Jimmy Carter. After graduating from Duke in 1970, he attended the University of Chicago Law School.
The Orioles are coming off a 101-win season and their first American League East title since 2014. With young stars Adley Rutschman and Gunnar Henderson and another top prospect on the way in Jackson Holliday, the future looks as bright as it has in a while for a team that hasn't won a World Series since 1983.
One sore spot with fans is the club's payroll, which has remained low, and it's been another quiet offseason for the team so far. If the new ownership group is able to keep Baltimore's young core together, the Orioles could have a lengthy window of contention.
When Peter Angelos first took control of the Orioles, they had recently started playing at Camden Yards, the downtown venue that revolutionized the way baseball parks were built. The Orioles spent aggressively, at least for a little while, and won the division in 1997 with future Hall of Famers Cal Ripken, Roberto Alomar, Mike Mussina and Harold Baines.
After that, Baltimore didn't make the postseason again until 2012, when the Orioles began a renaissance under manager Buck Showalter. They eventually had to rebuild again, losing at least 108 games in 2018, 2019 and 2021 -- a streak interrupted only by the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.
Even as the team posted the best record in the AL last year, there were ominous signs on potential team spending, such as a New York Times piece in which Angelos was quoted as saying: "When people talk about giving this player $200 million, that player $150 million, we would be so financially underwater that you'd have to raise the prices massively."
Information from The Associated Press and Field Level Media was used in this report.