State boards approve Orioles lease with 2 weeks to spare, ending ‘uncertainty’ of negotiations

The moment before the Orioles’ long-negotiated lease to remain at Oriole Park at Camden Yards became official, Treasurer Dereck Davis — one of three state officials required to approve it — feigned hesitancy as the deal, at least formally, hung in the balance.

The dozens of decision-makers gathered Monday at the historic B&O Warehouse exhaled and laughed, however, when it was apparent he was joking. “I can’t take those kind of jokes,” said Gov. Wes Moore, who spent his first year in office working toward a deal with Baltimore’s MLB club.

Then, Moore announced: “The lease agreement is approved.”

After a seesawing saga that spanned the last five years — and most crucially, the past few months — the Orioles and the state formally agreed to a lease keeping the team at Oriole Park. In hastily scheduled special meetings, the Maryland Stadium Authority board unanimously voted in favor of the agreement Monday morning and the Board of Public Works — made up of Davis, Moore and Comptroller Brooke Lierman, all Democrats — unanimously approved it Monday afternoon during a festive day at Camden Yards, complete with elected local, state and federal leaders, as well as representatives from the Orioles.

The deal does not yet lease public land to the Orioles for development, which was a key aspect of negotiations. But it outlines a 30-year lease agreement that would take effect once the state and team can agree to terms on those development rights. They have until the end of 2027 to come to such terms.

The final steps toward Monday’s votes began late last week, when sparse outlines of the lease appeared on the boards’ websites with no explanation of the terms. Moore’s administration announced Thursday an agreement had been reached, but said it was waiting to provide details until the boards completed their work. The stadium authority did not respond Monday when asked for a copy of the approved agreement.

It was billed as a 30-year agreement in news releases from the Orioles and the state, but in the event the team and state do not come to terms on a development plan, the Orioles could choose to reduce their term to 15 years. That would keep them in Baltimore until 2038, similar to the Ravens’ commitment to neighboring M&T Bank Stadium.

Moore said that while he knows “there is an option” for the Orioles’ deal to be 15 years, he called it a “30-year deal.”

“We’re all committed to making sure that this becomes a 30-plus year deal for the Baltimore Orioles,” he told reporters.

The complex lease includes multiple options and scenarios. The longer, 30-year term would be triggered if the club secures the necessary governmental approvals for a separate ground lease granting it rights to redevelop an area surrounding Camden Yards. The team would need to submit a master development plan, in effect a blueprint for the property, that would require approval by the stadium authority and Board of Public Works.

The lease agreement caps a lengthy, arduous negotiation full of multiple near-deals. Now, it’s official.

Moore told reporters that he’s aware “there was a measure of frustration that uncertainty brings,” but that he was happy to deliver the following message to fans: “The deal is done.” When he took office in January, “there was nothing but uncertainty around this deal,” Moore said, adding that some suggested he should extend the lease by a year.

“Well, guess what? This morning, the Maryland Stadium Authority approved a 30-year lease extension to keep the Orioles in Baltimore for a generation,” he said. While the governor and Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos touted the longer term, the provisions are complicated and a further three-decade residency at Camden Yards is not guaranteed.

Two officials with knowledge of the document told The Baltimore Sun last week that the deal extends the current terms, under which the Orioles pay rent and the stadium authority operates and maintains the ballpark, for at least five years (it could be much longer) while development rights are being negotiated. At that point, the ballclub could choose to continue with a 15-year lease, with four five-year options under the current lease terms if no development deal is reached. Or the club could forgo its option of leaving after 15 years, extend the lease to 30 years, but stop paying rent and gain authority over stadium operations and maintenance, a costly function that falls to the stadium authority today.

If the team is sold, all of these terms carry over to the new owner, stadium authority Chairman Craig Thompson said in response to a question by Lierman at the public works meeting.

Lierman said in a news conference that, although she is an Orioles’ fan, she was not a “rubber stamp” for Moore or Angelos. She considered the deal to be a “home run” for the team and state.

Angelos was not in attendance Monday, but Orioles Chief Operating Officer Greg Bader and Vice President for Public Affairs Kerry Watson were present, along with the Oriole Bird.

“Our management group took the Orioles to the top of the league this season, and now, in partnership with Governor Wes Moore and his Administration, they made this deal happen,” Angelos said in a team statement released after the second vote. “Most importantly, I’m happy we can deliver on our promise to fans of keeping the Orioles here for 30 more years, marking the 100th season of the team in Baltimore.”

The lease was first set to expire at the end of 2021. With no new deal imminent, the parties agreed in February 2021 to extend the agreement for two years, through Dec. 31, 2023, with the club retaining the right to exercise a one-time, five-year extension by Feb. 1, 2023. Angelos declined last winter to exercise that option.

In September, Moore and Angelos announced a 30-year “deal,” but it turned out to be a nonbinding memorandum of understanding, not a lease. Then, a lease was proposed by the administration on Dec. 8, but withdrawn the same day because of opposition by the governor’s fellow Democrats.

Lease negotiations with the club began informally in 2018. Some elected officials and Orioles fans openly wondered what was taking so long.

“While I understand the frustration from the public, this is very complicated,” Joe Bryce, a stadium authority board member, said at Monday’s meeting.

“Unlike anyone else involved in the negotiations, the MSA board has a fiduciary responsibility to protect the assets of the state,” Bryce said. “And as the governor spoke of many times, protecting that taxpayer asset — responsible use of state money — should be at the forefront of our arrangements with our partners.”

Looming over the lease negotiations was the memory of the NFL’s Colts leaving town for Indianapolis on a March night in 1984 following a dispute with the city over improvements to Memorial Stadium. Baltimoreans’ anxieties about the Orioles’ future were heightened when Louis Angelos, the owner’s youngest son, filed suit in Baltimore County Circuit Court in June 2022 against his mother, Georgia, and brother, John, over what he characterized as John’s attempt to take control and ownership of their fortune after his father became incapacitated. Louis Angelos suggested in the suit that his brother could move the team to Nashville, Tennessee, where he has a home, a scenario John Angelos said would not happen. The family settled the suit in February.

As with their current lease, the Orioles’ new lease includes a “no relocation” clause.

In 2020, the stadium authority began studying a shift in stadium funding with an eye on keeping the Orioles happy and in Baltimore. Under the new approach, approved in 2022 by the Democrat-controlled General Assembly and signed into law by Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, the stadium authority can borrow up to $1.2 billion to pay for stadium improvements — $600 million each for the Orioles and Ravens. But no bonds can be issued without a lease, and the lease must be long enough to pay off the longest-term bonds.

With Hogan leaving office in January 2023, Angelos temporarily halted the lease negotiations following the November 2022 election until Moore took office, according to a letter Angelos wrote to Moore that was obtained by The Sun.

Officials in Hogan’s administration had hoped to complete a new lease before Hogan’s second term ended, as they did with the Ravens in December 2022.