The past few seasons Baltimore Orioles fans have been in constant worry that the their team may be heading to a new location. The Angelos family has been in firm denial, but owners lying about moving have happened before (I.E Irsay family moving the Baltimore Colts). The Orioles have been in Baltimore since moving from St. Louis in 1954.
The Angelos family have been in a legal battle with each other since the summer and have attempted selling recently. The Angelos family has continued to shop selling the Orioles. Owner Peter Angelos has been out of the picture for almost a decade having his sons John and Louis run the team. John Angelos basically took ownership of the team, which caused his brother Louis to sue him. John Angelos lives in Tennessee which is a desired spot for a MLB team to move, but has released several statements stating that he will not move the team.
Right now it looks as though general manager Mike Elias has full control of the team. If there is a sale of the Orioles I could see Elias and the management remaining intact.
So yes, there has been rumors that the Orioles may move out of Baltimore and some speculation. The Orioles went through a very tough rebuild and finally had a winning season again. For the rebuild the Orioles traded away almost all their notable players and did not make any big signings. The Orioles tore things down to build it back up from the bottom up, which would put them on track with moving to a new city.
The Orioles and the Maryland Stadium Authority only signed a two-year deal when they renewed their contract last year to keep the Orioles at Camden Yards. The lease expires on Dec 31st of 2023, a leaked memo from John Angelos however stated that he plans on renewing the lease.
There are a few big reasons why Orioles will remain in Baltimore. The biggest one is Camden Yards, which is one of the best stadiums in all of sports and is literally the ballpark that changed baseball. Camden Yards is just too beautiful to have vacant and is one of the MLB’s gems. Camden Yards repeatedly ranks in the top five on any list ranking ballparks. If the Orioles ever did move, a new team would likely take its place very quickly. Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium also received $1.2 billion in State Funding for upgrades. If the Orioles planned on moving that would have never been approved.
The Orioles are a legacy franchise for the MLB being in Baltimore for almost 70 years, having won three World Series and having some great Hall of Famers. The Orioles still have a diehard fan base, yes attendance numbers have been down but several reasons, not just losing has effected that. Peter Angelos himself has alienated fans, by not just losing but letting several fan favorites leave dating back to Hall of Fame pitcher Mike Mussina.
Recently at the MLB Winter Meetings the MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred stated that he likes the direction the Orioles are going. “As long as I have this job,” Manfred said “I think you can count on the fact that the Orioles are going to be in Baltimore.” Manfred also, sided with John Angelos having control of the team with the current legal battle.
Manfred has not been so strong about the Athletics staying in Oakland, which I think will be moving sooner rather than later. Oakland will likely move to Las Vegas, which their relocation fee would then be waived.
History shows that teams with great stadiums rarely ever move. The Orioles have one of the best in the country. The other MLB teams rumored to move all have inferior stadiums. Oakland has one of the worst stadiums in sports in RingCentral Coliseum.
The Tampa Bay Rays another team that always has relocation rumors and speculation also has a bad stadium. The Rays have been very successful and have failed to gain any sort of a fan base.
Winning will bring fans back to Camden Yards, fans started coming back to Camden Yards after a surprising 2022 season that had Orioles fans, including myself super excited.
I personally do not think the Orioles will be moving any time soon, maybe that is just me being super optimistic. Camden Yards is just too nice to move out of. I will be doing another article on why the Orioles attendance has fallen, so keep visiting the website to check it out.
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