Orioles ‘will in no way leave’ Baltimore, chairman and CEO suggests

In the midst of a lawsuit among users of the Angelos spouse and children, Orioles chairman and CEO John Angelos issued a statement Monday morning reassuring that the club “will hardly ever leave” Baltimore.

Louis Angelos, the brother of John, introduced a lawsuit from his brother Thursday alleging he was seeking to seize control of the workforce and the rest of his father’s holdings. The suit also named their mother, Georgia Angelos, as a defendant.

The lawsuit provided the insinuation from Louis Angelos that John Angelos would think about shifting the staff to Nashville if he attained total manage. John Angelos lives in Tennessee with his wife, a country music singer-songwriter who owns a Nashville-primarily based leisure company.

But in Monday’s statement, John Angelos reiterated his stance that the Orioles will continue being in Baltimore “as very long as Fort McHenry is standing check out in excess of the Internal Harbor.”

”Since I was appointed Chairman and CEO according to my parents’ expressed wishes, and voted as the command individual for the staff by the 30 Key League Clubs, I have taken important steps to make sure that our beloved franchise’s potential continues to be in Appeal Town,” Angelos wrote.

”Just two months back we celebrated the Maryland Typical Assembly passing a monthly bill promising to place $1.2 billion into reinvesting and reimagining the Camden Yards Athletics Sophisticated, which incorporates Oriole Park, making certain the team will go on to engage in suitable here in downtown Baltimore for generations to occur. Maryland is committed to trying to keep our team in this terrific condition, and I am equally committed to trying to keep the Orioles at the heart of our state,” the statement reads.

The timing is important. The Orioles’ lease of Camden Yards incorporates a clause that helps prevent the firm from departing, and the stadium was developed to exchange Memorial Stadium with the goal of stopping one more professional franchise from departing, this sort of as the Baltimore Colts in 1984.

But the lease with the Maryland Stadium Authority for the point out-owned ballpark expires at the conclusion of next year, and despite lengthy negotiations, there has yet to be an extension. There has only been 1 MLB relocation in the past 50 several years — when the Montreal Expos grew to become the Washington Nationals. A potential improve in ownership and relocation necessitates approval from a few-quarters of MLB workforce house owners.

”As stewards of ‘The Ballpark That Permanently Adjusted Baseball,’ we will carry on to improve our neighborhood, make an additional $10 billion in economic impression for the Metropolis of Baltimore and Point out of Maryland, and welcome yet another 70 million people today to downtown Baltimore more than the following 30 decades and beyond,” John Angelos wrote. “There is absolutely nothing unsure about the future of the Baltimore Orioles.

“I want to assure our Orioles players and coaches, our focused entrance office environment Senior Leadership Team and personnel, and our devoted supporters, dependable associates, elected, civic, and non-income leaders, and our entire group, that the Orioles will never depart. From 33rd Street to Camden Yards, the Birds of Baltimore, the legendary crew of Brooks, Earl, Jim, Frank, Cal, and Eddie, will endlessly remain in the only city that our family members and our partnership group has named, or will ever simply call, property – the very best metropolis and birthplace of our countrywide anthem of which we are enduringly happy and to which we are without end committed.”

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