Clinching their division but not their lease: Despite scoreboard announcement, Orioles remain unsigned at Camden Yards beyond end of year

It would not be the first time something said in the heat of the night turned out to be less than it seemed in the cold light of the morning.

Thursday night’s electric announcement on the scoreboard that there was a deal to keep the Orioles playing at the state-owned Camden Yards for at least “THE NEXT 30 YEARS” was widely interpreted as saying a new lease had been signed. The resulting cheers were quickly followed by everyone, from Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott to the Ravens congratulating the O’s on their new 30-year “lease.”

But the morning after, with fans still shaking confetti out of their hair after the team clinched its division, officials from the team and Gov. Wes Moore’s administration clarified: The deal wasn’t a much-anticipated new lease replacing or extending the one that expires Dec. 31, but rather a “memorandum of understanding” between the tenant O’s and their state landlord that was not legally binding.

Such a MOU is not a lease, in the way that a promise ring is not an engagement ring, let alone a wedding band.

“We all know what a memo of understanding is: nothing,” said Rob Barron, a fan from Ellicott City at Camden Yards for Friday’s game. ”I’m disappointed. I’m still hopeful. But let’s just get [the lease] signed.”

Was the announcement premature and wishful thinking, savvy public relations or something else entirely? Who knows?

“It’s a little misleading,” said Amy Becker, a Loyola University of Maryland professor who specializes in political communications.

But she and others said the out-of-nowhere announcement, amid a thrilling team’s march toward its storybook destiny, could be strategic albeit risky.

“It’s smart from a PR standpoint. People think it’s done,” Becker said. “It’s a good move for Wes Moore, they showed him on the screen… if he keeps baseball and the Orioles in Baltimore.”

But state and team officials acknowledged Friday during a briefing on the agreement that even though the goal is to get a deal done by Dec. 31, it’s possible they could extend the lease while hammering out those devilish details of the lease.

“If it doesn’t get done, there is more explaining to do,” Becker said. “It leads to a real crisis if it’s not signed.”

Broad discussions over a new lease, which began in 2018, have taken place largely behind closed doors, and the fast approaching expiration date has many, particularly in state government, increasingly impatient. At stake is $600 million in public funding, which only would be released to the team for ballpark improvements with a signed lease.

On Friday, state officials reached by The Baltimore Sun were largely circumspect, except when it came to adding their own “Go O’s” to the chorus.

State Treasurer Dereck Davis, one of the three Board of Public Works members who would have to approve a new lease, said in a statement Friday he still needed to review the deal in its entirety.

In July, Davis said he was concerned about the lack of progress and transparency in the process and that he didn’t want to be forced to vote on a contract at the last minute. He later met with Angelos and Moore, saying then he was “cautiously optimistic.” On Friday, he struck a similar note.

”As a longtime Orioles fan, I am pleased to see an agreement has been reached that will hopefully benefit Baltimore and the state of Maryland for decades to come,” Davis said in a statement. “My priority will always be getting the best deal for the state and our taxpayers.

“The Baltimore Orioles have been a source of pride for our state since 1901, and now that they are staying put, it’s time to cheer on our team and head to the playoffs.”

Another Public Works member, Comptroller Brooke Lierman, a self-described “lifelong Orioles fan,” lauded the “tentative agreement.”

”I look forward to reviewing the final agreement and performing my due diligence ahead of a vote on the final lease at a future Board of Public Works meeting,” she said.

Moore is the board’s third member.

During negotiations, Angelos was said to have asked for several deal sweeteners, and wanted the lease agreement to include development around the stadium complex to spark a “second Renaissance” of Baltimore.

Senate President Bill Ferguson has said that while redevelopment in Baltimore should be a priority, a lease should be signed first. It would be premature for the state to plan investments around the ballpark, he said in August, “when we don’t have a partner that is committing to be there for the next 20 to 30 years.”

With the agreement now explicitly including development rights for parcels and buildings around the stadium, Ferguson declined to comment Friday.

His counterpart in the House of Delegates, Speaker Adrienne Jones expressed her commitment to “keeping the Orioles playing at Camden Yards for decades to come.

“There are many more steps in the process that need to happen,” she said, “before the legislature has the opportunity to weigh in.”

The MOU also calls for the state to contribute $3.3 million per year over the life of the lease for a ballpark safety and repair fund. That adds up to about $100 million over the 30 years. The memorandum said such a fund would be subject to state legislative approval.

Against the uncertainty that has plagued the lease negotiations, Thursday’s scoreboard announcement landed like a surprise but welcome guest at an already joyful game.

Perhaps the moment was simply too irresistible for Moore and Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos to pass up. With a primed and engaged crowd before them, the two were shown on the screen above the announcement, reveling in the owner’s suite and joining in the applause of the crowd, however self-congratulatory.

“When the stars align, you got to kind of lean into that magic,” said Matt McDermott, a Baltimore-based marketing professional. “It’s not always going to happen again.”

McDermott, president of the advertising firm, Humble & Wallop, a rebrand of its former Harvey Agency name, has publicly criticized the Angelos family’s messaging on negotiations and other events in the past. But on this occasion, he said, “it was pitch-perfect timing.”

Unless, he noted, if the O’s and the state renege on what they’ve promised so far, such as the locking the team in for at least 30 years or redeveloping the area around the ballpark.

“Gov. Moore and Angelos have a lot to lose if that does happen,” said McDermott, whose agency has clients such as Schmidt Baking Co. and George Washington University.

But, at least from a marketing perspective, his advice is to enjoy the view for now.

“When the stars align, enjoy looking at them, and don’t dig into the ingredients of each star right now,” he said. “That’s not the time to look at it.”

T.J. Smith, a communications pro and WBAL Radio talk show host, likens the announcement to those common when signing pro athletes — there’s an agreement in principle, but details like perhaps a physical remain to be ironed out.

“There’s still some ink left to dry,” he characterized it.

The fact that it was a two-party announcement, rather than one side unilaterally and perhaps prematurely putting out a statement, gives him confidence that “they’re on the same page,” he said.

Moore joined Smith on his show at 11 a.m. Friday, as a background media briefing on the deal by officials from his administration and the Orioles was underway in which they clarified that no lease had been signed.

During the radio conversation, Moore himself didn’t use the term “lease.”

“It was a magical night, it’s a magical time,” Moore told Smith. “To have on the same night where we win 100 games, where we clinch the AL East, also we’re announcing the Orioles aren’t going anywhere. This is Baltimore’s team and this is Maryland’s team.”

Moore said that Maryland will save “millions of dollars each year” because stadium operations and maintenance will fall to the Orioles rather than to the state.

”Deals are complex,” he said. “We had a lot of back-and-forth between our team and between the Orioles team, but I tell you I could not be happier about this conclusion because I think the energy jolt that this is going to bring and how it is going to kick off the master plan, it’s just going to be really exciting — not to mention we’re going to get a bunch of world series out of this.”

While Mayor Scott on Thursday night touted the lease that turned out not to be a lease, on Friday, he said in a statement that he supported the progress made “to move us closer to a fully executed agreement that keeps the Orioles in Baltimore for the next 30 years.”

The notion that there’s a lease that’s been signed, sealed and delivered may prove unshakable at this point. Even the Downtown Partnership late Friday afternoon posted a thread on X, formerly Twitter, about the benefits the Orioles’ 30-year lease extension would bring to the city and state.

Fans who are paying attention say they are disappointed the announcement was not the final word on the lease, but are trying to remain optimistic about a 30-year guarantee. This, after all, is a place that saw its beloved NFL Colts slip away in the dead of night, and wants to keep the Orioles from similarly straying.

“I was really excited,” said Nate ScheifeIe of Mount Washington, who was at Thursday night’s game in seats where he could see Angelos and Moore in the owners’ box behind him. “Everybody’s cheering, we’ve got a 30-year lease.”

He woke up the next day to learn, not quite.

“It’s an agreement,” he said. “It’s a handshake, and maybe they’re gonna sign, like, a two-year filler deal. Not great.”

Chris Banas, a fan from New Castle, Delaware, at Friday’s game, is both hopeful and wary.

“I have optimism that they’re gonna sign it, and they’re gonna stay and we’re not going anywhere,” he said. “But at the same time, I just still have that little bit of leeriness.”

Baltimore Sun reporters Sam Janesch, Hannah Gaskill, Nathan Ruiz, Lorraine Mirabella, Jeff Barker and Emily Opilo contributed to this article.

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