David Plymyer: Everyone makes mistakes.
And the Orioles-Stadium Authority deal should be renegotiated.
By David Plymyer The writer is a former county attorney in Anne Arundel County.
He can be reached at dplymyer@comcast.net or on X: @dplymyer.
As the afterglow from the Baltimore Orioles’ marvelous season subsides and scrutiny of the proposed stadium deal between the Orioles and the state intensifies, one thing is clear: In the staring contest between Orioles owner John Angelos and Maryland Gov.
Wes Moore (D) blinked first.
Moore’s overeagerness to sign the Orioles to a long-term lease produced a non-binding “memorandum of understanding” between the Orioles and the state that has drawn heavy criticism from multiple sources.
For example, the editorial advisory board of The Daily Record pulled no punches, labeling it a “bad deal.
” In August, before the MOU was signed, Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks chastised Angelos for making Oriole fans “jittery” about the team’s future in Baltimore by bemoaning the financial challenges of remaining competitive as a “small market” team in a story in the New York Times.
My guess is that it was one fan in particular—Moore — who Angelos wanted to make jittery, and the tactic appears to have worked.
Two provisions of the MOU are especially problematic.
Former Maryland Stadium Authority officials and others have voiced strong opposition to the proposal to shift responsibility for maintenance and modernization of Oriole Park from the administration to the Orioles.
Money for the improvements would come from an initial sale of $600 million in taxpayer-funded bonds and other state revenues deposited into a “capital improvements and repairs reserve fund.
”The Orioles will stop paying stadium rent to the authority in exchange for covering ongoing operations and maintenance costs.
The state will invest $3.
3 million annually into a fund to cover the cost of “safety and repair projects” in the ballpark.
There is understandable trepidation about placing the maintenance of the public stadium, which remains in excellent condition and is still considered one of the best in the country, in the hands of an owner who has testimony about the need to save money to maintain the stadium’s profitability.
friend team.
The proposal to transfer development rights to land surrounding the stadium to the Orioles, including the B&O warehouse and Camden train station, also drew criticism.
There are legitimate objections to ceding control of the type of development surrounding the stadium to a private company, but the most vociferous criticism concerns the issue of compensation.
According to a story in the Sun, University of Colorado Denver professor Geoffrey Propheter stated that the $94 million that the Orioles would pay for those rights over the 99-year term of the proposed ground lease is a “trivial amount” when factors like inflation are considered.
Dennis Coates, an economist at the University of Maryland Baltimore County called it a “pitiful amount of money” and Kennesaw State University economist J.C.
Bradbury described it as “essentially gifting the land to the Orioles.
So why did Moore blink?
The recent bad news that made Baltimore’s Preakness Stakes exit under Moore’s watch more likely may have added pressure on him to make a deal.
Craig Fravel is CEO of 1/ST Racing, the parent company of the Maryland Jockey Club, which operates Pimlico Racetrack and Laurel Park.
In September, he told members of the Maryland Thoroughbred Racing Operating Authority that the days of his company operating at a loss of $10 million a year with “no prospect of recovery” must soon end.
Even the Preakness became a money-loser, losing $2.
9 million in 2022 and $1.
9 million this spring.
George Mahoney is the Maryland Racing Commission’s non-voting representative on the authority.
He told Fravel: “For the horsemen, the horse breeders, and taxpayers, the state of Maryland, to invest heavily in your business, I think, would be wonderful, but the reality is, your presentation this morning was red ink, red ink, red ink.
It’s not cheerful to hear.
” LifeBridge Health, which operates Sinai Hospital, announced it has suspended plans to develop a 22-acre health care campus next to Pimlico Race Course.
The campus is a major component of the state’s $375 million plan to redevelop the racetrack and keep the Preakness in Baltimore.
A $100 million ambulatory services building that was the centerpiece for the campus is likely to be dropped from the plans permanently and built closer to Sinai, about a half mile away.
The situation in the Preakness is worrying.
No Maryland governor, especially Baltimore’s, wants to report that he failed to sign a long-term lease with the Orioles and, by the way, the Preakness is leaving Baltimore.
Whatever the reason, Moore’s concessions to Angelos were frustrating.
Tough decisions lie ahead, and Maryland needs strong leadership and political courage from its governor more than ever.
The final agreement with the Orioles must be approved by the state Public Works Commission, in which the governor has one vote.
Strong leadership does not mean blaming the remaining two members, Controller Brooke Lierman (D) and Treasurer Derek Davis (D), putting them in the position of having to turn down a bad deal that he supported.
Everyone makes mistakes, even if few elected officials have the courage to admit such a serious error.
Moore might be surprised at how much credit he gets from the Nationals if he has the courage to admit that the proposed deal with the Orioles is not in their best interest and needs to be negotiated again.
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