Baltimore Orioles fans be forewarned, ticket prices may go up if the team wants to keep its young core together.
Orioles managing partner John Angelos, in not-so-uncertain terms, hinted at the need to raise ticket prices in the future in order for the team to retain its growing stars in the future.
The comments came in a New York Times article published on Monday in which Angelos bemoaned being a small market team and hinted at the correlation between player salaries and ticket prices.
“The hardest thing to do in sports is be a small-market team in baseball and be competitive, because everything is stacked against you — everything,” Angelos said.
The Orioles have been one of baseball’s best stories on the field this season, entering Monday leading the American League East and holding a 77-47 record.
The team has also featured a bevy of young talent such as catcher Adley Rutschman, infielder Gunnar Henderson and starting pitcher Grayson Rodriguez that has helped propel it to the division lead.
Many are still years away from free agency.
But Angelos’ words aren’t likely going to sit well with fans in Baltimore.
“I don’t think you should run losses,” Angelos said. “I think you should live within your means and within your market.”
Likely to be even more infuriating to fans was a comment he made later.
“We’re going to have to raise the prices here — dramatically,” he said in regard to finding a solution for the team to retain its young stars.
The Orioles’ current payroll is 28th out of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball and Baltimore has historically been a team that doesn’t spend much.
And it’s been in the bottom three in payroll over the previous three years.
Still, Angelos tried to explain away why fans would need to cough up more money in order to keep their beloved players.
“Well, that’s a good question,” Angelos said. “But let’s say we sat down and showed you the financials for the Orioles. You will quickly see that when people talk about giving this player $200 million, that player $150 million, we would be so financially underwater that you’d have to raise the prices massively. Now, are people going to come and pay that? I don’t know if we’re at the limit, to your point. I don’t know if we’re in equilibrium elasticity, supply and demand. Maybe we are. But really that’s just one team. What I’m really trying to think about is macro.”
Angelos had made the offer to reveal the team’s financials to local reporters earlier this year, but later reneged on the offer.
While the Orioles have been a fun story on the field, off of it, things have been marred in controversy.
The ballclub has been slow to sign a new lease at Camden Yards, with the current one expiring on Dec. 31.
Attention was further taken away from the field earlier this month when the team suspended broadcaster Kevin Brown for merely discussing the Orioles’ ugly record in Tampa.
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