{"id":837638,"date":"2026-10-25T18:06:17","date_gmt":"2026-10-25T18:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/837638\/"},"modified":"2026-10-25T18:06:17","modified_gmt":"2026-10-25T18:06:17","slug":"orioles-owner-david-rubensteins-recent-remarks-are-likely-to-cost-os-fans-the-most","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/837638\/","title":{"rendered":"Orioles Owner David Rubenstein’s Recent Remarks Are Likely To Cost O’s Fans The Most"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Rubenstein has quickly become a walking and talking parody of the modern MLB owner.<\/p>\n

He gives off heavy Mr. Magoo vibes (google him, kids), making repeated statements that seem as is he is trying lampoon the entire conceit of franchise ownership, conveying a lack depth and understanding with his puzzling rhetoric. Whether it\u2019s propping up a proven baseball failure <\/a>as his top exec while whining about a non-existent injury crisis and yammering about winning \u201cseven out of every 10 games\u201d <\/a>or the silly comments he made early in his tenure \u2013 from a gathering of the richest .00005% in the world at a summit in Davos, Switzerland about a non-existent salary cap – he really can\u2019t stay out of his own way.<\/p>\n

He doesn\u2019t know when to talk \u2013 you know, explaining why you kept Mike Elias and his overmatched puppet sidekick<\/a> in charge \u2013 and when to just receded into the background and hide, like he\u2019s done from Orioles fans once he figured out he didn\u2019t purchase a 100-win juggernaut that just needed a new scoreboard.<\/p>\n

A guy who couldn\u2019t stop throwing hats at paying customers early on when he thought he was riding a gravy train and had bobbleheads of himself made despite accomplishing nothing but sending the organization in reverse, keeps looking silly. \u00a0He\u2019s already written a book about franchise ownership that has led him to again speak in front of gatherings of the elite of the elite where he continues to come off as a caricature of a winning owner. Rubenstein continues to clown himself and this franchise with his aimless rambling (keeping contemptible baseball executives but firing The Oriole Bird<\/a>). <\/p>\n

But trust me, words carry meaning and words have consequences and don\u2019t be surprised if his yapping about how much MLB owners are making, ahead of an impending lockout in pursuit of that salary cap, ends up costing Orioles fans most of all.<\/p>\n

Numerous high-ranking baseball industry people, including some who have worked extensively in roles that had them going between MLB owner\u2019s boxes and the league office, believe that Rubenstein\u2019s recent remarks in Washington DC will absolutely carry an internal reprimand from the league office, and multiple people who have been intimately involved in the highest reaches of the game would not be surprised in Baltimore\u2019s endless wait for an All Star Game stretches even further after Rubenstein\u2019s latest verbal faux paus, remarking how MLB ownership is basically a cash cow at a time when his franchise is down over 500,000 in attendance from before he took over and has fallen nearly 40 games off the pace in the AL East the last two years.<\/p>\n

The Worst Mistake A Billionaire Can Make\"<\/p>\n

Jun 29, 2024; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Orioles owner David Rubenstein high fives fans during the seventh inning stretch against the Texas Rangers at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Tommy Gilligan-USA TODAY Sports | USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Connect<\/p>\n

Rubenstein whispering the quiet part out loud \u2013 in essence winking that franchise values always soar, and it\u2019s impossible not to make out well as an owner even in trying economic times under the current collective bargaining agreement – is a very big deal. He has made himself one of the faces of this impending labor doom, whether he realized it or not.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Commissioner Rob) Manfred must have lost his mind when he read about it,\u201d said one person who worked closely with Manfred at an ownership level. \u201cIt\u2019s remarkably unfathomable on a number of levels that he would say that out loud \u2026 Sins like that do not go unpunished.\u201d<\/p>\n

What exactly did Rubenstein say earlier this month at an economic club meeting<\/a>?<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of my friends were buying teams, and I realized they\u2019re making money. They\u2019re making more money than I\u2019m making in private equity. I thought I should look at it as a financial thing, but ultimately I bought the Orioles for a philanthropic purpose.<\/p>\n

\u201cI grew up in Baltimore, as people know. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d done enough for Baltimore, so I bought the team to help revive the team a bit and ultimately revive Baltimore because Baltimore had some challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

A private equity luminary \u2013 whose Carlyle Group was at the vanguard of a low-morality form of investing \u2013 said people were making more money owning sports teams than even he could achieve elsewhere. Sorry Birdland, that comes at a price.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the dumbest thing he could possibly say at a time like this,\u201d one person who was involved in running multiple front offices to me. \u201cThe union is going to weaponize his words throughout the entire negotiation, and who could blame them?\u201d<\/p>\n

The MLBPA began compiling quite the dossier on Rubenstein after his remarks in Davos \u2013 barely spending on payroll at the time and coming in as management hardliner already made him a potential target \u2013 and he is quite likely to factor into this acrimonious and public and potentially insipid negotiations at a degree that no one with his limited and losing resume within baseball ever should.<\/p>\n

But, apparently, he just can\u2019t help himself.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s It Mean For O\u2019s Fans?\"A<\/p>\n

July 29, 2020; Baltimore, Maryland, USA; A general view of the Baltimore Orioles playing against the New York Yankees in an empty stadium at Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Mandatory Credit: Todd Olszewski\/Orioles Baseball\/Pool Photo via USA TODAY Network | USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

Camden Yards, despite being the ballpark that perhaps saved baseball and ushered in a prevailing trend of throwback, urban, stylized stadiums, hasn\u2019t hosted an All Star Game since 1993. Other cities have hosted it twice since then and Baltimore has been skipped over repeatedly and if you don\u2019t think that\u2019s because Peter Angelos went to war with the MLB office all the time, you are a fool. Pittsburgh has hosted twice since Baltimore last did and so have the hapless Rockies and so has Philadelphia. And Atlanta. And I could go on. <\/p>\n

And if you don\u2019t think that Angelos\u2019 son, John, got deprived of a money-making weekend for years because of his repeated lawsuits with the Nationals and MLB over the ongoing MASN litigation, you must be cut off from all forms of information. That\u2019s how sports leagues operate and how they strong arm, and everyone I broached about this topic was quick to point out that the easiest way to admonish Rubenstein \u2013 besides any fines or penalties behind closed doors \u2013 is to keep awarding All Star Games to other (less deserving) cities.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s the easiest and most obvious way to punish him,\u201d the first source said noted. \u201cThe Truist Club, when you assess an investment like that, which seems outsized for the market, you have to think that was done very much with an All-Star Game in mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, hadn\u2019t thought about that, but that blight \u2013 that somehow hasn\u2019t cost Catie Griggs her job but wiped out the mascots – \u00a0\u00a0sits empty where a pristine press box once stood and there isn\u2019t any appetite for A CEO playpen behind home plate among local corporations or businesses. But it\u2019s the kind of creature comfort the other billionaires expect when they visit and especially at an event like All-Star weekend.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s always the fans who pay for mistakes the ownership class makes. Perhaps one day a sensible person will chair that position here, who pursues winning in a meaningful and consistent fashion. But not anytime soon, and lately whenever Rubenstein opens his mouth, he shows you just how far removed we are from that steward in charge.<\/p>\n

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