It is well known that for the most part owners make money by selling a team, not by holding onto one. When Peter Angelos negotiated with MLB to let the Expos move to Washington D.C., he set himself up with a minimum payment of 360MM (if I remember correctly). It made me wonder how much the team's value has changed over the years and what that value was at the end of 2004 when he made that deal. I've taken data from Forbes and Financial World from 1990 - 2010 provided neatly over at the
Biz of Baseball and decided to do a few things.* This span will show how the value of the Orioles has changed durng the entire Angelos era and what the 360MM line means for the Orioles. Additionally, I will also compare the Orioles against other teams in the current AL East over the years. So, first things first, how has the Orioles value changed over the year:
As you can see from 1997 to 2003, the Orioles (according to these sources) decreased in value with each season. It would make sense that Peter Angelos was concerned about the long-term value of his club and how the moving of the Montreal Expos would affect that. It is also interesting to see that after 2004, the team value has made the deal with MLB to be simply a safety net as the value is now about 50MM above the secured minimum value of the team. It makes me think that efforts are being made to make the team a more valuable commodity, which would run opposed to the idea that Angelos is merely trying to bring in a short term profit on the club. However, it may be true that over this time period an increase in worth is almost unavoidable.
What is also interesting to see is how the value of the organization denotes the Orioles as one of the most valuable teams in the 1990s (4 straight years of being the second most valuable team in the league) to being a mid-market value club in the 2000s. Three possible reasons for this would include: 1) Continual losing decrease attendance and then worth (however, the value crashed after 1997 even though the team was no awful during those first few years after winning the AL East), 2) Baltimore's market had fewer unexploited resources than the other markets, and 3) other teams caught up to the boon that was Oriole Park at Camden Yards. I imagine it is a mixture of those and, perhaps, other causes I am neglecting.
After the jump...how has the Orioles value changed over time with other clubs currently in the AL East?
