Maryland Gov. Wes Moore challenged by politics of on-again, off-again Orioles lease

The Orioles’ stadium lease extension was expiring in less than four weeks, and Gov. Wes Moore was moving quickly on a long-term lease to resolve a nagging issue that was becoming a political liability.

On the morning of Dec. 8, the governor launched a plan in which the Maryland Stadium Authority would summon board members to a special meeting the following Tuesday to approve a freshly negotiated agreement with the team that his administration believed improved upon an earlier, nonbinding proposal. The Democratic governor and his staff held briefings that morning seeking buy-in from key elected officials, including state Senate President Bill Ferguson and House of Delegates Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, both Democrats.

But the first-year governor quickly learned he was far from having enough support. Ferguson told the governor he would publicly oppose the lease, and Jones said during the same mid-morning, virtual meeting that she needed more time to study the document, which is more than 150 pages, according to two people with direct knowledge of the lawmakers’ thinking.

State Treasurer Dereck Davis also indicated he needed more time to review the materials, said spokeswoman Shareese Churchill. Comptroller Brooke Lierman, a Democrat, declined to say Wednesday whether she opposed the lease, but her office said in a statement that she’d raised issues — such as the importance of transparency around any development rights deal with the club — and was optimistic they would be reflected in the final agreement. Lierman and Davis comprise, along with Moore, the Maryland Board of Public Works, which must approve any new lease.

For the second time in 10 weeks, the governor had pitched a long-awaited lease — or at least a blueprint for one — that he would later need to amend because of political opposition

The embarrassing on-again, off-again lease deal has forced Moore, who is considered a rising star within the Democratic Party, to expend valuable political capital as he approaches his second General Assembly session next month. He has promised that the lease will ultimately be “bigger than baseball” because of its potential for a partnership with the team to redevelop the stadium area.

Moore sought to assure Marylanders on Wednesday following a Board of Public Works meeting, telling reporters that a new agreement with the team is “imminent.” Less than three weeks remain before the Dec. 31 expiration date, and Moore ruled out signing a one-year extension, saying the deal would be “long-term.”

His staff has been reworking elements of the deal and considers it important that “his partners in the General Assembly fully support what is an extraordinarily strong deal for Maryland,” Moore senior advisor and communications director David Turner said in a written response to questions from The Baltimore Sun.

It remains to be seen whether Moore will sustain any lasting political damage.

“I think the biggest concerns of the people are that we keep the Orioles and what will this development look like for the city,” said Roger E. Hartley, dean of the University of Baltimore’s College of Public Affairs. “There’s a chance it won’t impact him or his political future unless either of these things go wrong. Or if this continues for years, then it would look bad,” he said, because the lease had seemed to be done Sept. 28 when Moore and Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos announced a “deal” at an Orioles game that turned out to be a nonbinding blueprint called a “memorandum of understanding.”

Officials and others from Annapolis to Baltimore are puzzled why Moore went forward without lining up needed allies.

Ferguson, whose Senate district includes the stadium, had for months urged the administration to finalize a lease independent of a plan sought by Angelos to grant development rights to the Orioles for portions of the stadium area. Why, many wondered, did Moore initially choose on Friday to back a lease making the long-sought, 30-year Orioles commitment contingent on the state giving up development rights to property around the stadium, including the iconic B&O Warehouse?

Moore’s staff declined to make the governor available for an interview. But Turner said in his written responses Wednesday that the administration initially believed it had addressed Ferguson’s concerns.

“We elected to move forward Friday because we believed the agreement considered and addressed the Senate President’s concern as we understood them at the time,” Turner said. While the lease did contain a development rights provision, that provision “only conveyed a commitment to explore a development plan, to be presented by the Orioles, in good faith, subject to the requisite governmental approvals,” Turner said.

Friday’s lease proposal didn’t guarantee the team would receive development rights, but the Orioles could have elected to terminate the lease after 10 years if no such rights were in place.

Since Friday, Turner said, the governor’s staff has been addressing Ferguson’s concerns by removing some provisions “and adjusting or clarifying others. The Senate President is a partner in this work, and taking a beat to make sure everyone feels comfortable was an appropriate step.”

Ferguson, Jones and other Democrats declined interview requests while the deal is re-negotiated but have indicated their willingness to work with the governor on a new lease.

Party leaders generally appeared reluctant to publicly question Moore, a dynamic new governor with many powers regarding state spending and decision-making.

But former Maryland Stadium Authority Chairman Thomas Kelso, an appointee of Republican former Gov. Larry Hogan, said: “I was surprised that Sen. Ferguson was not totally briefed and on board” well before the lease was going to go before the stadium authority board and the Board of Public Works.

“I never wanted Gov. Moore to get embarrassed,” Kelso said. “All I want is a good lease that works over the long term for the taxpayers. The public isn’t keeping score. Nobody will care about any of this if the governor secures a good lease.”

In an Oct. 4 guest commentary in The Sun, Kelso wrote that there were “numerous issues that need scrutiny” in the memorandum of understanding, including whether the state would receive adequate compensation for allowing the Orioles to work with private firms to develop the state-owned land around Camden Yards. Under the plan, the Orioles would pay $94 million in rent over a 99-year term.

In his written responses, Turner declined to specifically address whether the state may seek more in return for the development rights, such as a negotiated share of proceeds the team might receive as part of an agreement or joint venture with a developer.

“This agreement needs to benefit the state, and our negotiating team will make sure that the final result is a good deal for the taxpayers of Maryland,” Turner said.

There was no immediate response to a request for comment texted to an Angelos spokesperson.

The stadium authority is already permitted under a 2022 law to borrow up to $1.2 billion to pay for stadium improvements — $600 million each for the Orioles and Ravens.

The memorandum of understanding proposed a safety and repair fund for ballpark projects that would cost an additional $3.3 million per year, or about $100 million over a 30-year lease. The General Assembly would need to approve those funds, and the NFL’s Ravens would seem to be eligible for a matching amount under a parity clause that requires the state to provide the teams “fairly comparable” lease terms. It’s not certain if Friday’s lease proposal also contained the fund.

Obtaining state approval for ballclub benefits can be politically tricky, said Irwin Kishner, co-chair of the Sports Law Group with the New York law firm Herrick Feinstein.

“Navigating the political waters here is extremely important, and a lot of that is done behind the scenes,” Kishner said. “Typically a governor, when they get involved, has a good sense of the politics — that’s why he’s governor — and a good sense of how to manage these things.”

Broad discussions over a new lease began in 2018, and the failure to reach a binding agreement has some fans worrying about losing the team to another city, as Baltimore did when the NFL’s Colts moved to Indianapolis in 1984. Angelos has pledged that the team won’t move, and Major League Baseball has expressed no interest in moving the team from Baltimore and a stadium continually rated as one of the sport’s best.

Moore signaled that the Orioles were a priority by tying his first out-of-town trip as governor to baseball. In March, he and Angelos toured the Atlanta Braves stadium complex to study whether mixed-use development there could be a model for Baltimore.

The political significance of the lease was underscored in September when Washington-based Moore aide Matthew Verghese solicited comments from members of Maryland’s congressional delegation to distribute to the media when the memorandum of understanding was unveiled.

“The Governor would appreciate statements of support from Members (something along the lines of being encouraged by the MOU, progress being made to keep the Orioles and boost Baltimore),” said an email from Verghese to the lawmakers obtained by The Sun.

Most of the Democratic federal lawmakers responded with written quotes congratulating Moore.

Moore told reporters Wednesday that his goals for the lease remain intact.

“We are going to make sure that this is a long-term deal,” Moore said. “We’re not doing a one-year, we’re not doing a short-term deal.”