Major League Baseball owners have unanimously approved the sale of the Baltimore Orioles to a group led by private-equity billionaire David Rubenstein.
The vote to approve took place Wednesday during a conference call and will give Rubenstein's group a 70% share of the team, ESPN reported.
In January, the Angelos family, the team's owners, agreed to sell the team to Rubenstein for $1.725 billion, Scripps News Baltimore reported.
"On behalf of Major League Baseball, I thank the Angelos family for their many years of service to the game and the communities of Baltimore. Peter Angelos loved baseball, loved Baltimore, and was an important part of MLB for more than three decades," Commissioner of Baseball Robert D. Manfred Jr. said.
Peter Angelos, the team's former owner, died at 94 this year.
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For sale of the team, approval had to come from the Maryland Stadium Authority. Once that was secured, the MLB owners' approval was the final hurdle.
"To own the Orioles is a great civic duty," Rubenstein said. "On behalf of my fellow owners, I want the Baltimore community and Orioles fans everywhere to know that we will work our hardest to deliver for you with professionalism, integrity, excellence and a fierce desire to win games."
He said, "I thank John Angelos and his family for all they have done to bring us to this point. John led a dramatic overhaul of the team's management, roster, recruitment strategy, and farm system in recent years. Our job is to build on these accomplishments to advance a world-class professional sports agenda — with eyes on returning a World Series trophy to Baltimore."
Included in Rubenstein's group are various people with ties to the team including Cal Ripken, Jr. who is an Orioles legend and a National Baseball Hall of Fame Member; Michele Kang, an entrepreneur and owner of the Washington Spirit; Kurt Schmoke, a former Baltimore mayor; Mike Bloomberg, a business leader and philanthropist; and Bill Miller, an investor, philanthropist and a lifelong Orioles fan.
The scheduled closing for the sale was scheduled for this week.
This story was originally published by Dominick Philippe-Auguste at Scripps News Baltimore with additional reporting from Scripps News.
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