Rubenstein on owning the Orioles: ‘It’s not as easy as I thought’

Few professional sports owners write books about their teams. Orioles owner David Rubenstein is an exception.

Last month, Rubenstein’s book, “Inside the Owner’s Box” was published, and on Thursday night, he joined three owners of Washington sports teams in a forum at the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., which he chairs.

Rubenstein, who declined interview requests with outlets that regularly cover the Orioles to discuss the book, acknowledged that he had a lot to learn about running a team.

“When I was buying the Orioles, I didn’t really know what ownership was about,” he said. “I had passed on many teams a long time ago.”

Last month, he completed his third season as control owner of the Orioles, and he’s been seen more often than his predecessor, John Angelos.

“A lot of my friends were buying teams, and I realized they’re making money. They’re making more money than I’m making in private equity,” he said. “I thought I should look at it as a financial thing, but ultimately I bought the Orioles for a philanthropic purpose.

“I grew up in Baltimore, as people know. I didn’t think I’d 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.”

In 2023, when Rubenstein was negotiating to buy the Orioles, the team won 101 games and the American League East. In 2024, his first year, the Orioles won 91 games and were a wild-card team. Last season, the Orioles went 75-87. This year, despite increasing the payroll to $166.7 million, they were 79-82.

“Obviously, I have a long way to go because I took a team that was in first place and managed to put them in last place,” he joked. “It’s very hard to do that.”

In the last 14 months, Rubenstein attended and was available for questions after the extensions of catcher Samuel Basallo, Shane Baz and Kyle Bradish, the announcement of first baseman Pete Alonso’s free-agent signing and the hiring of manager Craig Albernaz.

In the forum, Rubenstein didn’t touch on any specifics regarding the future of the Orioles, and questions from the audience were permitted.

The large majority of his book is devoted to conversations with fellow owners, including the three who appeared with him on Thursday night — Josh Harris of the Washington Commanders; Michele Kang of the Washington Spirit, a women’s professional soccer team; and Ted Leonsis, owner of the Washington Capitals, Wizards and the WNBA’s Mystics.

Rubenstein, a Baltimore native, said that he heard from friends in Baltimore and in the sports world that Angelos might be interested in selling the team in the spring of 2023, the season the Orioles won the American League East.

He was skeptical that the family would sell the team, and after initially expressing interest in a minority share, ended up forming a partnership, which bought the team for $1.725 billion in January 2024.

Rubenstein pointed out in the interview, which was available on Zoom, that it’s only been recently that the wealthiest Americans have shown interest in being owners.

“Lots of people want to be owners and lots of people don’t realize how hard it is to be an owner. I keep telling people, it’s not as easy as I thought,” he said.

“The owners care more about winning than making money. They’re not against making money. Of course, they don’t want to lose money. The obsession with winning and beating your competitors is really what drives these people who own these teams. There’s nothing as satisfying as winning a championship.

“Every owner wants to be a champion … The financial profits that these teams make for the owners isn’t going to make a difference in their lifestyle.”

Initially, Rubenstein was visible, often sitting in the front row behind home plate, tossing Oriole caps and baseballs to fans. Though he writes that he attends about half the team’s home games, he was publicly seen at just a handful of games in 2026 and no longer sits behind the plate.

While writing the book and owning the Orioles, Rubenstein was amazed at the loyalty fans have for teams.

“I couldn’t figure out why it is that people who are fans are so obsessed with the success of their local team,” he said. “They’re not going to make any more money. They’re not going to go to the Super Bowl and get a trophy out of it.

“I guess it’s because people take pride in being successful, and if something that’s connected to their local community is successful, they feel better about themselves. That’s why people love to watch sports, I guess.”

Notes: Orioles left-hander Cade Povich had left elbow surgery to remove some bone spurs on Wednesday. Povich, who was 2-1 with a 4.38 ERA in eight games, seven starts, with the Orioles, is expected to be ready for the 2027 season. An industry source described it as “super easy cleanup.”

In a post on his Instagram account, Povich wrote: “Quick cleanup, ’27 here we come.”

No Orioles are finalists for the 2026 Gold Glove Award. … The Orioles signed right-hander Connor Cooke to a minor league contract. Cooke, who’s 26, pitched for four seasons in the Toronto organization and was 1-0 with a 2.66 ERA in 22 games for Lexington in the independent Atlantic League in 2026.

Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com