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Kevin Brown, the lead play-by-play announcer for the Orioles, will return this season and is under contract with Mid-Atlantic Sports Network through the end of the year, a source with direct knowledge of his situation told The Baltimore Banner.
The rest of MASN’s broadcast crew is expected to return, too, additional sources said. That includes Geoff Arnold, who will continue to split games on radio and television, Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Palmer and former Oriole pitcher Ben McDonald as analysts, and broadcaster Melanie Newman.
Brown, a rising star in the broadcast industry, has spent his offseason calling college basketball games for ESPN. He has also announced for the College Softball World Series and college football games. In the middle of the baseball season, he announced ESPN’s alternate broadcast of the Home Run Derby, which focused on Statcast metrics.
A source with direct knowledge the Orioles’ inner workings told The Baltimore Banner that major decisions, including those related to MASN and personnel, are currently on hold while control of the team transitions from CEO John Angelos to David Rubenstein, the lead investor in a group that will take a controlling interest in the team if MLB owners approve the sale.
Brown made national news last season when he was temporarily removed from MASN broadcasts after making an accurate statement that the Orioles won more games against the Tampa Bay Rays in 2023 than they had during the previous three seasons combined. Brown returned after about two weeks off the airwaves, and in his absence, he received vocal support from colleagues around the broadcast industry and from fans at Camden Yards.
When Brown returned, he posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “there is no place in baseball I’d rather be now and for the long haul.”
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“Unfortunately, recent media reports have mischaracterized my relationship with my adopted hometown Orioles,” Brown wrote in part. “The fact is that I have a wonderful relationship with the organization, and our ownership and front office has fully supported me since 2019 when I first came aboard.”
The Orioles’ broadcast network, MASN, is included in the pending sale of the franchise to the Rubenstein-led group, a source said. The television network is at the center of a conflict between the Washington Nationals and Orioles. Created as a resolution for when MLB moved the Nationals to Washington, D.C., in 2005, the Orioles own the majority of the network that retains the Nationals’ broadcast rights in perpetuity.
In the meantime, the network plans to broadcast seven spring training games, a source said, although its announcers will be in Baltimore rather than Sarasota, Florida. The Baltimore Sun first reported the number of spring training games the network plans to broadcast. The Nationals will also have seven televised spring training games.
Baltimore Banner reporter Danielle Allentuck contributed to this article.
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Andy Kostka is an Orioles beat writer for The Baltimore Banner. He previously covered the Orioles for The Baltimore Sun. Kostka graduated from the University of Maryland and grew up in Rockville.
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