The Orioles named Greg Bader the executive vice president and general manager of the Mid-Atlantic Sports Network on Thursday, shifting the longtime front office executive from his role with the ballclub to one overseeing its regional sports network amid a series of changes to the team’s business leadership team.

Baltimore will also hire six business executives in the coming months, President of Business Operations Catie Griggs told The Baltimore Sun in a phone interview.

The Orioles plan to establish four other new positions: chief marketing officer, chief human resources officer, senior vice president of strategy and innovation and a general counsel.

The team and Chief Revenue Officer T.J. Brightman mutually agreed to part ways upon the expiration of his contract while longtime Chief Financial Officer Michael Hoppes plans to retire at the end of the year to spend more time with his family.

Both senior vice president positions will be filled. SVP and Chief Content Officer Cal Perry, a former journalist who joined the Orioles in December 2022 from the news network MSNBC, will also be leaving early next year to pursue other opportunities after the team’s completion of an ongoing documentary project.

“When I took the role here, it really was with an eye to how to build on the incredible platform of success that this organization has already had,” said Griggs, who was hired by owner David Rubenstein in July. “I think that there was an awareness that structurally, it was set up to reflect the needs, wants and priorities of prior ownership and not surprisingly, when you have new ownership, there are different needs, wants and priorities.”

Bader, the Orioles’ executive vice president and chief operating officer since September 2023 who first joined the organization as a public relations intern in 1994, will begin his transition immediately before the move goes into full effect Jan. 1. MASN, which broadcasts both Orioles and Washington Nationals games, has been the subject of a prolonged legal battle between the teams over its distribution of profits. The Orioles have a supermajority stake in MASN and the Nationals’ television rights as part of an agreement with MLB to compensate them for the Montreal Expos moving into their media territory in 2005.

Though a source with direct knowledge told The Baltimore Sun in February that MLB commissioner Rob Manfred had the power to force the Orioles to relinquish those rights, which they hold “in perpetuity” under the terms of the original agreement, as a condition of Rubenstein purchasing the team last offseason, he didn’t act on that authority and the sale went through with the MASN deal still intact.

Rubenstein spoke at a public forum later that month of his desire to “take this away from the lawyers and give it back to the business people to resolve.” With Bader now taking on that responsibility in what Griggs described as “a challenging time in the regional sports network business,” the Orioles plan to continue broadcasting Nationals games in 2025 and beyond.

“My very first call yesterday, after Greg let me know he was excited to pursue the opportunity, my very first call was the Nationals,” Griggs said. “I believe this is an opportunity for us to work collectively to build the game of baseball and support both of our organizations and both of our communities.”

In addition to moving Bader over to MASN, the Orioles also named Lisa Tolson their SVP of human resources after she previously worked as SVP and chief people officer. The incoming chief HR officer will “complement her work,” according to Griggs. SVP of Ballpark Operations and Guest Experience Troy Scott previously worked under Bader and will now report to Griggs.

“It’s been an honor to have devoted my professional career to the Orioles and Major League Baseball, and I am equally honored to begin this new role with MASN,” Bader said in a statement provided by the team. “Like millions of baseball fans throughout the Mid-Atlantic, I have welcomed MASN into my home for the past twenty seasons, and I am thrilled to now play a role in working to enhance that experience as the network continues to bring unmatched coverage of two great teams to two incredible baseball communities.”

Kerry Watson, their executive vice president of public affairs, will also maintain his title and shift his primary focus to community relations and government affairs. SVP of Communications Jennifer Grondahl will report to the incoming chief marketing officer as the team integrates its communications, marketing, content and creative teams into one department.

“There are a few places where I believe that there perhaps hasn’t been the investment in key areas that are going to help us succeed looking forward,” Griggs said. “One of them is on the people side of our business.

“For us to be successful, for us to meet the wants and needs of ownership, but more importantly, and aligned with the wants and needs of ownership, meet the wants and needs of our fans and our community, we need the right people with the right structures, the right systems, the right skills and that’s why we’re looking to make an incremental investment in that area.”