Major League Baseball's ownership committee voted to approve private-equity heavyweight David Rubenstein's purchase of the Baltimore Orioles, sources told ESPN, the first step toward a sale that could be finalized by April.

The sale from the Angelos family, which bought the team for $173 million in 1993, is expected to be for $1.725 billion.

The three-step approval process now moves from the league's ownership committee to its eight-man executive council. Should the council rubber stamp the deal as well, it would then move to a full ownership vote, which would require 23 of 30 votes to formalize the sale.

MLB declined comment when reached by ESPN.

Rubenstein, who grew up in Baltimore, is estimated to be worth nearly $4 billion, and there is hope inside the organization that he will increase a payroll that over the past five years has ranked among the bottom five in MLB.

The Orioles, fueled by a highly successful player development system under general manager Mike Elias, won 101 games last year and for the third consecutive season have the No. 1-ranked prospect by ESPN's Kiley McDaniel: catcher Adley Rutschman in 2022, infielder Gunnar Henderson in 2023 and infielder Jackson Holliday this year.

Baltimore's projected Opening Day payroll for 2024 is under $100 million, one of seven teams short of nine figures. Before acquiring ace Corbin Burnes in a trade with the Milwaukee Brewers, the Orioles had the 29th-ranked payroll, ahead only of the tanking Oakland A's.

Among the minority investors in Ruberstein's ownership group: Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., investor Michael Arougheti, former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and NBA Hall of Famer Grant Hill.