The Baltimore Orioles are not about to lay marble in the Camden Yards concourses. They’re not about to gild the fences along Eutaw Street.
But prices for Orioles season ticket packages are going up next season. What exactly are fans paying for?
The new ownership group led by David Rubenstein and Michael Arougheti allowed a gust of fresh air into the B&O Warehouse simply by taking over for the Angelos family, whose stewardship had become mired in mediocrity over the course of three decades. The Baltimore-born Rubenstein has punctuated the feeling by throwing out hats atop the Orioles dugout during games. The changing of the guard has felt like one big party.
But now that honeymoon period feels nearly at an end. At a certain point, all anyone wants to know from ownership is one thing. What will you do to help the baseball team?
It’s not ideal to raise ticket prices before you answer that question.
The package increases can be measured by percentages that seem small — an average of 8.9%, according to the Orioles — but wind up adding a lot to the bottom line. A popular plan this past year was the “Pro” flex membership, in which fans commit $1,200 for tickets and parking at games and enjoy 25% off food, beverages and merchandise. The same membership next season rises to $1,500, and the discount drops to 15% — and, now, alcohol isn’t covered. Those $16 large beers can really add up over the course of a season.
Read More: Orioles fans balk at higher prices, reduced discounts for ticket packages
A friend recently touted that his flex plan was worth it for the concessions discount alone, especially for his daughter who needs candy as enticement to behave at the park. When I texted to tell him about the price changes for 2025, he submitted a frustrated response that, well, isn’t appropriate for publication.
Camden Yards has long been not only one of the most scenic ballparks in Major League Baseball but one of the most afforable. You can expect that there will still be $12 tickets available for games Monday through Thursday, and there will still be standing-room-only options for the budget-conscious fan.
But fans with more moderately priced partial-season plans are getting squeezed, especially those buying flex plans that aren’t going to be as great a deal as they’ve been recently. The intention seems to be guiding more fans into reserved plans with locked-in games and dates. If you want better perks, upgrade your package.
A surge in Birdland memberships, especially as people try to get in the best possible position for early presales for playoff tickets, gives the O’s some justification. The Orioles also point to their MLB peers, who are increasingly fencing off premium seating and not applying discounts to alcohol, as a sign that they are just keeping up with market trends.
Maybe that’s the cost of seeing a team that won 101 games last season and is battling again for a division title. But, if fans are going to pay more for the privilege, the social contract is that ownership should pay more to keep the team competitive.
There’s no doubt Camden Yards will be a better ballpark in a few years once renovations kick in, but state bond funds — which we, as taxpayers, are taking on — will pay for that. The biggest cosmetic alteration to the ballpark so far has been the blinking T. Rowe Price sign atop the center field scoreboard — itself a revenue-driving measure that should eventually bleed into the balance sheet.
The only way the Orioles can justify charging more for tickets and cutting back fan perks is by punching up payroll that is still just 22nd in the league.
If the Orioles want fans to go all in, they need to go all in, too.
If you’ve been following along this season, you know the Orioles are poised for Corbin Burnes and Anthony Santander to hit free agency. It’s not clear whether Baltimore will loosen the purse strings to re-sign either. The Orioles did commit significant salary for next year by trading for Zach Eflin, who is owed $18 million, but given the questionable health of their starting rotation for 2025, it would have been malpractice not to start working ahead. I still think it’s a misnomer to call acquiring Eloy Jimenez as taking on a “salary dump” — it just feels novel for this franchise because John Angelos was so cheap by comparison. The White Sox are paying most of what he’s owed, anyway.
While extending Kevin Brown’s run in the broadcast booth is an admirable move, we are still waiting for the Orioles to give the same security to their headline players. No member of the trio of Adley Rutschman, Gunnar Henderson and Jackson Holliday is locked up long term. Though they’re under team control for years to come, it would send a powerful message if the Orioles would ink a deal to keep even one of them in orange and black for the foreseeable future.
It’s telling that general manager Mike Elias, when asked about ownership’s ability to expand payroll, talked about wringing more money from the ballpark itself.
“This is not New York City. This is not Los Angeles,” he said after the trade deadline last month. “But it is a really good baseball town with an extremely passionate, historic fan base and a beautiful stadium that we’re not only going to renovate but hopefully monetize a lot better in the next few years.”
The runway exists for the Orioles to pull some exciting moves, but they haven’t done it yet. If you’re giving a grade to ownership for this one, it’s not an F, but it’s definitely an incomplete.
You can charge a low price for a scrappy, bargain-basement team, and you can charge a high price for a financially competitive team. But you can’t hike prices without hiking payroll. Even if fans are feeling pain in their wallets, adding stability to this franchise and hopefully bringing an end to the World Series drought would be priceless.
For now, ticket holders may front that cost. Unfortunately, they’re waiting for the Orioles to show the same commitment.
