Birds of a feather…finally flocking together?
August 28, 2008
The Orioles put out a press release this week announcing a “Ravens Rally” before the team’s game this Saturday against the Oakland A’s at Oriole Park. Complete with cheerleaders, mascots and the marching band, fans can “help the Orioles wish their neighbors good luck this season,” says the Orioles press release.
Baltimore Ravens President Dick Cass will also throw the ceremonial first pitch prior to the game and the first 15,000 fans age 15 and older will get a free tee-shirt with the Oriole Bird carrying a football and wearing a Ravens jersey.
Where did all the love come from? In the Ravens’ 12-year history here, the Orioles have never welcomed their neighbors to the south as warmly as this — not even the season after the Ravens won the Super Bowl.
Did somebody tell O’s owner Peter Angelos to start playing nice in the sandbox?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentO’s fans outnumbered
August 19, 2008
Just got back from the Inner Harbor — or was it Faneuil Hall? Elbowing my way through the sea of red jerseys in the Light Street pavilion, it felt more like Boston than Baltimore.
If, as Liz Farmer writes, the O’s plan to make sure the 50 millionth fan is NOT wearing a Red Sox cap, the judges have their work cut out for them. Tonight’s almost certainly the night, by the way; Liz tells me attendance fell just a few thousand short of the mark on Monday.
Then again, maybe they just couldn’t find anybody wearing orange and black to give that $50,000 to.
BARBARA GRZINCIC, Managing Editor/Law
Sphere: Related ContentPromotions can’t cure O’s losing streak
July 22, 2008
If the Orioles lose this Sunday when they are scheduled to host the Los Angeles Angles of Anaheim, there will be nothing “sweet” about a 16th Sunday loss in a row for the O’s.
A few weeks ago I was chuckling when the team’s marketers came out with the “We win, you win” promotion where fans at Oriole Park would get free tickets to a future game if the Orioles snapped their Sunday losing streak — then at 12 games.
And last week I smiled when the team came out with a similar promotion (“We win, you win 2”) for Sunday’s game against the Detroit Tigers and thought, “well if at first you don’t succeed…”
But now in the wake of yet another Sunday loss, the team’s streak stands at 15 and they haven’t won a game on a Sunday since their first try in the season. Should the team’s marketers even bother this weekend with a Sunday promotion or is now the time to start looking away and start ignoring this latest curse to hit the American League East?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related Content1983 World Series commemoration
July 8, 2008
Pull out your leg warmers and hair teasers and get ready to party like it’s 1983 at Camden Yards. Complete with ’80s music, video and Orioles and Blue Jays wearing the old school 1983 jerseys for the occasion, the Orioles are commemorating the 25th anniversary of their last World Series championship.
(Hey, at least it’s a quarter-century and not a century-long drought like a certain Chicago team.)
And just in case the lure of bad fashion and big hair isn’t enticing enough, the team is hosting about 20 players from that 1983 world champion team for the July 23 game.
Cal Ripken Jr., Rick Dempsey, John Shelby, Jim Palmer and others are expected to attend. The players will greet fans for half an hour after the gates open, and the first 25,000 fans will receive a World Series 25th anniversary pennant, and 500 of those fans will get theirs autographed by a member of the ’83 team.
I’m curious to see how many people are lulled out of their usual routine on a Wednesday evening to come out for the game just to see and celebrate these guys and what they represent. Attendance for the last two Wednesday games was about 18,000 (against Kansas City) and 21,100 (against Houston), but this is a pretty neat thing to have all of these guys in one place.
Plus the freebies aren’t too bad either — even if you don’t get your autographed pennant, I’m sure you’ll be able to bid for one on eBay after the game.
Anyone think Camden Yards can pull off a near-sellout crowd with this promotion?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentO’s to hit 50 million mark
June 30, 2008
The Orioles are 523,645 people away from the 50 millionth fan to pass through Camden Yards’ gates since its opening in 1992. If the team’s attendance continues to hover around 27,000 per game, they should hit that mark during or before the Aug. 9 game against the Texas Rangers. (Anyone placing bets?)
O’s spokesman Greg Bader said last week that Camden Yards was the fastest ballpark to reach the 50 million landmark “and probably will be so for quite some time.” Bader added he thought the New York Yankees’ new stadium, scheduled to open next year, stood the best chance to beat the Orioles.
What’s interesting is the logistics of nailing down who exactly will be the 50 millionth fan later this summer. (The O’s are also on pace to host the 100 millionth fan in franchise history this year, which will potentially happen during the late-August series against the Yankees.)
With multiple gates at Camden Yards and people entering at the same time, pinpointing the lucky winner will not be an exact science. The best they can do, Bader said, is track the order of the tickets being scanned for entry as accurately as they can to select and announce who the milestone fan was during the game.
With an enticing prize package provided by the team and partner Maryland Lottery that includes season tickets for five years, $50,000 for the 50 millionth fan and $100,000 for the 100 millionth fan, how bad would you feel if you were the guy that walked in behind the winning ticket? Or what about the people who enter the park at the same time as the winner but at a different gate?
Bader said that everyone at the ballpark those days will receive a commemorative pin (which to me is like letting someone suck on an old piece of gum while you keep the caviar for yourself) but how disappointed would you be if you knew you were within inches of winning the prize?
And because of that, will there be people throwing elbows to get into Orioles Park this August when they’re getting close to the milestone? And does that then make it a great marketing campaign?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentDrink up, O’s fans
June 9, 2008
Orioles hall-of-famers Brooks Robinson and Eddie Murray have launched their own wine labels, which are in more than 100 Maryland stores this week.
The cost of both Robinson’s Chardonnay and Murray’s 504 Cabernet are affordable, with a suggested retail price at $18.99.
Robinson and Murray join other players such as Ernie Banks, Mike Schmidt, and Ken Griffey Jr. who also have charity wines.
All proceeds from bottle sales (available online too) will go to the Baltimore Community Foundation.
RICHARD SIMON, Multimedia Reporter
Sphere: Related ContentYour record-breaking Orioles
April 3, 2008
Well, the Orioles made another one for the record books last night — but not in a good way. A crowd of 10,505 was announced at their game against the Tampa Bay Rays, breaking Oriole Park’s former all-time low of 13,194. (And if the announced attendance last night was a
nything like the announced “sold out” house on opening day, the actual number of people in the seats probably didn’t crack 10,000.)
Coincidentally enough — or maybe not when you consider the ability of both teams — that last low-attendance game was also against the Rays, almost two years ago to the day on Apr. 9, 2006.
It’s not a good sign for the folks at Camden Yards who want to sell the downtown baseball experience rather than focus on the team’s play. Total attendance at the park has dropped by 18 percent since 2005.
Last night’s record did have a couple of contributing factors: 1) a cold and windy night that felt like belonged more in January than it did in April, and 2) the day after Opening Day is traditionally one of the lowest-attended days of the year in baseball.
But the rest of the season has other factors. To name a few: 1) a 10-year streak of sub .500 seasons that shows no sign of ending this year, 2) concerns over the price of gas and the commute to Baltimore and 3) a competing ballpark down the road with a team that (so far) is looking like it will be more fun to watch.
In a news release Wednesday, the Orioles announced various promotions for this month such as $6 student tickets for Friday’s game against Seattle and $10 tickets for adults 55 years and older for Monday afternoon’s game, also against the Mariners.
Do gimmicks like these bring more people in? If the attendance continues to be lackluster (aside from when the Red Sox or Yankees are in town), should the team consider lowering its prices for the upper reserves? If the economy is a concern, how about offering gas vouchers with the purchase of ballpark food?
Or is money not the point and it’s the team that needs to be up to snuff before the masses are drawn back to Camden Yards?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentGrueling time at the concessions stand?
April 2, 2008
If you waited in a long line at the ball game Monday, dreaming of a nice warm hot dog, and got to the front only to find the concessions stand had run out of your treat or were handed a cold dog in a soggy bun, you might want to check out a new Web site that’s “raising awareness” about Aramark, the food service contractor at Oriole Park and other ballparks and stadiums around the country.
The site was launched Monday and is sponsored by Campaign for Quality Services, a joint project of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the trade workers, hospitality and restaurant union, UNITE-HERE.
Named appropriately for opening day, AramarkStrikesOut.info highlights rats at Angels Stadium in Anaheim, “long lines and tepid sausage” at RFK in D.C. (the Nationals’ new park dropped Aramark’s service), and asks visitors to send in their ballpark food horror stories.
So how about it? Did anyone have any grueling concessions stand experiences that soured them to buying food at Oriole Park? Are the venders outside with their truckloads of giant pretzels a better option? (If you’re a penny pincher like me, those pretzels were already a brilliant idea.)
Or do you think this Web site just stirring up a pointless debate?
LIZ FARMER, Business Writer
Sphere: Related ContentThe O’s vs. the Nats
March 31, 2008
Since today is Opening Day here in Baltimore (and the day after the Nats stadium debut), we thought we’d ask Baltimoreans about the 2008 season.
The problem: only a handful of people walking around downtown Baltimore last week were interested in talking about the Orioles. Ouch.
Seems that after a decade of losing, most people are unenthused about the 2008 year…
Steak-umm is O’s official burger
March 19, 2008
If you’re hankering for a hamburger at Camden Yards this spring, you’ll only have one choice: a Steak-umm Burger.
The new burgers, manufactured by Reading, Pa.-based Steak-umm Company LLC, are now the official hamburgers of the home team. They will be “the exclusive burger served at Oriole Park’s concession stands during the season.”
And if you can’t wait until the start of the season to try one, just check your grocery store’s freezer aisle.
From the BusinessWire release today:
“This affiliation with the Orioles is a great way for us to introduce our newest product to the public. It gives fans a great burger to eat at the ballpark, and it gives us excellent brand visibility,” said Sergei Szortyka, President of Steak-umm Company.
“People have known us for our sandwich steaks for years, and now they’ll get the message that we’re in the burger business too.”
Steak-umm may have the official designation, but they can’t buy the loyalty of fans of Boog’s Barbecue. Check out this review.
JACKIE SAUTER, Web Editor
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