January 16, 2025 • 9 mins
Single game tickets for the 2025 Orioles season are on sale today! I can't wait to get back down to Camden Yards. Jennifer Grondahl, the Senior Vice President of Communcations for the team, called in to talk about the tickets, the upcoming promotional items this season, and big opportunities for parents and kids that want to come out to a game.
If you want to get your hands on some tickets, you can visit orioles.com/tickets
If you want to get your hands on some tickets, you can visit orioles.com/tickets
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi, how are you today.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on today.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Oh my gosh, it's a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
It's a big day for you guys because single game
tickets are now officially on sale.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
That's exactly right. And are you having a good day?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah, so far, so good. Yeah, I can't complain. It's
you know, it's interesting. I don't know if you know
much about this radio station or about me, but it's
been an interesting switch these last few weeks, from going
mornings down to afternoons.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
But I'm here and I'm living it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
How's the sleep pattern working out?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, it's wild.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
You know, it's funny. The sleep isn't the problem. It's
what I do with the rest of the day that's weird.
Where I'm like, why do I have this time in
the morning. I don't know, it's really strange.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, I totally get it. Well, we're vampires in baseball
for the most part, so I we have really strange schedules.
Most people think we worked at night. We actually worked
from like eight am until eleven pm. So it's the
hard part is finding the time for the sleep in
the middle because you're on such a high. But I
get it, so I hope you like it.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I've had this thought is I haven't seen the end
of an Orioles game probably ever since I moved to Baltimore,
and now I'm going to have a chance to actually
stay to the end of a game.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well you need to, because we're usually a lot better
towards the end.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I can't even tell you how many magical finishes I've
missed in my time.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, hopefully now you'll be able to see them. And
we're here eighty one.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Time, so you know, yes, there's plenty of chances.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
And I saw you guys increase the promotional offerings this
year and you brought in some new stuff, which I
think is really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, we really have been listening to the fans, and
we have a lot of creative people, so they kind
of make a determination of what direction we should go,
and they've come up with some really interesting things for
this year.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Okay, one of the things I do want to talk
about because I know you always have like a Star
Wars giveaway, but you're doing a full weekend this year exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
That's the first time ever we've done that, and I
am a Star Wars fan, so I'm very happy to
talk about bach for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I love that. Well, let's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So what's going to be going on in a full
weekend of Star Wars fun?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So we're going to have two giveaways for Star Wars
Weekend to Bobblehead with Colten Kawser and Gunner Henderson is
part of the whole weekend. And you know, fans want
to come to one game, they get bobbleheads, but if
they want to collect both, they can come to both games.
It's obviously hugely popular across the league to do Star
Wars and we wanted to bring it to Oriel Park
(02:15):
and do it right this year.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Are the bobbleheads dressed like in start?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Like?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Are the bobbleheads holding lightsabers instead of baseball bats?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
You will, You'll have to check them out. They're definitely
in the right configuration for a good Star Wars pose.
But yes, we're Yes, I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Did I read right that you guys are doing a
couple of different Hawaiian shirt nights too?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Or did I read that wrong?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
No, you read it right. We're doing a couple of those,
and that's probably our most popular giveaway. So trying something
a little bit different, and I think that's kind of
the theme of this year, is trying some different things.
You know, we've never done a bowling for first time,
we've ever done yacht rock, never done a cowboy hat.
But we're also bringing back some of the fan favorites,
the Pride jersey, the floppy hat. Of course, a lot
(02:56):
of T shirt nights for some of these players that
fans starting to really get to know and love. So yeah,
we have a lot planned for the season, and of
course expansion of bird bats, which is really the number
one most popular with fans.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
I do want to talk about that in a second.
And please don't hold this against me, but I grew
up north of Boston, so growing up, I went to
Red Sox games, and I'll say some of my biggest
memories are around promotional items that I used to get.
They had a thing they used to do, painters cap
nights that I used to go get the hats from,
or like baseball card holders. I mean, like, it's funny
how those things stick with you over the years. I
(03:29):
mean there's things that I went to do when I
was six years old, so we're talking almost forty years ago,
and I still remember going to these games with these
special promotional items. So I think there is something about
these items that maybe some people think they're silly, but
they really bring people in and it's a special moment
for them.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, it's a lot of nostalgia. I agree. And by
the way, I am married to a person from outside
of Boston, so I totally no need to apologize. I
live with this Boston Red Sox thing every single day.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
You're a lucky lady. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
But yes, and people collect them, but there's a reason
why we do so many of them. People love them.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, absolutely, all right. So the bird bath, okay, so
tell me more about this. You expanded it, made it bigger,
made it bigger.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It was constantly sold out from the moment we announced it.
It was player driven. It was a super popular, you know,
addition to Oriel Park, and we decided, you know what,
we want more people to have the experience. So not
only did we expand the section, but we also added
a splash platform, so mister Slash can splash all the fans.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
So, in case someone doesn't know we're talking about, this
is out sort of in left field, sort of left
center field. You've got a special area here where fans
can get.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Wet, essentially exactly, and mister Splash is basically our second mascot,
now hugely popular. In fact, he's the one that introduced
the promo schedule for twenty twenty five with his bowling
shirt on and his yacht rock cap. So yeah, it's
really taken on a life of its own.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
One thing I will say about the Orioles that I've loved,
especially becoming a parent, is how much you understand the
value you and making sure kids and families have an
opportunity to come in to enjoy a baseball game, and
you do so many special things for kids.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Let's talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, so every Sunday, kids run the bases. We do that.
You know, we really take it for granted because we're
here every single game, but we're on the field and
we're standing on the field. But a lot of people
is that is a lifetime memory. And so the kids
can come out on every Sunday home game. We're doing
firework June thirteenth, July eleventh, and August eighth. For somebody
(05:31):
looking for something extra to do besides just baseball, We're
going to have kids opening Day, Youth Baseball and Softball Day,
the parade of athletes youth and baseball and softball athletes
that go around the field. I think it takes over
an hour and thousands and thousands of kids high fiving
the players in the dugouts. You know, it's a great
way to connect people to the game of baseball, which
(05:53):
we feel, you know, is not just it really isn't
just a game. It's a responsibility that we have and
bring people downtown to have that camping oar experience, but
also the value. You know, you can get a ticket
any for fifteen dollars with all the fees, sitting the
bleachers for fifteen dollars, so we try to keep it
affordable as well.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And how about kids Cheer Free.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I don't know if enough parents understand this, So you
have a program called Kids Cheer Free.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, so that's really providing again the value with the
ticket package concessions package as well for kids who for
families who want to come to the ballpark. And that
was introduced gosh, I don't know, maybe seven or eight
years ago, and it's been hugely popular. And I will
say I can't say too much today, but there's going
to be some additional value options coming to the ballpark
(06:38):
that we're going to be announcing in about a week
and hopefully that will make our fans happy. And as
they're making a decision about, you know, can I come
to a game this year, we're going to try to
take care of them.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I mean, I have a four year old and I
can't tell you how many times we've gone through the
kids cheer Free program to make sure we can get
in because we don't ever know how long we're going
to stay with a little one, because she could have
a melt down in the third inning. So you know
you're getting You're still getting a fun time with your family,
even if maybe you do miss a little bit of
the game.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Well, I appreciate you saying that, and I think not
everybody realizes while of course we play baseball here, there's
a lot of other things happening in the ballpark. I
think walking down Blue Toad Street, having that view from
the flag court, the kids zone, with the games, and
I think one of the things you'll also see this
year is Katie Griggs, our new president of Business Operations,
(07:24):
is really focusing on that fan experience, so trying to
incorporate more ways to engage with fans and putting fan
first only so that'll be reflected in the game itself.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I think that's huge.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
And I don't want to talk anything negative about previous
people that worked or own the Orioles, but like, I
just feel like the fan experience didn't match up over
the years, and I think this is something that I've
loved to see with the team over the last season
and even moving forward. The fans really are the center
point again and I love that.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I really appreciate that. And also even just on the
field talking about what's happening on the field, We've had
two years in a row of playoff baseball. That's something
that Baltimore hasn't seen for a long time. And if
you look at the numbers, you know, our investment in
payroll has increased substantially. I think we're over thirty five
percent of where we were last year. That's pretty huge.
(08:13):
You know, if everybody increased their budgets by thirty five percent,
that would be a huge and we're doing that and
we're but also we have those stars that people have
gotten to know better, Hedgerson, Asley Rushman, Cedric Mullen, the
names that people love that are here, Grayson Rodriguez. Hopefully
we'll see some of our pitchers that we're injured coming
back with Kyle gradsh later this year. And then hopefully
(08:33):
Felix Fautista will be on the mound for us, because
as you know, that's the show in itself, but also
just a really cool guy too.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
No, I love it. There's a lot of good things
going with the Ools right now.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
It is a good time to be a Baltimore sports van,
that is for sure. Well, Jennifer, you guys are planning
a massive year down there at Camden Yards and we
can't wait to be a part of it. I'm so
excited for this. Where do people go if they want
to get their tickets?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Oriels dot com forward slash tickets and we'll look forward
to seeing you Camdon Yards in twenty twenty five, just
a few weeks away from opening day.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's right, you'll see me there for sure, Jennifer, Thank
you so much.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Thank you have a great one.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Go oh
Hi, how are you today.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm doing great. Thanks for having me on today.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Oh my gosh, it's a pleasure.
Speaker 3 (00:05):
It's a big day for you guys because single game
tickets are now officially on sale.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
That's exactly right. And are you having a good day?
Speaker 3 (00:11):
Yeah, so far, so good. Yeah, I can't complain. It's
you know, it's interesting. I don't know if you know
much about this radio station or about me, but it's
been an interesting switch these last few weeks, from going
mornings down to afternoons.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
But I'm here and I'm living it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
How's the sleep pattern working out?
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Oh, it's wild.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
You know, it's funny. The sleep isn't the problem. It's
what I do with the rest of the day that's weird.
Where I'm like, why do I have this time in
the morning. I don't know, it's really strange.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Yeah, I totally get it. Well, we're vampires in baseball
for the most part, so I we have really strange schedules.
Most people think we worked at night. We actually worked
from like eight am until eleven pm. So it's the
hard part is finding the time for the sleep in
the middle because you're on such a high. But I
get it, so I hope you like it.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
Yeah, you know, it's interesting.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I've had this thought is I haven't seen the end
of an Orioles game probably ever since I moved to Baltimore,
and now I'm going to have a chance to actually
stay to the end of a game.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well you need to, because we're usually a lot better
towards the end.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
I can't even tell you how many magical finishes I've
missed in my time.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Well, hopefully now you'll be able to see them. And
we're here eighty one.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Time, so you know, yes, there's plenty of chances.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
And I saw you guys increase the promotional offerings this
year and you brought in some new stuff, which I
think is really cool.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, we really have been listening to the fans, and
we have a lot of creative people, so they kind
of make a determination of what direction we should go,
and they've come up with some really interesting things for
this year.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
Okay, one of the things I do want to talk
about because I know you always have like a Star
Wars giveaway, but you're doing a full weekend this year exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:44):
That's the first time ever we've done that, and I
am a Star Wars fan, so I'm very happy to
talk about bach for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
I love that. Well, let's talk about it.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
So what's going to be going on in a full
weekend of Star Wars fun?
Speaker 2 (01:55):
So we're going to have two giveaways for Star Wars
Weekend to Bobblehead with Colten Kawser and Gunner Henderson is
part of the whole weekend. And you know, fans want
to come to one game, they get bobbleheads, but if
they want to collect both, they can come to both games.
It's obviously hugely popular across the league to do Star
Wars and we wanted to bring it to Oriel Park
(02:15):
and do it right this year.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Are the bobbleheads dressed like in start?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
Like?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Are the bobbleheads holding lightsabers instead of baseball bats?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
You will, You'll have to check them out. They're definitely
in the right configuration for a good Star Wars pose.
But yes, we're Yes, I love that.
Speaker 3 (02:31):
Did I read right that you guys are doing a
couple of different Hawaiian shirt nights too?
Speaker 1 (02:34):
Or did I read that wrong?
Speaker 2 (02:35):
No, you read it right. We're doing a couple of those,
and that's probably our most popular giveaway. So trying something
a little bit different, and I think that's kind of
the theme of this year, is trying some different things.
You know, we've never done a bowling for first time,
we've ever done yacht rock, never done a cowboy hat.
But we're also bringing back some of the fan favorites,
the Pride jersey, the floppy hat. Of course, a lot
(02:56):
of T shirt nights for some of these players that
fans starting to really get to know and love. So yeah,
we have a lot planned for the season, and of
course expansion of bird bats, which is really the number
one most popular with fans.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
I do want to talk about that in a second.
And please don't hold this against me, but I grew
up north of Boston, so growing up, I went to
Red Sox games, and I'll say some of my biggest
memories are around promotional items that I used to get.
They had a thing they used to do, painters cap
nights that I used to go get the hats from,
or like baseball card holders. I mean, like, it's funny
how those things stick with you over the years. I
(03:29):
mean there's things that I went to do when I
was six years old, so we're talking almost forty years ago,
and I still remember going to these games with these
special promotional items. So I think there is something about
these items that maybe some people think they're silly, but
they really bring people in and it's a special moment
for them.
Speaker 2 (03:45):
Yeah, it's a lot of nostalgia. I agree. And by
the way, I am married to a person from outside
of Boston, so I totally no need to apologize. I
live with this Boston Red Sox thing every single day.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
You're a lucky lady. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
But yes, and people collect them, but there's a reason
why we do so many of them. People love them.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Yeah, absolutely, all right. So the bird bath, okay, so
tell me more about this. You expanded it, made it bigger,
made it bigger.
Speaker 2 (04:11):
It was constantly sold out from the moment we announced it.
It was player driven. It was a super popular, you know,
addition to Oriel Park, and we decided, you know what,
we want more people to have the experience. So not
only did we expand the section, but we also added
a splash platform, so mister Slash can splash all the fans.
Speaker 1 (04:30):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (04:30):
So, in case someone doesn't know we're talking about, this
is out sort of in left field, sort of left
center field. You've got a special area here where fans
can get.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Wet, essentially exactly, and mister Splash is basically our second mascot,
now hugely popular. In fact, he's the one that introduced
the promo schedule for twenty twenty five with his bowling
shirt on and his yacht rock cap. So yeah, it's
really taken on a life of its own.
Speaker 3 (04:54):
One thing I will say about the Orioles that I've loved,
especially becoming a parent, is how much you understand the
value you and making sure kids and families have an
opportunity to come in to enjoy a baseball game, and
you do so many special things for kids.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
Let's talk a little bit more about that.
Speaker 2 (05:09):
Yeah, so every Sunday, kids run the bases. We do that.
You know, we really take it for granted because we're
here every single game, but we're on the field and
we're standing on the field. But a lot of people
is that is a lifetime memory. And so the kids
can come out on every Sunday home game. We're doing
firework June thirteenth, July eleventh, and August eighth. For somebody
(05:31):
looking for something extra to do besides just baseball, We're
going to have kids opening Day, Youth Baseball and Softball Day,
the parade of athletes youth and baseball and softball athletes
that go around the field. I think it takes over
an hour and thousands and thousands of kids high fiving
the players in the dugouts. You know, it's a great
way to connect people to the game of baseball, which
(05:53):
we feel, you know, is not just it really isn't
just a game. It's a responsibility that we have and
bring people downtown to have that camping oar experience, but
also the value. You know, you can get a ticket
any for fifteen dollars with all the fees, sitting the
bleachers for fifteen dollars, so we try to keep it
affordable as well.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And how about kids Cheer Free.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
I don't know if enough parents understand this, So you
have a program called Kids Cheer Free.
Speaker 2 (06:18):
Yeah, so that's really providing again the value with the
ticket package concessions package as well for kids who for
families who want to come to the ballpark. And that
was introduced gosh, I don't know, maybe seven or eight
years ago, and it's been hugely popular. And I will
say I can't say too much today, but there's going
to be some additional value options coming to the ballpark
(06:38):
that we're going to be announcing in about a week
and hopefully that will make our fans happy. And as
they're making a decision about, you know, can I come
to a game this year, we're going to try to
take care of them.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
I love that.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
I mean, I have a four year old and I
can't tell you how many times we've gone through the
kids cheer Free program to make sure we can get
in because we don't ever know how long we're going
to stay with a little one, because she could have
a melt down in the third inning. So you know
you're getting You're still getting a fun time with your family,
even if maybe you do miss a little bit of
the game.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
Well, I appreciate you saying that, and I think not
everybody realizes while of course we play baseball here, there's
a lot of other things happening in the ballpark. I
think walking down Blue Toad Street, having that view from
the flag court, the kids zone, with the games, and
I think one of the things you'll also see this
year is Katie Griggs, our new president of Business Operations,
(07:24):
is really focusing on that fan experience, so trying to
incorporate more ways to engage with fans and putting fan
first only so that'll be reflected in the game itself.
Speaker 1 (07:35):
I think that's huge.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
And I don't want to talk anything negative about previous
people that worked or own the Orioles, but like, I
just feel like the fan experience didn't match up over
the years, and I think this is something that I've
loved to see with the team over the last season
and even moving forward. The fans really are the center
point again and I love that.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
I really appreciate that. And also even just on the
field talking about what's happening on the field, We've had
two years in a row of playoff baseball. That's something
that Baltimore hasn't seen for a long time. And if
you look at the numbers, you know, our investment in
payroll has increased substantially. I think we're over thirty five
percent of where we were last year. That's pretty huge.
(08:13):
You know, if everybody increased their budgets by thirty five percent,
that would be a huge and we're doing that and
we're but also we have those stars that people have
gotten to know better, Hedgerson, Asley Rushman, Cedric Mullen, the
names that people love that are here, Grayson Rodriguez. Hopefully
we'll see some of our pitchers that we're injured coming
back with Kyle gradsh later this year. And then hopefully
(08:33):
Felix Fautista will be on the mound for us, because
as you know, that's the show in itself, but also
just a really cool guy too.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
No, I love it. There's a lot of good things
going with the Ools right now.
Speaker 3 (08:42):
It is a good time to be a Baltimore sports van,
that is for sure. Well, Jennifer, you guys are planning
a massive year down there at Camden Yards and we
can't wait to be a part of it. I'm so
excited for this. Where do people go if they want
to get their tickets?
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Oriels dot com forward slash tickets and we'll look forward
to seeing you Camdon Yards in twenty twenty five, just
a few weeks away from opening day.
Speaker 3 (09:01):
That's right, you'll see me there for sure, Jennifer, Thank
you so much.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Thank you have a great one.
Speaker 1 (09:05):
Go oh
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