The Orioles announced plans for new scoreboards this week. The smallness of the current center-field board has been a complaint of many fans. Orioles president of business operations Catie Griggs discussed the new scoreboards, the sound system and the possibility of Baltimore hosting an All-Star Game.
Question: How much of a priority for you was a new scoreboard?
Catie Griggs: “It was a priority. It was one of many priorities, but it was a key priority for us, recognizing, knowing that it was visible for anyone who’s been to the ballpark recently. Not only did we have the smallest videoboard in Major League Baseball, because of age, it’s challenging to read in daylight. It inhibits what we can share to make sure they have an incredible experience, not just from an entertainment standpoint, but also from an information, from replays, from a statistics-sharing standpoint.
“We know that fans are looking for a lot of different things when they’re watching games and coming to the ballpark, and this is something that we believe will allow us to create an even better experience for those guests who are here at Camden Yards.”
Q: Was the scoreboard the thing you heard about most from fans since joining the organization?
Griggs: “I don’t know about the most, but I did hear an awful lot about not only our video board, but also our sound system. These are visible to all our fans, no matter where you sit or how you choose to watch a game, these are things that are visible to you, and when our fans come to Camden Yards, they have many different experiences. This is something that unites all of those experiences, so it certainly is something we heard a lot about.”
Q: How have you gotten a lot of feedback on the improved temporary sound system? I can now actually hear it in the press box.
Griggs: “We’ve heard a good bit. Interestingly, it’s good to hear that you can hear it in the press box. We’ve also heard from our players that it actually is good for them when they’re down on the field as well. They, like you, were challenged to hear it in prior seasons.
“We have heard generally positive responses to the improvements this year. To be blunt, those improvements are good, but not great. We’re shooting for great. We’re still working with [the Maryland Stadium Authority] on what a system enhancement could look like. Hopefully, to be able to roll out next season, in 2026, to enhance that as well, but in the meantime, we didn’t want to have to wait until then to take steps to get better even if we know it’s not perfect yet.”
Q: What improvements do you want to make to the scoreboard besides making it easier to read?
Griggs: “Legibility is important. Frankly, closed-captioning and improved closed-captioning for our guests who rely on that. Their experience was really important, but also it does allow us a lot more optionality, particularly with those ribbon boards to enhance the statistics we can show and ensure they’re in places where we can see them.
“It allows us an opportunity to create energy and excitement in key moments of games and get fans engaged in different ways than we can do now. So it really does fall into a lot of different categories and whether it is replays, whether it is statistics, whether it is other ways in which you can use those boards to create energy and excitement in the ballpark. It creates a lot more optionality than we have currently with the boards that we have.”
Q: How is the right-field scoreboard going to be enhanced?
Griggs: “It is going to be a slightly larger board, but still generally in that same space where it is today. The intention is that it is an out-of-town scoreboard, but it’s an out-of-town scoreboard that gives us the optionality to utilize it in different ways, contextually throughout the game, as appropriate.
“As an example, when Gunnar hits a home run, we have the opportunity to have something to light up all of the boards around the ballpark, with the same dramatic, taking advantage of that excitement and energy and ensuring that the boards speak to each other and create a more unified experience.
“It also gives us the opportunity to convey different information so that while it’s primarily used for out-of-town scores now, and the anticipation is that it will be used for out-of-town scores going forward, it does give us the optionality of using it to convey different information, so we’re working through that as well as we look holistically at the full canvas we’ll know have here at Camden Yards for ’26 and beyond.”
Q: The scoreboard is going to be larger. Are you taking away seats in the center-field bleachers?
Griggs: “We aren’t going to be eliminating any seats or anything along those lines. We’re still working with MSA on a few different components that we’ll be hopefully able to incorporate for ’26, but as it pertains to that video board, it’s using the same infrastructure we have today … It’s just taking advantage of the full breadth of that space where the current boards and beams are now and squaring it out, taking advantage of that as a full footprint, which gets you into that 16×9 aspect ratio that allows you to do much more from a content standpoint looking ahead.”
Q: How is the direct-to-consumer product being received?
Griggs: “You mentioned, ‘Did we hear a lot about the video board system when I got here?’ One of the things I heard about almost as much if not more so was the lack of a direct-to-consumer product from a video standpoint. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to have that launched. It’s been working well, and we’ve seen pretty significant adoption in our market.
“Look, we recognize for many of our fans, they have subscriptions to DirectTV, Comcast, Fubo, and that’s fantastic, but for those who don’t for whatever reason, this was a gap. We want to make sure that Orioles fans have the ability to watch our content regardless of whether they’re in territories that for whatever reason aren’t covered by those traditional networks, and for those people who choose not to for whatever reason, this was a gap for us. This was a gap for the Nationals and we are very pleased to have the opportunity to get this live. It’s been working well, and we’ve been seeing great adoption.”
Q: In March, you said that you hoped to have some good news about the All-Star Game returning to Baltimore. Is there any news you can share?
Griggs: “I would say that that sentiment still holds. We are having active conversations with Major League Baseball and recognize that this is a priority for our ownership. It’s a priority for us as an organization globally. We know it’s a priority for our fans and for the city of Baltimore, and we’re focused on making it a reality.”
Call for questions: I answer Orioles questions most weekdays. Please send yours to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com.