Could Baltimore Orioles Really Give Ballpark a Corporate Sponsor Name After All These Years?
After being in operation for more than 30 years, it looks possible that Oriole Park at Camden Yards could have a new name soon.
So, this Sports Business Journal article lays out what happened:
The Orioles had been planning to announce today a naming-rights partner for Oriole Park at Camden Yards as John Angelos had been "putting the finishing touches on a deal," but the status of that now "remains unclear" after the pending sale of the team to a group led by David Rubenstein. Angelos "had identified a corporate sponsor, and the two parties had reached an agreement." A press release even had been drafted "announcing the identity of the company that would replace the 'Oriole' part of Oriole Park." However, the unnamed company "didn’t know anything" about a sale of the franchise "until learning about it in the initial news reports" last Tuesday."
That report initially came from a Wall Street Journal article, and the author of that article, Jared Diamond, named the company on social media:
See you at T. Rowe Price Park at Camden Yards… maybe? Story with @lindseyadler on the naming rights deal that was supposed to be announced today. Then the team was sold. T. Rowe Price found out about the sale when news broke in the media.
The ballpark opened in 1992 for the Orioles and has never had a corporate sponsor name.
Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch:
In case you’re wondering, nine of the 30 MLB teams do not currently whore out their stadium names to corporate advertisers. Here are those teams and their ballparks:
- Angels: Angel Stadium
- A’s: Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum*
- Cubs: Wrigley Field**
- Dodgers: Dodger Stadium
- Nationals: Nationals Park
- Orioles: Oriole Park at Camden Yards
- Red Sox: Fenway Park
- Royals: Kauffman Stadium
- Yankees: Yankee Stadium
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