Orioles’ new owners' honeymoon period is over after botched season ticket changes

When a group led by David Rubenstein purchased the Baltimore Orioles, fans hailed the move as the start of something special. For many, the days of the Angelos family pinching pennies were over and with deep pocketed owners and a special young core, a new era of Orioles baseball was set to begin. Now that some time has passed, the actual results have been far more mixed and now the desire to pad the bottom line is starting to creep in again.

The Orioles still have some very talented young players, but the shine has worn off some, while others, like Grayson Rodriguez, can't stay healthy or were traded away. Despite the ownership change, Baltimore's front office failed to make a splash in free agency last offseason and made some bad bets when it came to their pitching staff.

Orioles fans got word this week that ticket prices for 2026 were going up and season ticket packages were undergoing changes that may push fans to a breaking point.

Orioles owners risking losing fans' goodwill after a series of disappointments and changes

Nothing is getting cheaper these days, but there was never going to be much positive feedback to the news that ticket prices are set to increase, on average, around 3% next season. On top of that, the Orioles are getting rid of their traditional 13 game and 29 game ticket packages in favor of more standardized (and more lucrative) 20 and 40-game packages.

The comments section of any publication announcing those changes will find a sea of Orioles fans complaining that they are not priced out after supporting the team for years or were expressing concern that they wouldn't be able to keep their seats.

Unfortunately, this isn't the first time we have gotten hints that things under Rubenstein wouldn't be all sunshine and rainbows. While he is willing to increase payroll, Rubenstein clearly isn't pushing for that to happen and started the 2025 season with comments about the team's profitability being a priority.

Any one of those things taken in isolation wouldn't be a big deal. However, all of them together are beginning to yield a pattern of broken promises, squeezing even more money out of fans, and a lack of real investment in the Orioles' roster.

At some point, even Orioles fans will hit their breaking point. One hopes the powers-that-be realize that they need to give fans a real reason to show up for all of these extra games before fans will shell out to pay what they want them to.

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