Orioles remove ‘The Sun’ and Dempsey’s signs from Camden Yards
The Orioles removed two longtime noteworthy signs from Camden Yards on Thursday, taking down “The Sun” signage from above the center field scoreboard and the Dempsey’s Brew Pub sign on the B&O Warehouse.
The team said it’s opening the scoreboard space for sponsorship opportunities and that the future of the restaurant and its space are to be announced. In January, the Orioles replaced its longtime concession operator with a new company for the upcoming season.
“I want to thank all of the fans that have reached out to me regarding the restaurant change. The Orioles are switching the food vendors at Camden Yards and will utilize that space in a different way,” Rick Dempsey, former catcher and namesake of the brew pub, wrote on social media. “I have been working with the Orioles as an ambassador and will hopefully continue in that capacity for many years. As everyone knows, I have a deep love for the Orioles and the city of Baltimore and that will continue forever.”
The Baltimore Sun logo had been featured atop the ballpark’s scoreboard and in its clock since it opened in 1992, becoming closely associated with the iconic venue. The clock numbers that spelled out Baltimore Sun were being covered Thursday.
Along with being associated with Oriole Park, the large Sun display also served a purpose. The “H” and “E” in the sign were used to indicate scoring decisions between hits and errors, respectively, on borderline defensive plays.
“We have received unprecedented demand from corporate sponsors who want to invest in and support what we are building while advancing their brands,” the Orioles said in a statement. “Therefore, we are exploring opportunities throughout the ballpark to create those mutually beneficial opportunities.”
The Sun and the Orioles couldn’t agree to extend their long-term deal for the sign.
“Due to a change in pricing, we decided to redirect our marketing dollars for now,” said Trif Alatzas, The Sun’s publisher and editor-in-chief, in a statement. “Our business division has partnered with the Orioles every year since the team arrived in Baltimore in 1954 and we look forward to continuing that relationship in meaningful ways.”
Dempsey’s, meanwhile, opened inside the warehouse in 2012. It’s named for Orioles catcher Rick Dempsey, the MVP of the World Series when the team last won it in 1983. Dempsey, who spent 18 seasons with the Orioles as a player and coach, was a broadcaster with the team-owned Mid-Atlantic Sports Network from 2007 to 2020.
Dempsey couldn’t be reached late Thursday for comment and the phone number for the restaurant was disconnected. Its website redirected to the corporate site for Delaware North, the longtime concession operator at Camden Yards that is being replaced by Levy, a Chicago-based hospitality company.
On Sunday, Orioles Chairman and CEO John Angelos said the team had plans to upgrade the videoboard beneath the sign after it signs a new long-term lease. The team’s current agreement with the Maryland Stadium Authority expires Dec. 31, and a new deal would give the team access to $600 million in public funds for upgrades and upkeep of the ballpark.
“We’ve had two scoreboards, two audiovisual systems in the history of Camden Yards,” Angelos said. “The first one was done in ‘92 or ‘91 when the stadium was opened. It wasn’t actually probably bleeding-edge technology from what the experts say then, and then it was replaced in ‘08. … That’s 15 years ago. Now, those kinds of things really aren’t capital improvements. They’re capital replenishments to bring things back up to standard. That scoreboard is a dozen years old. It’s got to be replaced.”
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