Marcus Schafer (00:00)
Welcome to episode 23 of Greenstream, where logic meets life and investing. I’m Marcus Schafer, Director of Growth here at Greenspring. I’m also joined by Pat Collins, our CEO. Today, we’re stepping onto a different field, the business of baseball. Our guest is absolutely phenomenal, Catie Grigg’s President of Business Operations for the Baltimore.
Catie Griggs (00:18)
We have to be a lot more creative about making sure that we’re not only there for our fans who grew up playing the sport, who grew up loving the sport, going with church groups, with family members, with friends, but also for people who haven’t had that exposure and are looking for different experiences. But it’s ultimately upon us to get people off of their couch and convince them that there’s value.
and showing up. There’s value in being a part of this. It’s an experience that’s not only worth investing their dollars, but also investing their time. And I think from a competitive landscape standpoint, it really has just increasingly gotten more more competitive over the past several years. We’ve had to get much more creative.
Pat Collins (01:05)
Catie Griggs, president of the Baltimore Orioles. Welcome to the Green Stream podcast. We are so happy to have you today. Absolutely. We’re going to dive right in. I’m curious, what drew you to Baltimore coming from the Seattle, Atlanta areas before? What’s it been like moving here and what drew you here?
Catie Griggs (01:12)
Thanks for having me.
It’s been wonderful. Look, I’ve gotten a lot of questions, especially when I was first telling folks I was moving from Seattle to Baltimore. A few people asked me, why? And the short answer is I’m really excited about the opportunities ahead of us here in Baltimore, particularly in the world of sports. Having a community that cares about your club is really important. Having ownership that’s invested on what’s happening not only on the field, but also in the community is hugely important.
And for me personally, being a member of a community where there’s tremendous opportunity to really elevate and work alongside some incredible groups, both in the public sector and private sector to continue to move the city forward was an exciting challenge. ⁓ One of the commonalities though, you may look at Atlanta, Seattle and Baltimore and think that there more differences in similarities. But one of the places where for my world there is a lot of similarities is both all of the clubs that I’ve worked for have been in city centers. And one of the things that you’ve been
seeing a lot over the last decade or so of stadium development is a move out of city centers and into more suburban areas where there’s often a large real estate development, mixed use development that accompanies that. And not saying that’s bad, but I think one of the things that’s exciting to me is about being in a city where you are in the middle of the city, you are in the heart of the city, there’s public transit. It provides an opportunity for all of your citizens and all of your potential fans to feel a part of the team in a way that gets more challenging when you have some of the
transit related challenges related to getting into more suburban locations.
Pat Collins (02:58)
That’s great. So your title is President of Baseball Operations. Busy. I’m sorry. ⁓ What does that actually mean? What are you doing kind of day to day? What does your role look like? What do you oversee? ⁓ Really curious.
Catie Griggs (03:03)
business operation.
It’s not fair that baseball also starts with B. It makes it much harder when people are trying to actually give the titles. ⁓ One of the things I love most about the job is it’s cliche, but very true. There is no normal day. I have the privilege of overseeing a really talented group of men and women who not only are responsible for everything that happens here at Camden Yards, ⁓ but also our facility down in Florida. I get the opportunity to oversee MASN and inside here,
It’s not just about what happens 81 and hopefully more times a year when we’re playing baseball. It really is a 365 job where we’re doing everything from marketing to the content to the social media to sales and working with our partners, both on the corporate side, as well as all of our fans, both corporate and just community members. So all of the work that we’re doing with them, but then there’s normal business stuff, HR, finance, technology, legal.
And ultimately, as with any leadership role, it’s about how do you set your team up for success to accomplish, in our case, some really ambitious goals of our ownership group.
Marcus Schafer (04:20)
Before we jump into what those ambitious goals are, which I think we absolutely should, I would just love, you’re a talented executive who’s focusing on baseball. How did you end up focusing on sports? How did you get that? It’s kind of like a dream come true for a lot of people.
Catie Griggs (04:39)
people.
I’m very fortunate. I did not start in sports, which is now slightly less or slightly more common. But at the time when I was trying to break in was fairly uncommon. Sports is a industry that I would describe as a very apprenticeship modeled industry, at least historically, that’s the way it’s been operated. And for some reason, that make a lot of sense. You have a number of people who start, they’re very junior straight out of college or Prince, perhaps even before as interns.
And it’s like any business, there are relatively fewer and fewer roles as you progress in your career. And a lot of people don’t leave, right? Because as you mentioned, this is an industry where there is tremendous interest because people are so passionate about what it is that we do and the roles that we get to play in our communities. ⁓ I started as a consultant in New York doing strategy work and fairly quickly realized that while it was intellectually stimulating, perhaps that was not my long-term lifelong ambition. ⁓
I do my best when I’m passionate about the work that I’m doing. for me, sports has always been something that I’ve been passionate about. I am an all around mediocre athlete. I can do almost anything fine, but there is no world in which I was going to be on the other side of this ⁓ industry. But for me, what’s really interesting about sports is the role that it plays in bringing people together and creating memories and creating spaces. And ultimately, ⁓ you can tell like teams are playing well, the entire community.
comes together around it. It’s something that is a unifier versus a divider. ⁓ And the opportunity to be a part of that was something that was really attractive to me. So when I went back to get my MBA, I decided I should work in sports. Sports was pretty sure it didn’t want me working in sports. So I graduated without a job, which was humbling and a little bit terrifying. But more than 100 plus informational interviews later, ultimately.
I got my foot in the door at Turner Broadcasting, doing media ⁓ rights negotiations for them, cross-platform content strategy, which tied fairly neatly within ⁓ to some work that I’d done prior to grad school. And from there, I’ve been really fortunate. ⁓ I like learning new things. I like meeting new people. I like taking on new challenges. along the way, I’ve developed pretty good reputation as someone who can figure things out and get things done. So I’ve been…
fortunate to be given a lot of really amazing opportunities. So the first time that I made the transition into the team side, it wasn’t baseball actually, it was soccer. So I had the opportunity to help launch Atlanta United, which is the MLS franchise down in Atlanta owned by Arthur Blank. And then a few years later, I got a call about the Seattle Mariners and made the jump from a bigger black and white ball to a much smaller, harder white ball and got
privileged to be there for three years before having the chance to get back closer to my family on the East Coast and be here in Baltimore.
Pat Collins (07:37)
It’s kind of interesting your background management strategy consulting, ⁓ MBA, and then kind of in the, in the sports basically. So it seems like there’s a trend in sports of kind of professionalization of the, just the overall sports industry and different franchises. So can you talk a little bit about like how that’s changed, how professional teams are run the kind of bringing in more.
you know, of strategy professionals. How much has that changed over the last few years?
Catie Griggs (08:09)
I think it’s changed somewhat dramatically. And the reason for that is not just what you may think. mean, first and foremost, it has gotten more expensive, right? The costs associated with operating these large scale venues. I people often don’t think about the fact that we employ thousands of men and women. And anytime we open the gates to our ballpark, we are providing employment opportunities, not only for our full-time folks.
behind the scenes, but also to all of these really talented men and women who are ensuring our fans have incredible opportunities. ⁓ But those costs have gone up and as costs go up, sort of requirement of making sure that we are still in a position to deliver the product that we know our fans want, places additional strain on the system. But I think the other thing that has fundamentally changed is just there are so many things people can do with their time these days. And if you sort of go back even 20 years.
Broadcast television, cable television were omnipresent. We didn’t have social media as it exists today. The internet was obviously there, but it wasn’t necessarily the content generator that it is today. You still were going out to restaurants versus ordering in on DoorDash and being able to get whatever you want off from your sofa. So there’s just a lot of different things that people can do with their time. And the role that sports plays, I think we have to be a lot more creative.
about making sure that we’re not only there for our fans who grew up playing the sport, who grew up loving the sport, with church groups, with family members, with friends, but also for people who haven’t had that exposure and are looking for different experiences. But it’s ultimately upon us to get people off of their couch and convince them that there’s value in showing up. There’s value in being a part of this. This is an experience that’s not only worth investing their dollars, but also investing their time.
And think from a competitive landscape standpoint, it really has just increasingly gotten more and more competitive over the past several years. We’ve had to get much more creative.
Marcus Schafer (10:09)
You mentioned
the ownership group kind of has these goals. What are those goals? How do they tie into what you were just talking about?
Catie Griggs (10:16)
I think they want to provide a championship experience in terms of what’s happening on the field and making sure that we are competing at the absolute highest level every single year, while also ensuring that every fan who comes through our doors has an incredible experience. But we also recognize that we’re a member of this community. And we want to make sure that we’re showing up for our neighbors in the same way that we want our neighbors to be showing up for us. And so for us, it really is more about
more than just what happens here at the ballpark. It’s about making sure that we’re being as thoughtful and as good of a partner outside of the walls of the ballpark as we are within it.
Pat Collins (10:52)
You talked about the fan experience. ⁓ and I’m kind of curious how’s that evolved over time, but maybe even more specifically for you in particular, there are certain things that you’re trying to leave your mark on in Camden yards and what the Orioles organization from a fan experience standpoint that either people maybe already seen in the ballpark or maybe we’ll see over the next season or two.
Catie Griggs (11:17)
Sure. So ultimately, we want to make sure this is a place where everyone feels not only welcome, but wanted. And what that means is twofold. First, it means going out and making sure people know this is for you, even if this hasn’t necessarily been a group or groups of people where we’ve done the best job proactively engaging with them. So making sure that all members of our community know that we want to be there for them. I think we believe strongly that teams, and this would apply to the Ravens, or…
us at the Orioles, but the teams provide a really unique and special point of community and of pride for people. And we want to make sure that we’re being proactive on that front. Part of what that means, however, is making sure that when we look at our ballpark, Camden Yards is one of the icons. It is. mean, if you did something where it’s not just saying that here in Baltimore, I think almost anyone who speaks to you would agree with that. However, ballparks 30 years ago, or generally
different than ballparks today. And there’s some key elements that exist today that really reflect the evolving needs of different members of our community and different members of our fan base. And so for us, we want to be very, very intentional about protecting all of the things that make Camden Yard so special, while also making sure that we’re remaining open and creating those spaces for fans who want to have different experiences. There are going to be some fans who want to sit behind home plate and keep score.
for nine innings. That’s awesome. We want to be there for you. We want to make sure that you’ve got what you need and you can have that experience. We know there are other fans who are complete data wonks. know, they’re watching on broadcast and trying to understand what’s the launch angle, what’s the exit velocity, you know, which pitch was it, how fast was it, et cetera, et cetera. We want to ensure that anyone who’s here in the ballpark is getting as good or better experience than you would get if you’re watching at home. And so how do we make sure that we’re doing a better job of conveying that data? We know that there some fans
who want to come with groups of people. And we want to make sure that we have spaces for them in the ballpark to come together as a group and experience the game as a group, which is something that has been short supply here. We also know that there are organizations and individuals who want to have a higher end premium experience. We want to make sure that this is a ballpark that can deliver it for that group. But really it is about being thoughtful and intentional about how do we curate experiences and how do we make sure that the ballpark meets our fans where they are.
versus saying this is how you will watch a ball game here at Camden Yards. So one of the things I was most proud of last year was getting our Birdland Value Menu rolled out. When you combine that with our $15 entry point from a ticket standpoint, you can have a family of four in the ballpark with beverages, with hot dogs and their ticket. And that family is not spending even $100 to come in, right? And I’m not trying to say that that’s nothing, but you can’t even go to a movie theater.
for that, right? So we want to make sure that we’re protecting that experience and protecting that entry point for members of our community for whom that is a meaningful portion of their economics, while also recognizing there are different consumers who are looking for a higher end experience and aren’t willing to pay for it. And so how do we make sure there’s room for both?
Marcus Schafer (14:29)
You all are doing a ton of renovations on the stadium. Do you mind maybe just talking a little bit more about specifically what do you plan on having for the 2026 season?
Catie Griggs (14:39)
Yeah, this has been a really busy off season for us. And so I think every conversation I have with David starts with, are we going to be ready for opening day? And the answer is yes, we are going to be ready for opening day. But part of the work that’s being done ⁓ really does touch on a lot of those experiences I talked to previously. So first and foremost, we had the smallest video board in Major League Baseball. And as you look at the ways in which fans are consuming content and the amount of data and information and frankly, the entertainment focus that you’re seeing increasingly,
to make sure that different types of fans are enjoying their experience at ballparks, arenas, what have you. ⁓ And our audio system wasn’t quite up to snuff ⁓ either. So we’re making a major investment in terms of having both a new video board that will still be in the same location where it’s not going to be crazy huge, it’s not going be blocking the view of the warehouse or anything like that. But having a new video board there that will allow us much greater flexibility to both sort of storytelling and entertain, but also make sure that our fans have access to the data.
they’re looking for, as well as a ribbon board. So that’s a board that sort of goes along one of the levels of the concourses, which again, provides us with a much greater ability to not only create atmosphere and energy, but also to ensure that we are able to present more data for fans. regardless of whether you are where you’re sitting, you’ll be able to see it. ⁓ And our audio system is getting completely revamped. So last year we had a temporary solution in place. This year we’re literally rewiring the entire ballpark and installing ⁓ audio.
throughout the ballpark to make sure that it’s distributed, we can control the noise level and that it’s basically something that can be understood by all of our fans and we lose the Charlie Brown teacher audio that we had a couple of years ago. Additionally, in the concourses, we’re adding IPTVs. So that allows us to both have digital menu boards, which mean that we can be much more dynamic in terms of when we’re making changes to menus much more easily.
No more waiting in line for an item only to get to the front and find out that they’re out. It allows us to make sure that we’re providing information to our fans on a real time basis. It also allows us to do much more in terms of wayfinding than we’ve been able to do and make sure that our fans are staying connected to the game, whether they’re in the concourse at the playground as I end up a lot with my kids or in their seats. So there’s the audio visual side to do all of that. We also needed a new control room. So this is the behind the scenes technology, but
Not surprisingly, when you’re operating video boards at that scale, there’s a lot of technology that goes in to making sure that they all speak to each other and work. it’s fundamentally different than what we had before. So we had to install a new space to allow us to actually utilize all of this new technology throughout the ballpark. On top of that, one of the other things that we’re taking advantage of is when we went to look at what did we need from a structural support pan standpoint for the new video board, we recognized we needed to reinforce.
the bottom of the existing structure. In doing that, it provided us with an opportunity. We actually eliminated a few hundred seats and are going to create a space out there with a new bar, an open platform viewing area where it’s an incredible view of the field. If you haven’t been out there, I highly recommend it. But this is a space where we have the ability to sell it to large groups. If you’re bringing a workforce for a afternoon game and it’s two or 300 people, it’s a space where, yes, you can have seats.
if you’d like, but it’s also a space where throughout the game you have access to dedicated food, bar, location, as well as a ability to stand together as a team while also watching the game. Whereas right now, really the best space we’ve had to that previously was over in the picnic area, which does not have a great view into the ballpark itself. So we’ll have a social viewing area. We’ll be adding a new premium club, which is something where if you look at almost any other venue at this point in time, it’s a requirement. And it’s a requirement because there’s a demand for it.
⁓ Ours is not going to be a New York City sized club. know, we’re not talking about again several thousand seats and displacing a lot of our fans, but we’re looking at about 350 seats with a dedicated interior space with an incredible view of the field with floor to ceiling windows, all inclusive food, beverage, high end experience for a select number of guests for whom that’s the experience they want. One of the other things that I’m actually really excited about that I don’t think we’ve talked about nearly as much is the club level. So if you’ve been up there, it’s
a really, really long hallway with a bunch of suites on it. And for about 4,000 guests who have seats up there, their choice is either to be upstairs in their seats or to be inside in a very long hallway. ⁓ We thought that wasn’t the experience that we wanted to be able to present to those guests. And so we’ve actually eliminated 10 suites on that level and are using that to create glass tin bars. So on days when perhaps the weather isn’t the way that we all want it to be.
You have the opportunity to go inside, be on the inside concourse, grab a beverage, grab some food without losing contact with the game itself, which presumably is the reason you’re there in the first place. So again, just really looking at how do we make sure the ballpark is going to be as iconic and as relevant to fans looking forward as it is looking backwards is our goal.
Pat Collins (19:43)
There’s a lot of stuff going on. I’m sure those of us who go to camping yards frequently, it’s going to be exciting. It sounds like there’s going to be somewhat transformational when you get into the ballparks, look around, look at the club level, look into the outfield there. It’s exciting. Just coming back to the kind of the professionalization, maybe even the business side of sports, more so than maybe the Orioles. One of the trends I’ve
feel like I’ve seen, and maybe you can correct me if I’m wrong here, is it seems like kind of 20, 30 years ago, ownership of sports franchises were a lot of families, a lot of individuals that seems to broaden now, obviously, Orioles has an ownership group. I’ve seen to the extent now private equity is taking stakes in franchises, even maybe trying to trickle down to retail investors through different vehicles.
How do you, what is your take on that? Is that a good thing? Is it a bad thing? What do you think about kind of broadening the ownership of these clubs through different vehicles and different means?
Catie Griggs (20:51)
I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but I do agree with you that it is a change that has accelerated over the last decade or so. ⁓ This is not a baseball specific trend. This really is professional sports writ large. I think there are a few things that are driving it. And the first and foremost I alluded to earlier is it’s an expensive game to play, right? The actual costs associated with it are high. ⁓ That’s good or bad. It’s just different if you look at the sort of scope and scale of what
player contracts are now versus 30 years ago. They’re just really different. And so therefore the type of capital required to be successful ⁓ is different. Another thing I think you’re seeing increasingly tied to sports venues, I also mentioned earlier is development around them. And what is the capital infrastructure that’s related to it or required to successfully run a franchise? We all understand there’s tremendous pressure on our
city, state, and federal governments in terms of competition for dollars. so oftentimes ownership groups are being asked to step up with hundreds of millions or sometimes even billions of dollars to make sure that you have the necessary infrastructure to host all of our fans at an event. And so they’re just different requirements today. And the scope and scale of the costs associated with running a club are different today than they were. And I think the reality of that is that you are seeing more of the institutional investment groups coming in.
and it is increasingly out of reach for some of your more, what I would say, traditional buyer types of 20 or 30 years ago.
Marcus Schafer (22:21)
When you think about the average fan, me, what misconception do you think the average fan has about the business of baseball that you’re just not seeing as you’re running these organizations?
Catie Griggs (22:34)
I think there’s perhaps a misconception about what it is we’re trying to accomplish. I’ve joked with ⁓ both David, but also prior owners that being an owner is a tough job. And I don’t think anyone’s crying into their Cheerios for these guys. But at the same time, ⁓ people get into sports team ownership, especially when it’s in the individuals, because they love the game, because they love their communities, and because they want to have an impact and give back. ⁓ There’s a really high degree of variance in sports. I joke all the time that
The ability to quality control 20-year-old, something-year-old athletes is pretty tough, right? Injuries happen, life happens, and as much as we want the men on the field to be, you know, high-performing sports robots, the reality is they’re incredibly high-performing humans. But every once in a while, they sleep on a hotel bed that’s really uncomfortable. They don’t sleep well, and they’re not feeling well the next day. Or they have a small child at home who has a fever, and they’re up all night with their kid, and they don’t feel well the next day.
They just are running and playing and something happens and there’s a freak injury, right? We had more than our fair share of those last year as well. And so ⁓ it is easy. And I understand why fans are so frustrated by lack of performance. And I assure you, we are frustrated by lack of performance, but no one’s in this because they’re just trying to turn a profit. I will tell you in the case of our ownership group, our entire mandate is
How do we make sure we’re running this business in a way that allows us to consistently reinvest, not just on the quality of the product on the field, which clearly is critical path because we expect to be a championship caliber team, but also back into our community. So the more effectively we can be running a business, the more effectively we’ll be able to reinvest back in. None of this is about dividends. No one’s getting rich on the OPEX. That’s not something that’s happening. And if there’s someone who works for a team,
if there’s someone who’s an ownership group, I promise you they are as frustrated by a lack of performance as you are. ⁓ We just may show it slightly differently because we have to be professional.
Marcus Schafer (24:43)
In terms of kind of this cyclical process, and there’s a lot of these commentary around, trust the process we need to build. And it’s a funnel of success. How important is making the playoffs to be able to come back the next year and just financially be able to compete?
Catie Griggs (25:00)
I think the reality is every team will tell you every year we want to be competing in the playoffs. that is the goal. I mean, if you’re playing, you play to win, period. Right? And so it’s not even an economic thing. is simply a, is why we exist as we exist to be a postseason competitive team. think one of the things that’s interesting with baseball in particular in the way that the postseason is structured is it’s not always the best team that wins. Sometimes it is. But the level of variability associated with five game series, seven game series means
First and foremost, you have to get in. If you look back a few years ago, I think it was all of the teams that were the wild card teams ended up playing, of winning through the division series. Things happen, but you have to be in that postseason competitive mode to be in a position to compete ultimately for the World Series, which is the thing we all want. From an economic standpoint, it’s important, ⁓ but it’s as important because of the momentum it builds going into the next season. It’s as anything on the standalone basis. ⁓ So it really is for us,
It’s something where, don’t get me wrong, the economics are nice to have, but ultimately the reason that we’re here and the reason that we show up every day is to win championships and that has nothing to do with the economics. It has to do with that’s the role that we believe we are here to play in our community.
Pat Collins (26:12)
Coming
back to the business side of things, just kind of curious, are there the revenue streams associated with professional baseball or other sports? Has that been changing, I guess, over the years? Obviously, I would assume there’s media like you mentioned, MASN, and how that’s impacting things with the ball club from a financial perspective. have things like
concessions, have sales of food and beverage and memorabilia, I’m sorry, merchandise and all that kind of stuff. So has that been changing much over the years? And if so, how are you guys thinking about that?
Catie Griggs (26:49)
I would say that there are a couple of things that have changed meaningfully, but a lot of things that have stayed relatively the same. The heart of our business is still the game day experience, right? It’s what’s happening on game day. And to your point, I would say it’s primarily tickets, but it’s also the other things that are associated with game day, whether it’s food and beverage, merchandise, what have you. But there’s that game day component of it. think the things that have changed a little bit over the last decade or so is, again, just in ballparks, the role of premium spaces and experiences have taken on
a heightened role and making sure that you’re providing those high touch, higher cost experiences that do appeal to a certain set of fans because bluntly those allow us to make sure that we are continuing to protect things like the $15 ticket to get everyone that possibly can get in the building in the building. ⁓ The other thing I would say has changed quite dramatically over the last probably five years is the role of local media. So regional sports networks, and this is all information that
you could find, but regional sports networks have been really materially adversely impacted by the evolution of the cable industry. If you go back, when I first started at Turner, TNT was in over 100 million households. We are now down to a place where I think it’s around 50 million, something like that. And RSNs have seen an even more accelerated decline over that period of time. And so the economics of the media business, particularly on the local side, have changed dramatically. ⁓
as more and more people have cut the cord, right? Just people are making different choices in terms of how they spend their funds. And that is something that has materially impacted clubs on the local side. ⁓ Not everyone has been impacted equally at this point, because when you look at that part of your business, it’s really driven by two different things. They’re advertising dollars, but there’s also dollars that are coming directly from your cable and satellite providers, sort of in return for actually having the ability to access your programming. so…
if all of sudden you go from a certain amount of multiplied by 100 million households every month to a certain amount multiplied by 50 million households, and we’d be thrilled to be in 50. But the reality is that’s still a significant decrease because it’s a linear decrease. And you’ve seen that accelerating fairly significantly over the past few years. So that’s been something that we’ve all been adapted to as well.
Pat Collins (29:07)
maybe kind of on that same line of thinking, it feels like the entertainment nature of kind of maybe the fan experience has been evolving, I guess, over the last several years. You have things like the Savannah Bananas that have come out that are selling out Camden Yards. how is that? Is that pushing baseball at all or changing? Obviously, we’ve had kind of shortening games and different things that have happening, but kind of curious from your perspective.
⁓ Are there things happening kind of around the entertainment fan experience nature that’s pushing baseball in a certain way or things that you’re thinking about of maybe this would be advantageous for the ball club to kind of go in this direction? Because we think it’s going to make things better, more entertaining, better fan experience, get more people to the ballpark.
Catie Griggs (29:54)
Well, I think that there are a number of different things that have been increasingly top of mind for organizations. ⁓ To your point on Savannah Bananas, one of the things I think they do incredibly well is they have a myopic focus on that fan experience. Now, are all of the things that they do something that would make sense for us here at the Orioles? Possibly not, but the approach and this mindset they bring, I think is something that we all could benefit from in making sure that we are providing fans with those moments to feel connected, to feel engaged.
When you look at, you alluded to the sort of game clock and the impact on the pitch clock ⁓ on game times. The reality is if you’d looked at the average duration of baseball games, they were getting over three hours, ⁓ which is interesting because it hasn’t always been that way. So if you go back in time to the 80s, like we’re actually back to about where we were, right? It’s just that the games had gotten longer over time as you’re seeing more more pitching substitutions, as you’re seeing more shifts, et cetera. Like the game had just gotten longer.
Ironically is almost a back to the future thing to try to get us back to those game times that were more reflective of what you might have seen in the 80s versus what you were seeing in sort of the mid 2000s. But that also is something where we recognize when you’re competing for people’s time and they have a lot of things that they can be doing, we want to make sure that every moment they’re spending with us is a moment they feel good about. And so if there’s a lot of dead air that’s not moving the game forward, that’s not necessarily great for the game. And so we wanted to make sure we could take action on that.
Another side of the shortening of the games I think is equally important to talk about that doesn’t get nearly as much air time is the role that that plays on helping protect our players’ health. Over the course of the season, if you think about it, game times have shortened roughly half an hour per game on average. If you multiply that out over the course of the season, that’s 80 hours our athletes aren’t on their feet. That’s a lot, right? And particularly given the wear and tear on these humans, as I mentioned before.
making sure that we’re being super intentional about protecting them and making choices that help keep them healthy ⁓ is really important as well. And so, you for us, it really is recognizing that you saw youth sport participation rates for a very long time, baseball, and then eventually softball had quite high levels. And then youth sports participation has started to fall off a bit. Baseball and softball is now back to growing. But we also recognize we need to be a sport that is relevant for fans, whether or not they grew up playing stick and ball sports.
And some of that is about creating an environment and atmosphere and leveraging more of those entertainment driven components to make sure that if it’s your first time here, you don’t really know what’s going on. You can still have a good time and we can teach you the game. Cause it’s hard for me to help you be a baseball fan if I can’t get you to come in the first place.
Marcus Schafer (32:39)
The games might be shortening, but at least when we’re talking with you about what your team is doing, it feels like your season is lengthening. How many days is the ballpark or is your team kind of off for how many days of the wrong? There’s 180 plus games a year plus spring training. What does, ⁓ the year round nature that we’re kind of moving to, what, what does that affect your team? How’s it affected?
Catie Griggs (33:04)
I mean, there is no off season. There is no off season. And I think Michael Iass would tell you the same thing. ⁓ The reality is we are a business that is busy year round. To your point, I think one of the things that we’re actually excited about with the new club level spaces, as well as the premium club, is it actually gives us a better opportunity to host members of our community for events throughout the year. Because we have the immense privilege of storeding a civic asset here at Camden Yards. And for us, we want it to be in use.
more than just on game day. We want people to be able to take advantage of this incredible space that we get to call home more often versus less often. So that’s a part of our business that we’re continuing to invest in and making sure that we are able to present that opportunity to different groups and individuals throughout our community. So that’s a key priority from a Florida operations standpoint. As you mentioned, this year is a fun one in particular because we have the world baseball classic, but what that means is
Reporting dates are getting pulled up even a little bit earlier than usual. So February 9th, we’ll start having athletes show up down in Sarasota, Florida. And from then on, it’s game time, right? We’re going to be wrapping up all of our construction here, ⁓ but we’re also going to be making sure that we’re hosting our fans down there. And one of the things I’m excited about for this coming season, and we started rolling it out last year, but it’ll be full-throated this year, is spring training’s my favorite.
It’s a relaxed, fun time of year for any of you who haven’t had the opportunity to go down. I highly recommend it. It’s Florida in February and March, which is a pretty good place to be. Really, everyone’s loose. Everyone’s relaxed. It’s the world of possibility. Nothing’s happened yet. The players are there. They’re in person. It feels much more like accessible baseball. And one of the things that we wanted to do was lean into that. so starting this season, we’re going to have the backlots where the players are training.
open to the public. there’s no, no fee, no charge. You show up, whether it’s a game day or not a game day. And as soon as the guys are outside warming up, you have the opportunity to be right there next to them, watching them, getting a high five, giving knuckles, all of that good stuff. I think my son came back last time with signatures all over his Jersey and I don’t know that he knew who half them were, but you get to interact with not only the stars of today, but a lot of really, really talented young men.
who are gonna become the stars of tomorrow and having that ability to really interact with them and see them much more as humans, right? Versus these incredible athletes just on the field of play is a lot of fun and one that we’re excited to expose more of our fans to this year.
Pat Collins (35:36)
word I’ve heard you say a few times is community. I’m kind of, curious, ⁓ you talked about kind of measuring success, we talked about the business of sports or whatnot, but is there any other ways that you kind of measure success in terms of community impact of what we’re doing in Baltimore or and beyond with with the Orioles franchise?
Catie Griggs (35:57)
We’ve talked a lot about what’s happening inside the ballpark, but one of the things that I’m incredibly proud of is the work that we’re doing at Harlem Park Elementary Middle School. So yes, we are a baseball team. Yes, we spend a lot of our time thinking about baseball, but we’re also a neighbor, right? And we want to make sure that we are giving more back to the community than they’re giving to us. And so looking at Harlem Park Elementary Middle School, it’s a…
⁓ opportunity for us to partner hand in glove with the school and it’s not just about providing them with sporting equipment or fields or gear. It’s about really recognizing that we want to make a difference in the community right beyond the walls of our ballpark. And we have a differentiated ability to do so not only alone, ⁓ but also by bringing partners with us and shining a spotlight on these kids, on these families, providing them with the goods and services they need to be successful and ultimately.
be in a position to have the thriving lives that they’re looking to have going forward. And it’s been really exciting to see the school recognized for the steps forward that they’re taking in terms of not only the community itself, but the academic experience the kids are taking, getting when they’re there. It was a real privilege earlier this year to be there with Cal Ripken and Laura and their family as we were unveiling a STEM center that we’re putting into the school. And one of the things that I’ve…
never seen before and never heard of before is ⁓ athletes get postseason player shares. ⁓ If they’re, you know, when we’ve talked earlier about postseason performance and no surprise, you know, if athletes are there, they actually, they’re getting dollars for this as well. And they get the opportunity to figure out who gets those shares and who gets what percentage of the funds that are coming to them. And they, when we were competing two years ago, assigned an entire player share to Harlem Park Elementary Middle School.
because they recognized how important this work is to our community and the impact they could have. The team has zero say in how those get assigned. We literally get handed a sheet of paper saying this is how things should get paid out. And so to have that be as top of mind and such a priority for our athletes, I think really does speak to the role that that plays in terms of how we think about who we are and what we actually mean to this community.
Pat Collins (38:12)
Can’t imagine being a student at Harlem Park, how amazing it is to be so closely tied to the Orioles and what a great experience that is for them just from a school and academic perspective is really awesome. ⁓ maybe for our final question, last question is sharing kind of what your vision is for the future of baseball and how it relates to the Orioles over the next decade or so. So what do you think if we look back, if we’re going to look forward a decade from now,
What do you think is going to change at Camden Yards and with the Orioles and what do you hope to accomplish over that stretch? I’m assuming you’re going to say some championships, but is there anything in addition to that?
Catie Griggs (38:50)
That’d be the hope. But I think in addition to that, you know, this really is, should be a home for everyone, right? This should be anyone who lives in Baltimore city, in the county, or frankly, anyone in Maryland. want to be their team and we want to make sure that they feel that we are here for them and that Camden Yards is a place where they feel welcome, that they feel wanted. And so one of the things, you know, I’m looking to do is we want to grow attendance and we want to grow attendance, not just from a business standpoint, but we want to grow attendance because that demonstrates that we’re actually having the impact.
we’re hoping to and reaching different members of our community and giving them something to feel a part of. So that’s something that’s a big priority for us. And the other side I would say is looking to continue to partner with others throughout the community on how do we have an impact on downtown Baltimore? We recognize, you know, we have the opportunity to bring millions of people downtown every year with the number two tourist attraction in Maryland after the aquarium. So how do we make sure that whether you’re someone who lives here in Baltimore, you’re someone who’s traveling in to come to a game?
that you have an incredible experience and you want to come back and you want to spend more time and you want to spend more dollars. so having the opportunity to collaborate with others in our community who are also passionate about making sure that downtown Baltimore is a place that people want to be and spend their time and spend their dollars is something that I am hopeful we will have an opportunity to a bigger role there looking ahead as well.
Pat Collins (40:10)
Yeah, bringing people to Baltimore is great. Even Yankee fans will allow them to come. We’d love to see them. But we, I guess, I guess I just want to leave us with just thanking you for one, being on the podcast here with us, sharing what the vision for the Orioles looks like with all of our audience. think they’re going to love hearing that. And, you know, we’re going to be rooting for you and the Orioles is going to be a great season. We’re looking forward to it. ⁓ And just thanks so much.
Catie Griggs (40:15)
Thank you, Pat.
Appreciate y’all. Thank you.