It’s typically VERY hard to have the best of something and somehow find ways to improve it to make it better. That’s what the Orioles and Camden Yards were trying to tackle this offseason and oh my goodness did they do it. Baltimore has the best ballpark in the world and it’s somehow gotten better! Those crazy sons of bitches actually improved Camden Yards and I was able to see a majority of the new renovations and changes on Sunday during their exhibition game vs the Nats. The crown jewel being the brand new 7,466 square feet video board in center field, it’s impossible to miss. This thing really is a monster when you get up close and see it. The previous one was so old and outdated, this was needed so bad. Half the time you couldn’t see it and just no shot you could make out anything on it during the day. It did the job but it wasn’t great.
Super small, very outdated, sound system around it was awful, it was way past time to get a new one. It was announced last season that this new monster video board would be arriving and my god did this deliver. This new behemoth of a video board is 2.5 times bigger than the smaller one, it also maybe the clearest picture I’ve ever seen. Significantly bigger and notciably bright and just so much nicer than the old one that we could barely read. The ribbon boards around the ballpark and the new out of town scoreboard screens are really good looking too, they are super bright, updated pacakges on that were great, and the out of town scoreboard being a stathub screen now with everything you could ever need is a fun new wrinkle. All the screens in the building are next level, it’s a fantastic upgrade.
Right off the bat you can tell how much it improves a game already. Great new graphics packages and videos were on display and they were fantastic, good video board activities really do help out a game and ballpark. While the new thumping sound system and video screen were the big time winners amongst the fans, and things the most needed in the ballpark, my favorite renovation I saw was directly below it. We’ve got a brand new party pavilion in center field. Several seats were removed and we’ve got an incredible standing room view of the ballpark. It’ll be closed to the public if someone is renting it out, but other than that it’s wide open. Gives you some awesome vantage points, now you are directly under the speakers so that thing is really thumping your chest, but it’s going to be a very fun place to watch a game. A lot of folks flock to the top CF Bar, but this will be a new destination during the game. Will be fun to see if someone can put one out there mid-game, that’s prime Gunnar territory.
The aisles and walkways are much bigger which frees up foot traffic and crowds while walking around the lower bowl. Getting out of a game and into the concourse was tough at times last year, super crowded in a tight walkway, these are underrated changes for sure…