The United Kingdom’s largest pension insurer has purchased bonds from the Maryland Stadium Authority and — here’s the important part — Oriole Park at Camden Yards will soon receive a bevy of upgrades, including a new scoreboard and sound system.

Wednesday morning in Annapolis, the state’s Board of Public Works approved a Maryland Stadium Authority financing plan that will allow for $135 million in renovations to the ballpark. These upgrades will be the first in a multiround, $400 million renovation project funded by the state.

The video board and sound system improvements are expected ahead of the 2026 season, with a temporary sound system upgrade coming this season, according to Orioles spokesperson Jennifer Grondahl.

“Those who attend a lot of Orioles games, as I do, we cannot wait for the revamped sound system,” Gov. Wes Moore said during the Board of Public Works meeting, as Comptroller Brooke Lierman nodded in agreement. Those two, alongside Treasurer Dereck Davis, form the spending board.

Oriole Park’s control room and the chiller plant, which cools the Camden Yards complex, will also be among the renovations. The improvements will allow the stadium authority and the Orioles “to continue to provide the kind of excellent stadium experience that people have come to expect,” Michael Frenz, the authority’s executive director, told the Board of Public Works.

In addition to upcoming renovations, the left-field wall, which was moved farther from home plate after the 2021 season, will be adjusted again this offseason. The Orioles will pay for that change.

To fund the upgrades, the stadium authority sold bonds to London-based Rothesay Life Plc., which advertises itself as “the UK’s largest pensions insurance specialist” and manages more than $84 billion in assets. The placement agent was RBC Capital Markets LLC, an international investment bank.

Money for these improvements was earmarked by a 2022 law passed by the General Assembly and then-Gov. Larry Hogan that allocated $1.2 billion in improvements to Baltimore’s two publicly owned pro stadiums, provided the teams sign long-term leases. The bonds will be paid off with state lottery revenue. (Economists have long opposed the common American practice of publicly financing venues that are used by privately owned teams, finding that doing so is a bad investment for states and municipalities.)

The Ravens’ M&T Bank Stadium, which will soon begin a second round of upgrades, received about $430 million in state financing for its multiyear renovation. That money came in the form of tax-exempt bonds and a $200 million loan from J.P. Morgan Chase.

While the financing plan for M&T Bank Stadium improvements was approved all at once, Oriole Park’s will be brought to the Board of Public Works in installments. Stadium authority spokesperson Rachelina Bonacci said in a statement Wednesday that “in order to complete some capital projects for the 2026 season, we needed to proceed with a phased financing plan.”

To fund Oriole Park renovations, the stadium authority considered seven proposals, including a bank loan, Dawn Abshire, the authority’s chief financial officer, said during a stadium authority board meeting Tuesday. During that meeting, the board approved the $135 million plan, sending the proposal to the Board of Public Works.

After a drawn-out saga that spanned multiple governors, the Orioles and the state agreed to a lease extension in December 2023. That agreement guaranteed the ballclub would remain at Oriole Park for 15 more years, until 2038.

If the state and the Orioles agree on a deal allowing the team to develop public land around Oriole Park — which new Orioles owner David Rubenstein said he intends to do — the lease would become a 30-year agreement, lasting until 2053, and likely unlock another $200 million.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Moore cited that lease extension that he said would keep the Orioles in town “for the next 30 years.”

“It marks an incredibly important moment for the state’s continued partnership with our beloved Baltimore Orioles,” Moore said of the upcoming renovations.

Baltimore Banner reporter Pamela Wood contributed to this article.