In Annapolis, a high school teacher is deciding whether it’s worth it to bump his Orioles commitment from 13 to 20 games — there are nights when he’ll struggle to make first pitch at a price that’s harder to afford.

In Woodbridge, Virginia, a die-hard Sunday-game commuter is worried she might have to move from the club section she shares with close friends as her longtime package is bumped up.

In Towson, a lifelong fan is wondering how to tell his young son that the upper-deck seats they lovingly have come to think of as “our seats” are going to be out of their price range next year.

There is no one-size-fits-all plan that encompasses every type of fandom, which is why there are so many kinds of backlash I’ve heard from quite literally dozens of ticket holders since the Orioles announced changes to their season ticket program, known as Birdland Memberships, Thursday morning.

The conversations I’ve been having with frustrated Birdland Members have felt less like interviews and more like emotional bloodletting. After putting out a call on social media for fans’ experiences — seeking positive and negative responses — I received a tidal wave of answers unlike almost any story I’ve worked on, with many people eager to get their grousing off their chests.

This is a rough moment to “pull the rug,” as one ticket holder put it. On Thursday, the team languished 11 games under .500 after a trade deadline sell-off, and the hope for 2025 home playoff tickets — one of the key perks for Birdland Members — had long since evaporated. The Orioles are the only MLB team not to sign one of its young stars to a contract extension to prevent him from reaching free agency. The last was Adam Jones in 2012. Camden Yards is experiencing the third-highest drop in attendance across MLB, with an average of more than 5,900 fewer fans per game than through this time last season.

It is under these conditions that the Orioles have started mandating bigger game commitments, ramping up 13-game packages to 20 and 29-game packages to 40 and forcing some partial-season ticket holders to relocate from seats that are now for full-season buyers only.

Prices have risen about 3% on average, a modest amount that team officials have said is in line with inflation. But, because of the cumulative increases over the last few seasons, many Birdland Members feel squeezed in their budgets. They are also seeing their discounts shrink while watching a team that is a lot less compelling lately.

Individually, they had a variety of concerns — from fretting over ticket exchanges, to the squishiness of “guaranteed” giveaways, to the angst that they’d have to move seats they’ve come to enjoy. Some common themes emerged, and common phrases as well: “tone-deaf,” “makes no sense” and “frustrating.”

As one ticket holder put it: “Figure out how to nicely print, ‘It’s bullshit.’”

The changes stoked frustrations that have been festering for this lost season, raising anxieties about what the team is doing with their money and wondering why the franchise is wrenching a few more dollars from its most loyal fans.

Wrote Jody Madron from Eldersburg (Section 55): “in the midst of the most disappointing season I can remember in my 54 years on this planet, the team insists I spend more money with them or else risk losing my seats.

“That’s incredible when you think about it.”

A bigger strain on the wallet ... and the calendar

Miles Needer was expecting prices to rise, but he did not expect to be asked to up his package — or be moved.

The 43-year-old Towson resident got a robo call Thursday informing him that the front-row seats in the 332 section, just off home plate, will be for full-season ticket holders only in 2026. He has the option to upgrade his 29-game package to a full 80-game slate or hunt for new seats on Monday. The Orioles haven’t reclassified any full sections to full-season plans only, but front rows of several sections have been changed.

Although he’s waiting on the official price of upgrading, the difference is likely a few thousand dollars — a time and money commitment Needer feels he can’t make.

The delivery seemed rudely impersonal, Needer said: “I feel disrespected as a customer.”

But the hardest part of the shift will be explaining to his 7-year-old son, Alfred, that their seats are no longer “their” seats. The two have loved going to games together for the past two years, having warm conversations with their usher, Richard, sitting in seats 7 and 8 (“Cal Sr. and Jr.,” their usher once remarked) and breaking down the toe point of Adley Rutschman’s batting stance.

Not only is Needer unlikely to upgrade to a full-season package, he said, but he is considering dropping his Birdland Membership next year. He’s been to 19 of the last 21 Camden Yards opening days, and it will be hard to miss with a baseball-loving kid. But, between the casual disregard for his plight and the struggling baseball team, he feels his investment in the Orioles is at an inflection point.

“They started playing from behind when they sent me a ‘pony up or get out’ message,” Needer said. “But it’s very difficult to make an investment in the team when the team has not made an investment in the product on the field.”

That feeling is going around.

For some, there have been nakedly high hikes. Brian Moran, who sits in the front row of Section 56 down the left-field line, was shocked Friday morning when he got a brochure saying his full-season package for two seats will cost $34,225 — a 55.5% increase from what he paid to renew last year.

“I wrote my rep back and asked, ‘Y’all made a typo on the price, right?’” said Moran, who lives a block from the stadium and loves being a regular who sits close to the action. “I don’t feel comfortable making that investment when they haven’t made that investment in the team. It’s not worth the monetary commitment. It’s not worth the time commitment.”

Andrew Villwock, a 45-year-old high school teacher in Annapolis, has been a season ticket holder since 2007. This past year he’s had a 13-game package in Section 7, which he splits with friends (including one with two elementary school-age kids). Weeknight commutes from work to Camden Yards can be tough, especially for 6:30 p.m. games during the school year. Bumping up from 13 games to 20 borders on prohibitive.

The per-game cost is around $25 to $30 per seat, which Villwock considers a good deal. Even if the prices increase an estimated 3%, he’s not concerned. But the rise in games is tough, and even under the Orioles’ buyback program, which rolls six tickets toward 2027 renewal, fans like him will need to pay for all 20 games up front.

“It’s not so much the price as the commitment, just needing to invest more in the Orioles,” Villwock said. “They’re asking for more cash, and it’s like, ‘Tell me why you need more money out of my high school teacher salary.’”

The Orioles have also shrunk the benefits of flex plans in the last few years, reducing the discounts and perks for five- and 10-game packages that some casual fans have used as a gateway to deeper memberships. Tony Levero of Baltimore took a step up last year when the flex plan was watered down, buying a 13-game membership.

But, after just one year, he might pass on upgrading again to 20 games — he and his spouse have busy jobs, and he has a side hustle on top. The playoff ticket priority wound up being irrelevant, and it’s hard imagining making a larger commitment.

“Growing up in Dundalk, I always thought of season tickets as something rich people bought, so it was kind of cool to get my feet wet,” he said. “But 13 nights of the year is already a lot for us. It’s kind of emotional for us to be one and done, but I don’t know that my family can be investing thousands more dollars in this.”

Fewer perks to the package

Like clockwork, June Haviland will be making the 70-mile drive on Sunday to get to her club-level seats to watch Orioles vs. Athletics. The 68-year-old has kept her tickets for 15 years, attending through the bumper-crop years of the mid-2010s and the forgettable seasons of the rebuild. The experience is the draw — she’s close with the members of Section 250, her “Sunday family,” and even gifted her section usher, Tony, a fishing pole when he retired from his day job.

Driving on weekends for games, avoiding rush hour and night drives, is perfect for her. She sometimes adds Saturday night games to make weekend trips out of her Baltimore commutes.

In her renewal materials, Haviland has seen that if fans with larger packages want the seat she’s had since 2010 — sitting on an aisle in the shade — she will be bumped. Her understanding of the process is the Orioles want her to commit to a 20-game package or more, including registering for automatic renewal, then confirm where her seats will be.

“It’s like buying a house where you don’t know where you’ll live,” Haviland said. “Why would you throw my membership out the window when you don’t have a full stadium?”

In an email, an Orioles spokesperson said the team’s “D” package of 20 games will offer 14 Sunday games (one more than the 13-game package did) and that buyers can sell back their six weeknight games to roll ahead toward 2027 membership.

But for Haviland the uncertainty going into next season is an added indignity on a Birdland experience that has slowly subtracted perks the last few years. The Orioles got rid of season ticket holder early entry, which allowed fans to watch batting practice, after the COVID-19 pandemic. Last year, they ended alcohol discounts and flex packages saw their food and merchandise discounts reduced.

Birdland Members can use loyalty points to purchase special experiences, such as a Selfie Day with players and staff, or gift bags delivered to their seats. But Haviland noted that, after all Birdland Members got a complimentary Gunnar Henderson Rookie of the Year bobblehead as a gift last season, there was no such gift this year — but you can “purchase” a members-only Colton Cowser bobblehead for 300 loyalty points.

Madron pointed out that his 13-game package in Section 55 lost club-level access this season. He had to spend loyalty points to gain entry. He called it “annoying and shortsighted,” because he typically spends more on food anyway on the club level — “that dessert cart is pretty good.”

An Orioles spokesperson said the club level has a capacity limit but that 200-level tickets are available to fans who wish to use it.

The Orioles have touted that Birdland Memberships next year will have guaranteed giveaways, meaning season ticket holders no longer have to wait for two or more hours in line for Hawaiian shirts or Yacht Rock caps or bobbleheads. That was music to Ray Chace’s ears — the Essex resident compulsively collects team freebies. The former pro wrestler carries around a custom belt that he calls “The Winged Oriole,” so team-branded knickknacks are part of his brand.

When he asked his ticket rep if he can exchange games in his package (he is considering climbing from 29 games to 40 next year) to get more giveaway nights, he learned he won’t be guaranteed the giveaways at those games — only the games in his original ticket package. (An Orioles spokesperson confirmed this nuance.)

It’s a nitpick, but with the other asks the Orioles are making, Chace doesn’t appreciate the catch. Now he finds himself weighing if he’ll scale back to 20 games but lose some of the benefits he enjoyed as a 29-game member.

“Forty games is a lot of games to absorb,” Chace said. “And, if I buy a 40-game package, I still can’t be guaranteed all the giveaways. It felt like they were giving me something I was asking for, then they said, ‘however …’ and it feels like a slap in the face.”

Missing touches to the experience

Many fans I spoke to have a deep affinity for Camden Yards as a setting, and they lauded the close relationships they have with their ushers. They understand that renovations in the coming years will upgrade aspects such as the glitchy sound system and the out-of-date scoreboard while improving concourse sightlines to the game.

The possibility exists that the team is looking to add more perks in future seasons. An Orioles spokesperson said the team is “continuously evaluating feedback from Birdland Members including modifications to gate times.”

But hometown fans also have seen more appealing concessions, heard of better fan perks and seen teams that seem to appreciate their loyal fans more than the Orioles do — which is coming to a head as the team asks for deeper commitments.

Evan Douglas is another Sunday package buyer who commutes weekly from Chantilly, Virginia, and he’s noticed how much there was for fans to do pregame at Comerica Park in Detroit and that the Colorado Rockies filled their empty upper decks with bar sections. Other fans wrote in about the pastrami sandwiches they liked at the concession stands in New York and the climate-controlled areas where they were allowed to stand in Cleveland.

The Orioles figure to join in the arms race as they begin to utilize up to $600 million in state-provided bond funds that will modernize the park significantly for the first time since it opened in 1992. But the team has announced just a few concrete plans for construction, and some of those attractions — such as the Home Plate Club built in the current-day press box area — seem destined only for elite clientele.

Fans wondered aloud to me: Are the rising prices, even the ones that the Orioles chalk up to inflation, getting them anything more for their money?

“When you’re talking about an ownership consortium of billionaires,” Greg Hook of Parkville said, “you’d think they could afford to give fans a break once in a while.”

That’s not everyone’s perspective. Cole Phillips, a 25-year-old who commutes to games with his dad from Harrisonburg, Virginia (a three-hour drive) called specifically to say how pleased he has been with how Orioles tickets have remained relatively cheap compared to big-market ballparks. He is weighing expanding his 13-game package to 20. He appreciates the value menu that was introduced this year. “That menu makes coming to the ballpark much more affordable,” he wrote.

Still, some of the diminishing perks, especially early entry, come into the discussion. Chris Trumbauer, a longtime fan who lives in Columbia, said he has treasured memories of coming in early to the flag court to shag home run balls during batting practice. He said the team’s decision to increase games and prices instead of offering additional perks feels backward given how much the team regressed.

“It’s a moment in time where they should bend over backwards to make the fans happy — instead they’re upsetting people,” said Trumbauer, who plans on buying a flex plan. “I’m rooting for the Orioles. I want to be a super fan. I just don’t understand what they’re doing and why it’s right now.”

A deep desire for long-term player deals

The most remarkable thing about many of the gripes that Birdland Members have is that the Orioles, even now, have some power to mollify their irritated customers. When asked what the team could do to make buyers happier about renewing their tickets, most people I talked to had a singular answer:

Sign one (or more) of their homegrown players to a long-term contract.

“I think people would be dancing in the street to spend their money at Camden Yards if they signed Gunnar for eight years,” Trumbauer said.

Based on the responses I got, he doesn’t seem far off.

City resident Jeff Price was born into an Orioles-obsessed family in 1977, the year Brooks Robinson retired, and his parents gave him the middle name Brooks. When he adopted Emmett, now 10, he also passed on the Brooks middle name. His parents had Robinson as a lifelong Oriole; he had Cal Ripken Jr. Although Price has no plan to leave his seats in Section 52, he longs for his son to have a connection to a player like other generations of his family have enjoyed.

He bought Emmett, who is Black, a Cedric Mullins jersey in the hopes of sparking that kind of admiration. Although Jeff saw a Mullins trade on the horizon this year, it was harder to explain to his son, who was crushed to see his favorite player go to the Mets.

“I was spoiled by having Cal Ripken — I want my son’s generation to have the next version of that,” he said. “When I go to games, I want to see the next statues being built out there on the field.”

Frustration is building with the new ownership group led by Baltimore native David Rubenstein, whom fans hoped would spark a dramatic departure from John Angelos’ tight-fisted payroll practices. Indeed, Baltimore’s payroll was up this season on opening day to about the middle tier of MLB, over $150 million, but fans grumbled over not spending that money on an ace pitcher and instead spending big on Tyler O’Neill, who has missed significant time with injuries.

Ryan Bramble likes the new options available to Birdland Members, including 20-game packages. But, after two decades of season tickets, he doesn’t plan on renewing unless he sees more commitment to the roster.

“I’d like to see them take a risk and make a commitment to players that have performed well — demonstrate that, if you work hard and play well, you will be rewarded,” Bramble wrote. “Baltimore sports fans are loyal, our favorite athletes spent almost all of their careers here: Ripken, Ray Lewis, [Johnny] Unitas … help the city form a bond like that, take a risk with someone and sign ’em for a long time.”

Levero put a sharper point on the sentiment: “I’d like to see our good players on longer deals so I don’t have to see them playing for the Dodgers in a few years.”

Until that happens, it’s hard for some fans to feel their investment in the Orioles is leading them to a rewarding place.