During the pregame opening day ceremony at Camden Yards on Thursday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore was on the field to help unveil the most obvious upgrade to the beloved, historic ballpark. Moore, along with Orioles owners David Rubenstein and Michael Arougheti, state Comptroller Brooke Lierman and Treasurer Dereck Davis, pushed a button, and an animation played on the new giant video board in center field.

That was one of many upgrades that construction crews worked on over the winter through projects run by the Maryland Stadium Authority. There will be more to come, but this first wave of changes — including new speakers and a premium club area behind home plate — fill Moore, a Democrat, with optimism for the future of the city and state, let alone the team.

“What it continues to show is we’re doing big things here,” Moore told The Baltimore Banner. “I remember three years ago, when we first came on board, the Orioles were seven months away from not having a lease. And when you go from where we were then to now, seeing a situation where we’re having a completely revamped ballpark, a completely full ballpark and a great team we have on the field, it just shows our best days are still ahead of us.”

The state sealed a new lease agreement with former team owner John Angelos in 2023. The terms keep the Orioles at Camden Yards up to 2053, but there are clauses that could mean the lease ends sooner.

A development plan and ground lease for the area around Camden Yards were paramount to Angelos’ agreement. After the Angelos family sold the team to a group led by Rubenstein in January 2024, the option of a ground lease remains. If a ground lease isn’t agreed by the end of 2027, the team has the option to end the lease after 15 years.

Catie Griggs, president of business operations for the Orioles, said this week the priority for the club and the Maryland Stadium Authority was to complete the upgrades to the ballpark this winter.

“What I will tell you is MSA has been an incredible partner throughout the process of getting this done,” Griggs said, “so I have full confidence that as we enter the season to sort of pick our heads up to look around again, that they will continue to be great partners.”

Moore, who was greeted with a smattering of boos from fans, said “we’re still in conversations with the Orioles” regarding a ground lease.

“The thing that we know is that we’re completely aligned on this being the long-term home of [the] Baltimore Orioles,” Moore said of the priorities for the city, state and team owners. “That was a key priority for me. Gone are the days when we were doing one-year deals and two-year deals. I would only accept a long-term deal because we need to have certainty for downtown Baltimore and certainty for the Baltimore Orioles, and I’m grateful that, with this new leadership team, we got that.”

An Orioles spokesperson said the club had nothing to offer in addition to Moore’s comments.

When asked how he envisions development around Camden Yards, Moore said, “I want this, the entire corridor, to be the marquee area for the East Coast.”

Moore said Baltimore is rare because its Major League Baseball and NFL stadiums are in the downtown corridor. Few cities, Moore said, have those two draws in downtown (he referenced Detroit and Las Vegas, where the Athletics are set to move, as the others).

“This makes Baltimore very, very special,” Moore said. “We want this to be a place people can live, work and play and know that the downtown experience can be one that can be beneficial to the entire state.”

Another benefit for the city — and by extension the state — would be the arrival of the MLB All-Star Game at Camden Yards. Baltimore hasn’t hosted the Midsummer Classic since 1993. The next available All-Star Game is 2028 after Wrigley Field in Chicago landed the 2027 edition.

“It would be huge,” Moore said. “The All-Star Game needs to be in Baltimore.”

Baltimore Banner columnist Kyle Goon contributed to this article.