“Future Proof” with Mark Fine
Mark Fine landed his dream job this year when the sports marketing veteran returned to Baltimore as a Chief Marketing Officer of the Baltimore Orioles in January. It was a “full circle moment” for the Baltimore native who most recently served as CMO of the Professional Bull Riders, a hugely popular tour that regularly sells out in arenas nationwide.
Mark’s impressive and varied sports marketing career also includes past roles with the Brooklyn Nets, New York Mets, and Harlem Globetrotters. Earlier this summer, Mark spent some time with me talking about his career and his ambitious plans to support and grow the Orioles’ fan base. A lightly edited transcript of our discussion follows:
Q: Tell me about your role with the Orioles, what do you do?
A: I’m the Chief Marketing Officer of the Orioles, overseeing marketing, communications, brand, content, and game presentation. It’s a dream job for me. I actually interned with the Orioles back in 1999 and 2000, and now I’ve come full circle. I’ve moved around a lot since then but have an incredibly strong connection with the Orioles and with Baltimore.
My feeling is that there’s no Baltimore without the Orioles, and no Orioles without Baltimore. This is a relationship that’s dated back to 1954 with a passionate fan base. What excites me most is being a part of that on the business side; to have the ability to tap into that passionate fan base and grow it year after year.
Q: What were your first days back at the Orioles like?
A: To have grown up in this area as a die-hard Orioles fan and come back for my first day of work back in the warehouse, it was surreal. I do pinch myself sometimes and think, “this is the exact job in the exact city that I want to be in.”
Q: How has your perspective on the team changed from being a fan younger in life to an executive with the team now?
A: It’s definitely different now. When I was younger, I loved baseball and the Orioles. Now, I’ve grown to love the sports business. I love marketing and the opportunity to bring my experience to this role. It definitely helps to have a history here and understand the deep connection that Baltimore has with this franchise. Baltimore is special and there’s something different and special here about the connection between the team and the city.
Q: What are your key priorities as CMO?
A: Some of our key priorities are to further define our company culture – not on the field but here internally as a business – and bring the right people and talent to the organization who will live that culture. Second, to build our brand based on storytelling and the deep roots the Orioles have here in Baltimore and beyond; that includes defining our tone of voice and how we present ourselves in campaigns.
The third would be how we show up in the community. We want to be an inclusive and welcoming environment to everyone who shows up here at the warehouse or at the ballpark. This is a place for everyone. Lastly, to make a positive economic impact. The feeling you have here in the building when it’s full is like nothing else. That’s what this ballpark deserves; full houses and an outstanding product on the field.
Q: How does team performance impact your marketing efforts?
A: Everyone in this building, our goal is to see this team win and go to a World Series. As a marketer, and someone who has worked for teams that have struggled, you can’t depend on winning. Winning and losing is generally cyclical. Our job is to keep fans engaged through thick and thin. We have to build energy and campaigns that resonate regardless of the win-loss record.
Q: Can you tell me about game presentation and upcoming improvements?
A: Game presentation is the experience that fans have around our entertainment offerings. Our music, public address announcer, the Bird, in-game promotions and entertainment are all part of what we call “The Show.” We want to give fans an incredible experience so that, win or lose, we give fans an incredible experience.
We’re making major investments in our infrastructure. Right now, we’re dead last in scoreboard size, we’re 30th. Next year after our upgrade we’ll be 12th with a new, much larger scoreboard and a new LED ring. We are also adding a brand new audio system that’s going to help with our experience and engagement.
Q: You previously worked at the Professional Bull Riders (PBR). What did you learn there that you’re bringing to your role with the Orioles?
A: I was the CMO at PBR and I was only there for a year-and-a-half. It was a great time to be a CMO there because Western culture is really popular right now.
PBR taught me a lot about brand building and storytelling, including who we were and how we showed up. We focused on “cowboy culture” and its values of work ethic and grit. The experience showed me how important it is to move beyond transactional marketing and create deeper brand narratives.
We are having a cowboy hat giveaway at Oriole Park for the first 15,000 fans through the gates on Friday, August 22nd.
Q: What’s something your team is doing that would have been unthinkable five years ago?
A: AB testing. What I mean by that is trying things and being OK with them failing. We are going to be a group that comes in here and learns from mistakes and doesn’t penalize ourselves for trying new things and looking at our brand in a different light.
Q: What’s a marketing trend that you think was overhyped?
A: Virtual reality, 10 years ago, was overhyped because wearables don’t work. You don’t walk around seeing people wearing goggles living in a virtual reality and 10 years ago you might have been convinced people were going to do it. E-sports was a big fad also. It had a chance to take off during Covid and you thought it might be a major sport, and it’s not.
I don’t think AI is a fad. I know it can make our business stronger. Marketers are still in the early phase of figuring out how it can help our business.
Q: What part of your budget would you triple if you could?
Being present out in the community, not just virtually. I love having a presence at places where we belong. We should have a presence at AFRAM, and the Pride Parade, at the Greek Festival and other important cultural events in town. It takes a lot more sweat to be in as many places as we can be and coming across in a way that identifies with the various audiences.
Q: Where do you make space for creative risk?
As we enter 2026, you’ll see some risk as we think about being different. I alluded to this before, but we want to hit our audiences with storytelling messaging instead of just straight-up consumer-based messaging. Storytelling leads to revenue if you do it the right way. We have to tell the stories of our fans and I think we need to do a better job of telling that here. People don’t get tattoos of Walmart or Target but they do get Orioles tattoos. We need to tap into that.
Q: What does marketing leadership look like in the next era?
A: Somebody who can adapt because things are always changing and evolving. Look how different things are from just five years ago. You have less people that subscribe to a linear cable package than you do to a cut-the-cord package. You have to adapt with the times and really read up. In terms of knowing your brand and how to communicate it, just look at the difference in Meta from five years ago and right now. So I think the biggest thing is being adaptable and willing to learn.
About “Future Proof”
To celebrate our 20th Anniversary, we’re sitting down with marketing leaders in Baltimore and beyond to explore what’s on deck for the future of our industry.
