Baltimore-based Pompeian has signed a multi-year sponsorship with the Baltimore Ravens, pairing stadium-floor activations at M&T Bank Stadium with a limited-edition co-branded extra virgin olive oil bottle — a play that extends the brand's culinary positioning into the high-traffic sports-and-entertainment occasion.
The Partnership Structure
The deal activates across RavensWalk and inside M&T Bank Stadium throughout the Ravens' 2026–27 season. Pompeian will staff experiential footprints on three game dates — September 20 versus the Saints, October 25 versus the Bengals, and November 5 versus the Jaguars — offering sampling of "PompCorn," a branded olive oil–finished popcorn, alongside photo moments and consumer giveaways. Inside the bowl, the brand takes presenting sponsorship of the Ravens' interactive fan-cam segment on the RavensVision big screen, giving it live broadcast placement during games.
Michael Vercelletto, Vice President of Marketing at Pompeian, framed the partnership as a natural extension of the brand's community roots. "As a brand that has called Baltimore home since 1910, we're proud to team up with the Baltimore Ravens and celebrate what makes the city such a special place," he said.
LTO and Retail Hook
The headline commercial asset is a co-branded Pompeian x Baltimore Ravens extra virgin olive oil bottle, available in both Smooth and Robust varieties at select local retailers beginning September 8. The limited-edition SKU functions as a point-of-sale driver that pulls the gameday association off-premise and into grocery and specialty retail channels — a format increasingly used by ingredient brands to capture seasonal velocity without permanent line extensions.
For foodservice operators and buyers, the partnership signals continued category investment by the country's leading olive oil brand in occasion-based marketing. Olive oil remains one of the more resilient center-of-plate ingredients across both commercial kitchens and retail; premium EVOO has held shelf-price discipline even as broader edible-oils categories absorbed supply volatility from drought conditions in Mediterranean growing regions. Pompeian's farmer-owned cooperative model gives it some structural insulation from spot-market swings that have pressured commodity-grade competitors.
What It Means for Operators
Sports venue foodservice — a segment that has seen accelerated culinary investment as major-league franchises compete on hospitality revenue — is a natural fit for a brand repositioning olive oil as an accessible, everyday finishing ingredient rather than a pantry staple. The "Pomp It Up" campaign, under which this partnership sits, is designed to democratize EVOO usage across dayparts and meal occasions, a message that translates directly to stadium concession operators exploring menu differentiation.
Kevin Rochlitz, Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer for the Ravens, noted the franchise's preference for community-embedded partners. "Pompeian perfectly fits that mold, having called Baltimore home for more than a century while establishing itself as a preeminent leader in its industry," he said.
Ingredient brand partnerships with professional sports franchises have grown as a retail and foodservice crossover tactic, with brands using stadium visibility to reinforce trade relationships and justify promotional spending with grocery buyers. For Pompeian, the Ravens deal layers local market equity onto national brand awareness — a structure that can support LTO velocity programs at regional chain and independent accounts across the Baltimore–Washington corridor.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
