The Oakland A’s recently unveiled a ballpark pass option, and for now are capping sales at 2,000. However, team president Dave Kaval says that number could very easily be increased down the road.
Last week, the A’s announced that they were rolling out a ballpark pass ticketing option. Starting in June, fans can pay $19.99 per month for a subscription that grants them access to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for all A’s home games. Subscribers will also have access to amenities like Shibe Park Tavern and Champions Plaza, and will receive a text message hours before first pitch if a seat upgrade is available.
The ballpark pass concept is becoming more widespread around the majors. In becoming the latest club to join this trend, the A’s are instituting policies that are similar to other teams. Passes are only available through the MLB Ballpark App, and are non-transferable.
In that sense, the A’s are not only experimenting with a new ticket offering, but are also encouraging more fans to use electronic admission as a new way for entry. With both the team and its fans needing to make the adjustment, Kaval says that the A’s are capping pass sales for 2,000 for the time being. After some time has passed, however, the A’s may raise that limit by as many as several thousand subscriptions. More from The Mercury News:
“We expect good things to come from this in terms of word-of-mouth,” Kaval said. “As more people learn about this, I’m certain that we will expand the program. But people are going to show up the first time we want that process to go smoothly for them.
“They might have some decisions they want to make about maybe sitting in the front row or spending the day in the bleachers. The options that are available will allow for different kinds of experiences. It’s a different capability than the fan has had before. We think it will be very appealing to millennials, who we know are looking for new types of experiences.”
Once the rollout of this new ticketing option is complete, Kaval said that the 2,000 limit on plan sales could be raised significantly, by “another thousand or two thousand or three thousand.”
“Over time, we will roll out more passes. It may be the majority of tickets get sold this way,” Kaval said, “where there’s a base fee and then the fan can upgrade if they choose to do so. I think baseball in general needs to explore. This is a novel approach, looking at tickets in a different way.”
The A’s have not been the only team to roll out a ballpark pass ticketing option in recent weeks. On April 24, the Cincinnati Reds announced the Top 6 Ballpark Pass–a $29.99 per month subscription that provides a ticket to the top six rows of Great American Ballpark for all regular season home games that month.
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