We’ve been following this trend all season, and now the Kansas City Royals are the latest team to offer a Ballpark Pass promo, with fans paying $99 to get into the 30 games scheduled between May 29 to July 23.
Several MLB teams have rolled out Ballpark Pass promos in 2017, giving fans access to the ballpark. In cases where there are plenty of SRO spots in the ballpark for fans to gather — say, the many drink rails at Target Field or the new social spaces in Yankee Stadium — the ballpark pass can be a great deal for a group of friends wishing to meet at the ballpark and quaff a few brews while taking in the action on the field. Some teams, like the Yankees, are rolling it out with a free drink thrown in, while other teams, like the Twins, ran a Ballpark Pass program for a specific time period — in this case, April and May. The Oakland A’s saw such high demand for their Ballpark Pass that they capped sales at 2,000 and established a waiting list. In all cases, passes are only available through the MLB Ballpark App and are non-transferable.
For the Royals, the passes are good for 30 games in May through July, and fans can upgrade to more expensive seats once they hit the ballpark. But there are plenty of spots at Kauffman Stadium for hanging out, such as the great spaces between the foul poles in the outfield area. It’s interesting to see how each team rolls the Ballpark Pass. We don’t expect every MLB team to offer it this year or next (not every ballpark has an abundance of SRO space; where would you put 1,000 extra fans at Wrigley Field or Fenway Park?), but do expect more teams to look at putting in more social spaces a la Yankee Stadium or Coors Field to take advantage of the trend, rolling out Ballpark Passes in the process.
RELATED STORIES: MLB Teams Roll Out Passes as Ticketing Options; A’s Ballpark Pass Sales Capped at 2,000 — For Now; New York Yankees: Yankee Stadium Preview; Baseball’s ultimate party deck, at Coors Field