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Oakland Alameda Coliseum, home of the Oakland Athletics.
- The Oakland Athletics are getting rid of season tickets and starting a membership program that includes guaranteed general admission access to every home game.
- A team executive said they aimed to design a program that was flexible and could meet the needs of a wide range of fans.
- The A's have struggled with attendance in recent years.
The Oakland Athletics have announced that the club is doing away with season tickets in favor of a new membership program called "A's Access" which includes admission to every home game and discounted prices at the stadium.
"This program was really developed to be as flexible as possible," said Chris Giles, the team's Chief Operating Officer, in a video posted to the team Twitter. "For those of you that wanna come and have that same seat experience, you really value that community around you, we've got a plan for you. Those of you that wanna come in larger groups and have a much more social experience, this plan also works for you."
The program is also a chance for the A's to boost their dreadful attendance record. The team currently sits 28th out 30 teams in average attendance so far this year, according to ESPN, in a year in which baseball attendance has been noticeably slumping. The team also finished 29th in attendance in 2017 and 2016, again according to ESPN.
Giles went on to say that the "foundation" of the program was guaranteed access to every one of the 81 A's home games, which includes a set of reserved seats. Plans range from a set of 10 reserved seats to reserved seats for all 81 games, he said on Twitter.
In other words, the fans can go to as many home games as they want and watch from a general admission area, and for a certain number of games, they can upgrade to reserved seats closer to the field.
Other benefits of the program included discounted merchandise at the team store and discounted concessions, plus the option to share the plan with partners.
You can be certain that other teams will be watching this program closely.
Let's start with the basics: Every member, whether you have a 10-game seat plan or a full-season seat plan has 81-game Access (Thats general admission entry to every game). Thus the name.
- Chris Giles (@chrisgiles01) July 30, 2018A's Access. You get in to all 81 games+allotment of reserved seats. If you come to a game not included in your seating plan, you have 3 options:
1. Grab one of our 2,000 G/A seats in TH plaza
2. Enjoy it from the treehouse
3. Use one of your included seat upgrades
- Chris Giles (@chrisgiles01) July 30, 2018