Many clubs across Major League Baseball are struggling with attendance. Out of the league’s 30 teams, 18 have so far experienced a drop in 2019 compared to last season.
One of those is the Oakland Athletics. The A’s are averaging 19,038 fans per game at the Oakland Coliseum in 2019 compared to 19,427 last year. And in a sign of bigger problems league-wide, the A’s actually have increased their attendance ranking from 27th highest to 22nd highest over that span.
Ahead of the 2019 season, in an attempt to meet the demands of the evolving sports fan and boost attendance, Oakland rolled out a new season ticketing plan called A’s Access. At Horizon Summit at Levi’s stadium on Thursday, chief operating officer Chris Giles explained the strategy behind A’s Access and discussed how the new system is fairing.
“Access based ticketing—the best analogy is a gym membership applied to sports,” Giles said.
A’s Access gives fans general admission access to all 81 home games per season. In the same way that gyms can offer personal training sessions as a premium add-on, the A’s also offer reserved seating tickets as an optional upgrade for 10 to 81 games, depending on the individual’s personalized ticket plan. A’s Access also halves the price of concessions at every game, offers 25 percent off merchandise at team stores, comes with a yearly MLB.TV subscription, and can be paid for through a monthly payment plan. The cheapest plan starts at $240.
According to Giles, traditional fans aged 35 or older value seat ownership, a consistent and predictable ballpark experience, a strong sense of community, and proximity to home plate. Conversely, younger fans are more interested in an experience that revolves around flexibility, new and different experiences, and above all else, being close to the “social scene.”
“The average age of an MLB fan has increased about nine years in the last 10 years. As an industry we should be concerned about that,” Giles warned.
So far, the new strategy is working. The A’s have doubled the number of season ticket holders from last year to this year and increased revenue 44 percent for memberships. According to Giles, a huge 96 percent of members are satisfied with their A’s Access ticketing program, with 86 percent being highly satisfied.
While the Oakland Coliseum lacks significant room for social spaces, the A’s new ballpark will have plenty of those, including some offered exclusively to A’s Access members. The new venue, which is scheduled to open in 2023, will have a park built on top of the roof of the stadium with the perimeter lined with general admission seating that offers fans a full field view.
“As we thought about building A’s Access, we really built it for our new ballpark that we plan to open in 2023. We really think of the Coliseum as our own little petri dish. We have the luxury of building a ballpark from scratch with this model in mind,” Giles said.