Will The Oakland A's Strike Out With Fans Over Proposed 2021 Ticket Price Hikes?
OAKLAND (CBS SF) -- The Oakland A's are in jeopardy of losing a lot of loyal fans. They're raising prices and season ticket holders say the big increases slated for the 2021 season could force them to watch the games from their couches.
Among those fans is season ticket holder Mark Garcia.
"It's kind of ridiculous," he told KPIX 5. "I'm shocked that they would do that. It kind of feels like, it's almost like, are you trying to drive us away? The foundational fans that have been here forever. Very disappointing."
The average game attendance is already low. Some suspicious fans believed the team is further shrinking the fan base to have a stronger case of moving to Las Vegas.
"I hope they stay here in Oakland," said A's fan Mike Munson.
Like other season ticket holders, Garcia received an e-mail this week from the A's doubling his price.
"Just my tickets alone went up over $4,000," he said. "So I mean it's hard to come up with that extra money and I've been a season ticket holder for over 20 years."
He doesn't plan to renew since he's doubtful the team will reinvest the money in the players.
"If you're keeping the core foundational pieces, then yes, I get it," he said. "But when you gonna let all those players go and then the Coliseum still looks the same. If it's like 5 percent, okay. But my check didn't go up 50 percent."
"I'd like see them pay some players to stick around," said season ticket holder Karen Ustin.
Ustin said she just paid the new higher price to renew.
"I'm not thrilled about it, but it's better deal still than the Giants," she said.
But some believed the blue collar baseball team is losing it's identity and fan base.
"They're going to drive away a lot of long standing season ticket holders and that's the sad part," said Garcia.
So far, no response from the team on the price increases. The A's play their last home game of the season Sunday afternoon.
