Success of free game has A’s pining for more
The A’s were so thrilled with Tuesday’s free game at the Coliseum that they might offer another freebie in a future season.
“Knowing Dave Kaval, I think we’ll probably look to do this again,” said Catherine Aker, vice president of communications and community, referring to the team president. “It was a great success for us.”
The A’s believe a significant number of Tuesday’s 46,028 fans attended their first game. The team said 200,000 tickets initially were requested from 35,000 accounts, averaging between five and six tickets per account.
According to Aker, between 20 percent and 25 percent of the accounts were new. That equates to 7,000 to 9,000 additional registered fans with whom the A’s can continue communications.
It doesn’t mean they all were newcomers to the Coliseum, but some obviously were.
“An event like this to celebrate our 50 years as well as give a gift to our fans was really special,” Aker said. “There had been a lot of people who had not been to the ballpark in a long time and were able to experience it again, experience all the things we’re doing, the new energy that’s here, and hopefully they’ll be back.”
The day-after attendance was predictably low, an announced crowd of 13,321, a far cry from Tuesday’s count.
Though 46,028 was shown in box scores, it won’t be considered the official number. Usually, Major League Baseball counts only paid attendance, not complimentary tickets. In this case, rather than saying the attendance was zero, MLB is not registering the game as a home date in attendance calculations because the standard is paid attendance, according to an MLB spokesperson who also cited the “extraordinary gesture of the A’s.”
At the end of the season, only 80 dates (instead of 81) will be counted when figuring attendance numbers.
On Wednesday, the official numbers listed in MLB’s data base were off. Tuesday’s crowd had been counted, making it appear the A’s average jumped more than 3,000 to 17,521. However, the 46,028 was manually removed from the system, so now the official average is 14,250.
MLB treated a 2015 game in Baltimore similarly. No fans were allowed because of security concerns amid civil unrest stemming from the death of Freddie Gray. As in Oakland, MLB didn’t count the home date in attendance calculations.
The Brewers had a free game in their 2005 season finale, but MLB counted it in attendance figures because the 13,173 who previously paid for the game were given vouchers for a 2006 game.
The A’s say they want to be more transparent than in the past with reporting attendance totals, which can be a gray area for some teams. Kaval has said one reason announced attendance numbers are down from last year is the A’s are reducing the number of ticket brokers selling A’s tickets in order to improve customer service and keep the resale value for season-ticket holders who choose to unload unused tickets.
Manager Bob Melvin said when signing autographs off the third-base line before Tuesday’s game, he came across fans who were firsttimers.
“There were some people who saw their first majorleague game, and that really warms your heart,” Melvin said.