A’s fans steamed about tickets
Discontent over website issues grows louder
Four days after a turbulent start to 2021 ticket sales at the Coliseum, the A’s found many of their most loyal fans were still angry and frustrated Monday.
The discontent — which started with website issues Thursday, caused in part by what A’s President Dave Kaval called a “cyberattack” — became magnified when fans realized tickets were readily available on thirdparty sites such as vividseats.com.
“They said they were giving us a good program,” longtime A’s seasonticket holder Lori Buller said in a phone interview, “and then they basically screwed us.”
Buller and other fans who
bought flexticket vouchers were upset they couldn’t use the vouchers on tickets in corresponding sections (most notably, Field Infield seats). Those tickets were unavailable almost immediately Thursday, leading some to accuse the A’s of holding back the seats to make them available for singlegame sale at a higher price.
Kaval, in a Chronicle interview Monday, acknowledged the club did not make some sections of seats available for games on May 1 or later. He said it was because of uncertainty about evolving publichealth guidelines, which could reduce socialdistancing requirements to 3 feet instead of 6 feet, and voucher holders still would have priority to those seats if they become available.
Asked if the A’s made mistakes or could have done things differently in rolling out ticket sales, Kaval pointed to the obstacles presented by limited capacity linked to the pandemic. State guidelines limit the Coliseum to 20% capacity while Alameda County is in the red tier (as it currently stands) and 33% if the county reaches the orange tier.
“It was a challenging situation to restrict access to 20% and really allow all our fans to get the same tickets they’re used to,” Kaval said. “So I think we had a fundamental misalignment there that was very difficult to deal with.
“But we are really happy we can have at least 20%. Remember, last year we had zero. So we’re trying to take an incremental approach to getting people in the building, offering it at price points that are appealing to people and reward their longevity.”
That wasn’t the outcome, according to fans who aired their grievances on social media. Kaval’s feed on Twitter is full of exchanges with A’s fans, often leading to him apologizing or offering a refund.
One of those fans was Buller, who was dismayed the vouchers were available to the general public. Kaval did tell Buller she could exchange purchased tickets when more seats become available.
“The seasonticket members got no priority,” Buller said. “It’s like they didn’t care. It’s very disheartening. Big disappointment. … I don’t think it was a scam, but they didn’t think it through.”
Another fan, Jim Mahoney of Oakland, took issue with Kaval saying the A’s didn’t expect the oversized demand when tickets became available last week.
“How could he be surprised by the volume?” Mahoney said. “They’re not selling season tickets, plus there’s pentup demand (because fans weren’t allowed in 2020). It’s mind boggling. Either way, they’re just not in touch with their fan base. …
“This reinforces my belief that the A’s don’t give their fans the accurate information they deserve. They’re distracted on other things and not focused on the fans. There clearly was no transparency in selling these vouchers.”
Capacity restrictions seem like a boon for ticket prices, at least on the secondary market. “Field infield” seats for the April 4 game against Houston, for instance, are listed for up to $155 each on the A’s website — and as high as $229 on vividseats.com and $368 on Stubhub.com.
But the A’s have other issues to resolve.
“If there are 100 people pissed off and confused on Twitter, there have to be thousands more who are pissed off and not on Twitter,” said Steve Stevenson, an Oakland recordstore owner and A’s seasonticket holder since 2014. “It shouldn’t be up to us on Twitter to drag out information.”