A’s take steps to enhance fan experience.

Food trucks coming; bar is rebuilt to pay tribute to Shibe Park

MESA, Ariz. — New team president Dave Kaval had some good news for A’s fans Sunday.

Kaval said food choices at the ballpark are being upgraded and that the A’s will be bringing food trucks into the plaza area between the Coliseum and Oracle Arena.

“There will be 16 trucks on the big nights and eight trucks on the midweek nights,” he said. “That will give fans different food options, everything from gluten-free to vegetarian to some of the trendiest food options in the Oakland area. That will be in the ticketed area of the Coliseum.”

Kaval, who was in Mesa to address the team on the first full day of workouts, also said the A’s have rebuilt the West Side Club into something of an old-time East Coast bar called the Shibe Park bar, a nod to their Philadelphia roots. Unlike the West Side Club, it will be open to all fans and will include bricks from Shibe Park, where the A’s played under Connie Mack, and memorabilia from that part of the franchise’s history. There will be billiard tables and a couple of dozen different beers.

“We want to honor our past, but we don’t want to make it exclusionary,” Kaval said. “We want to make sure the entire fan base can hang out there and have a great time.

“We need to try new ideas and bring new options to our fans. If we do that, I think maybe we’ll attract some of the younger millennial fans who are just moving to Oakland and who want to create a connection with a pro sports team.”

A’s manager Bob Melvin said Kaval told the players some of the same things during the annual team meeting before the first day of work. Normally, the club president doesn’t talk during these sessions, but with Kaval being new to the organization and the talk of a new ballpark all around, he talked to the players and answered questions.

“We appreciate what’s being done,” Melvin said. “It’s good we’re fixing up the Coliseum. And we’re there until we’re not. We appreciate the fact they’re sprucing up the Coliseum and have the new food options. We like our fans to be in a good mood.”

The A’s are branding the plaza area the Champions Pavilion, and the area will include video screens and bocce. The area will be open both before and after games, which will be a Coliseum first.