Giants, A’s outline ticket refund guidelines

The San Francisco Giants and Oakland A’s outlined how fans can receive refunds for already purchased game and season tickets for March, April and May games.

Previously, the MLB was not providing refunds for games, marking them as postponed instead of canceled in order to hold on to generated revenue. But the league told teams on a conference call Tuesday morning they can begin the refund process, and it’s expected that all 30 teams will issue refund guidelines.

The refunds apply to games that would have already occurred, but were canceled due to the professional sports freeze amid the coronavirus pandemic — as well as games through the month of May.

The A’s provided two options for their A’s Access (season ticket) holders. The first is to apply credits from a ticketed game this March, April and May to a renewed 2021 membership, which would also lock in a 5 percent discount on the future membership. The second option is to request a full refund for ticketed games that have now been canceled in those three months. All members should receive an email with a form they can fill out by Friday, May 15.

Customers who purchased single-game tickets for games at the Coliseum for those three months will automatically receive a refund.

The Giants announced that 2020 season ticket, suite, group and premium ticket holders “have the option to receive an account credit and a 5 percent bonus based on the face value for any impacted games towards their 2021 season renewal.” They also outlined a plan for single game tickets for games at Oracle Park. Consumers can request a full refund or can receive a credit for 2021 tickets “at exclusive preferred pricing levels.”

The MLB’s action comes on the heels of mounting public pressure to refund paying customers who couldn’t attend the near-500 scheduled games already called off as of Wednesday. Last week, two California-based fans filed a class-action lawsuit against the MLB, Ticketmaster and StubHub demanding refunds.

No plans for refunds beyond May have been set forth by any team as baseball searches desperately for a season starting point this summer. It’s likely games may go on, at some point, without fans in attendance — which could prompt further mass ticket refunds and credit incentives.