A’s halt ticket sales after public spat with BART over lack of service
Ah, beloved BART.
Near the end of Thursday’s 8-3 loss to the Texas Rangers, the A’s team Twitter account sent out an update about Friday’s ballyhooed “grand opening” against the Boston Red Sox at the Oakland Coliseum.
Without adequate BART service following Friday’s scheduled fireworks show, the A’s decided to suspend ticket sales and encouraged fans to buy $30 parking passes instead.
At this time, the A’s will not sell additional tickets for the July 2 game. Fans holding tickets for the game are encouraged to purchase a parking pass at https://t.co/wrYfqK8E3B. pic.twitter.com/7oyInoenrj
— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) July 1, 2021
BART and the A’s have been having a public spat this week about the lack of train service from the Coliseum after 10:10 p.m. With a 6:40 start time, the fireworks would usually be starting around 10:10 p.m.
Super disappointed that @SFBART won’t be running trains after our big fireworks night especially since they ran trains for the @SFGiants similar games. I hope they reconsider their decision. We should not receive lower service levels here in the East Bay. https://t.co/G7XiSegr4H
— Dave Kaval (@DaveKaval) June 30, 2021
Sure.
First Giants postgame service is far limited than the A’s. Giants service only serves 8 stations; A’s serve all 50 stations.
6/25 fireworks show followed an Giants-A’s game. With both Bay Area set of fans riding BART, and more limited service we were able to accommodate https://t.co/64kmux2cnQ pic.twitter.com/1FRVGsCnxT
— SFBART (@SFBART) July 1, 2021
So the A’s made the pre-emptive move to cap attendance instead of dealing with a throng of angry fans stranded at the Coliseum, or those who have to leave early. In my experience, the A’s usually shut down the BART ramp around the 8th or 9th inning on fireworks nights, so fans who bought a ticket with expectations of seeing fireworks would have to leave around the seventh-inning stretch.
No matter how you slice it, this is a bad look for both parties.
I realize BART was devastated by the pandemic, but I think it’s inexplicable they aren’t going to return to normal operation hours until Aug. 2. And they JUST moved up that target date Thursday by four weeks after it was initially Aug. 30. Wonder if all these eyeballs and public pressure by the A’s made BART rethink its logic while it’s in the spotlight.
For the A’s, it just makes them look amateurish, yet again. How many MLB teams have to stop selling tickets about 24 hours before an event after promoting the hell out of it the past few weeks?
It’s another embarrassing PR lump for the A’s, who join Shohei Ohtani as victims of BART shenanigans this season.
