The Oakland A’s may reside in the most antiquated venue in pro sports, 50+ year-old Oakland Coliseum, but that hasn’t stopped them from once again setting the bar for other teams inside and outside of baseball to follow.

Moneyball of course, is now two decades old. While most of the attention on the business side has revolved around the search for a new home, most recently targeting Oakland’s Waterfront Ballpark District, the A’s have introduced new business models that have gained the attention of the sports business world.

(You can discuss this on the BSL Board here.)

A few years ago, in 2018, the A’s reset the season ticket membership model with A’s Access. Whereas traditional ticket plans were just that (i.e. a 10-game plan holder had tickets to 10 games), the new A’s model functioned more like a gym membership, enabling a 10-game plan holder to enter the venue for any of the other 71 home games and watch from a standing view/general admission area. The all access membership model soon became a best practice for other teams to consider. At league meetings, the club noted not just the increased sales results, but its appeal to younger demographics. COO Chris Giles, who had joined the club in 2017 and spearheaded the model, left in January 2020 to start up his own venture (Greenfield Sports Group) to market the strategic offering to teams in other sports.

This coming season, similar to other teams (more on the Orioles and Nationals later), the A’s have had to remain as flexible as possible based on the capacity of fans allowable within local health guidelines. Instead of the A’s Access, the club has been marketing FlexTix, or vouchers sold in increments of 16 and 32 than can be redeemed for varying games and seating allotments.

Rather than sit back and wait to see how fans return, the A’s went a step further this past Sunday when they became the first team in pro sports to launch a ticket option specifically priced in bitcoin. That option is a full season private suite that seats six people per game.

In a press release issued Sunday afternoon, A’s President Dave Kaval was quoted:

“We invite our fans to become the first Bitcoin suite holders in sports. We’re excited to be one of a handful of teams to accept cryptocurrency for payment and the first to price tickets in crypto instead of US currency. The price of a season suite may fluctuate depending on when it’s purchased, which adds to the excitement! Suites are the perfect way for groups who want to safely socially distance themselves from other fans to enjoy A’s baseball this season.”

The offer is valid until April 1 – Opening Day, when the A’s host the Houston Astros. The timeframe is also appropriate due to the volatile nature of bitcoin trading value. For example, according to Morningstar, on Saturday, March 13, when the A’s were putting the finishing touches on the offer, one bitcoin was worth $61,284 – roughly $3,000 below the full season cost of $64,500 for a suite across all 81 games. The day after the offer was released, it had dropped in value to $55,744 or nearly $10,000 below the face value cost.

Kaval wasn’t kidding when he told Sportico – “So you’re getting a little bit of a bitcoin discount right now,” Kaval said with a chuckle. “Obviously it could change, but right now you’re getting a discount.”

A year ago, one bitcoin was worth $5,332. It’s value crossed $30K right after New Year’s Day and hasn’t looked back. As a result, the A’s bitcoin discount should remain within the typical 15-25% range that season ticket members usually receive over face value prices. The offer presents the A’s with the unique opportunity to either convert the bitcoin to dollars or hold the cryptocurrency as an investment vehicle.

In addition to setting the bar in terms of creativity, the A’s also capitalized on social media buzz that has accompanied the intersection of sports, cryptocurrency and digital collectibles/Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) especially as of late. According to Zoomph social intelligence, the A’s bitcoin offer announcement generated 187 social posts accounting for 467,380 impressions in the first 48 hours alone.

To begin the season, the A’s, in accordance with local health and safety guidelines, will limit attendance to 20% capacity or approximately 10,000 fans per game. In the mid-atlantic region, the Orioles will start off at a capacity of 11,000 fans while the Nationals will be at 5,000 fans.

Scott Lewis
Scott Lewis

Sports Business Analyst

Scott Lewis is currently the Director of Strategic Initiatives & Business Intelligence for Zoomph, an online social media analytics platform used by over 200 sports/esports teams. He was previously the Vice President, Strategy & Analytics for the Baltimore Orioles. He has also served as the Vice President of Marketing for D.C. United from 2015-2018 as the club closed out historic RFK Stadium and opened Audi Field. Prior to that, he spent 6 seasons in marketing and analytics with the Washington Nationals and 3 years at the National Basketball League Office in New York. For the past decade, Scott has been an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University where he founded a class on sports analytics. Prior to GW, he taught sports digital media at the Georgetown Sports Information Management program.

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