It took two weeks, but a day before the season opener and their established deadline, the Oakland A’s finally sold their first six-seat suite for 2021 for one bitcoin.
Voyager Digital Ltd., a publicly traded licensed crypto-asset platform, is the buyer, the A’s said Wednesday. The team opens the season at the Oakland Coliseum Thursday against the American League West division rival Houston Astros, and other buyers have until the 7:07 p.m. PT first pitch to play the market and make a bitcoin purchase.
“Just like MLB and the A’s, Voyager has a commitment to excellence,” Oakland outfielder Steve Piscotty said. “Voyager makes it easy for anyone to invest in different crypto assets with zero commissions.”
The San Francisco East Bay Area ballclub announced March 14 that fans can buy the suite for an 81-game home season in the Coliseum for a single bitcoin, valued at one point that day at $60,105.96.
The highly volatile bitcoin was worth $59,424 as of noon PT Wednesday. The suite costs $64,500 in U.S. currency, A’s president Dave Kaval told Sportico in an exclusive interview at the time.
A single game, six-seat box with all the accoutrements also goes for $594 for select April contests.
“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.”
Bitcoin’s historic fluctuations have been pronounced of late, with a recent high of nearly $62,000 March 13, rising from $29,000 this past Dec. 31.
“We’re eager to welcome Voyager to the Coliseum,” Kaval said in a statement. “Cryptocurrency is a viable and tangible currency mold, and we know other forward thinking companies and individuals will join Voyager in using this payment for ticket purchases.”
The A’s will start the season at 20% capacity for home games by the dictates of state health and safety protocols for all five California-based Major League Baseball teams.
The old Coliseum, which opened for baseball in 1968 upon the A’s arrival from Kansas City, can seat as many as 45,000 a game for baseball. The last time it was open to fans, 38,435 attended an 8-3 loss to the Texas Rangers on Sept. 22, 2019.
At 20%, the A’s can expect to sell as many as 10,000 tickets per game. Whether that will go up over the course of the season will depend upon increased vaccinations and the spread of the disease.
At same time, the A’s are eager for the Oakland City Council to move forward and approve their new stadium and ballpark village concept at the moribund Howard Terminal site on the waterfront west of downtown Oakland.
The A’s have been working on the project for three years and are hoping to get approval for a preliminary development agreement that would allow them to move forward with funding and construction before the end of the baseball season.
“No more delays,” Kaval said earlier this month. “We really want this voted on. We feel we have a great project. We really need to know this year so we can make plans and open the stadium as soon as possible.”
