OAKLAND — Stakes were high for the Oakland A’s and Seattle Mariners series this week. The American League West division foes are neck-and-neck and up against three other teams in their pursuit of a wild card spot.
Stakes are high. But the sparse crowds at the Oakland Coliseum look more like those of a Tuesday game in May. In fact, they’ve been worse — the 4,068 in attendance for Game 1 of this series on Monday night is the lowest (without COVID restrictions) in 24 years.
The A’s players won’t say they feel the home field advantage is gone — but small crowds at this juncture don’t inspire. Current Mariners reliever and former, longtime A’s fan favorite Sean Doolittle remembers the raucous crowds from postseason runs of the early 2010s. He notices the difference now.
“I know what this place can be like, in ’12,’13 and ’14. Even after playing in the World Series (with the Washington Nationals in 2019), the craziest crowds I ever played in front of were here,” Doolittle said. “It’s a bummer when we came out for Game 1, we were expecting — there’s a lot on the line here — this is a huge series for both teams. We were really jacked up to come here and play these guys. It’s not the fans’ fault. I really don’t know.”
Doolittle made clear he doesn’t blame the fans for not showing up. There are mitigating factors to the low attendance, of course. The pandemic has shifted fan priorities. In response to a tweet about the low attendance on Monday night, one fan said they felt uncomfortable sitting in a crowd:
“I’ve gone to some games but just not comfortable sitting surrounded by people unmasked not knowing if they are vaccinated.”
Granted, numbers include averages from near universal COVID crowd restrictions across ballparks for parts of the season — but attendance on average is down across baseball. The Los Angeles Dodgers, who drew 49,000 per game on average in 2019 lead MLB with a 33,000 average attendance at Dodger Stadium in 2021. Across the bay, a San Francisco Giants team enjoying its best regular season in decades and average near- 30,000 attendance since reopening fully on June 25 in the 41,331-seat Oracle Park.
But if attendance is dipping across baseball in some venues, it’s plummeting in Oakland. The A’s averaged 20,521 attendance in 2019. They have had more than 20,000 fans in attendance just five times this season — against the San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees.
Fans have reason to stay at home. First, the A’s shuttered A’s Access — the season ticket program launched in 2019 that allowed fans access to all regular season games along with discounts on concessions, merchandise and parking. In 2021, the A’s did not re-start A’s Access because of the restricted capacity lifted in late-June in California. With restricted capacities, the A’s couldn’t guarantee space for all potential A’s access members.
Not only did season ticket holder lose those perks, but they and every single-game attendee started to see ticket price hikes ranging from 25-30% more than in seasons past. Plus, every fan must pay $30 for parking.
On top of that, season ticket holders are reporting season tickets for 2022 are being offered at double the price of past seasons.
Creating incentives to attend games at the Coliseum don’t seem to be the A’s priority. During the 2020 season, team ownership laid off 30% of business operations along with widespread furloughs. While it is unclear if anyone has been hired back to fill the positions open, those losses are felt in team marketing and promotion.
The A’s have put on a handful of weekend night firework shows to draw some of their bigger crowds — against the Red Sox, Giants and Houston Astros this weekend — but haven’t promotions and giveaways have been very few and far between. They had two t-shirt giveaways and one day gave away foam tridents, a tribute to the trident Sean Manaea gifted the team. The Friday night Family 4-Pac deal is the only ticket deal the A’s have promoted.
The A’s have made clear they are strapped of resources to create an optimal fan experience, A’s fans responded by not showing up. Not even to watch a postseason team contend. It was eerily quiet when Matt Chapman and Matt Olson took the plate with the bases loaded, a chance to give the team a lead with postseason hopes hanging in the balance of each at-bat. Both struck out. Oakland is 40-36 at home this year, 42-33 on the road.
“The ones that are here are faithful and die-hards. The right-field people and left-field people, season ticket holders that sit back here behind the dugout are great,” Mark Canha said. “And that’s what I have always relished and appreciated in my time with the A’s is those people who are there every day. Those are the ones that are always positive. I think back to A’s attendance I won’t dwell on the numbers but the faces I saw every day.”
Matt Chapman spoke after their home series against the Yankees about the shock of small crowds for a major series that featured a game on ESPN’s Sunday Night Baseball.
“It’s definitely a little surprising,” Chapman said. “It’s a big game and the Yankees usually draw a pretty big crowd. And it’s an important series. It’s an important series with a lot on the line. They can separate themselves from us or we can put ourselves right back in the thick of it. So definitely a little disappointing with the attendance, but that’s out of our control and hopefully we get some more crowds on the weekend here because I know we love playing in front of big crowds and we want the fans to come out here and support us because it’s only going to help us for sure.”
When incentivized, A’s fans show up. And they show up big. In 2012, the A’s went on a nine-game win streak from Aug. 24 to Sept. 2, sparked by pitcher Brandon McCarthy’s return after being struck in the head with a line drive, the A’s rallied to win a postseason spot on the regular season’s final day. That team walked-off 15 times, that team was inspired. Doolittle said fan support played a part.
“It meant everything,” Doolittle said. “It was awesome and that was one of my favorite part of playing for the A’s is the connection you have with the fans. Smaller market team lends itself to different kind of relationships and the fans. You see the signs they have.
“There was always a special connection with the fans and we did feel like we had a distinct home field advantage when we were here because of them. That’s one reason I feel really lucky to have played here as long as I did.”
The A’s have the talent to contend for a fourth straight postseason run. Whether they have that magic fuel is up for debate. The small crowds aren’t helping.
