The Athletics are canceling their season ticket program and trying something new

The Oakland Athletics have decided to do something unexpected. No, not compete for a wild-card spot — they’re just two games out of the second wild-card, so they’re already doing that. The team has decided to get rid of its season ticket program and replace it with something that hasn’t been seen in baseball before.

Goodbye season ticket plans, hello A’s Access

The new program is called “A’s Access” and the team is calling it a membership program instead of a season ticket plan. Those who sign up will be able to pick from membership levels that include a certain number of reserved tickets every season and access to the ballpark for the rest of the 81 home dates.

Here’s A’s Chief Operating Officer Chris Giles explaining it on Twitter when the A’s announced their new plan on Monday.

Access to every Athletics home game

The benefits are the biggest change from the old season ticket plans to A’s Access. The biggest benefit by far is that no matter what membership level you choose, whether it’s 10 games or 24 games or half the season, you get access to the ballpark for every other home game. A’s Access gives members general admission to all 81 home games during the season. Giles explained how that would work on Twitter.

In a statement, Giles explained why Oakland decided to change things up and adopt a new season ticket model.

Brand new benefits, no price increase

Being able to go to every single Athletics home game isn’t the only benefit. Members get a number of seat upgrades for trips to the ballpark for games that aren’t on their plan, which spruces up those general admission tickets. Concessions are 50% off at every game (which makes hot dogs $3 and domestic drafts $4), and members get 25% off merchandise at team shops. The A’s are also introducing a monthly payment plan and the option to share parking and other benefits with anyone who shares your membership plan.

But the best part is that this new membership plan won’t cost any more than the A’s current season ticket plans.

In 2018, if you bought a 10-game plan, you got 10 games. For the 2019 season, when you buy a 10-game plan — which is the same price it was in 2018 — you get those 10 games in reserved seating and another 71 games at general admission. That deal seems like a no-brainer.

A’s Access is in the theme park or museum mold. You buy a membership, and then you can come back as many times as you want — usually until you’re satisfied that you’ve gone enough times for the membership to pay for itself. Getting A’s Access to pay for itself won’t be hard, since the only limits are time. How many baseball games can someone go to in a season? I’m sure at least a few fans will try to find out in 2019.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on Twitter at @lizroscher.

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