The Oakland Athletics have decided to remove the tarps from the upper-level seating down the baselines for American League Division Series games at the Coliseum, freeing up more than 12,000 additional tickets per postseason match-up at home, report Jane Lee and Jeff Kirshman of MLB.com.
Athletics will open Coliseum’s upper-level seats for ALDS
Oakland has may the decision to remove the tarp from the stadium’s third deck if/when the A’s reach the playoffs next month, increasing the stadium capacity by 12,000-plus per game.
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While the A’s haven’t clinched a playoff spot just yet, the club decided to go ahead and sell tickets for the additional level when the regular seating for the ALDS sold out in just two hours Tuesday morning. The removal of the tarps -- which does NOT include the peak of Mount Davis in center field -- increases the stadium’s capacity from 35,067 to 48,146.
The move marks a big shift from last season, when even a huge demand for playoff tickets after games had sold out did not push the club to open the upper deck. Manager Bob Melvin expressed excitement at the announcement, but made sure to point out that they “still have to get there first.”
The Athletics are currently 6½ games ahead of the Rangers in the AL West with 11 games to go, putting their magic number to clinch back-to-back division titles at just six.
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