Update 5:20 PM: Tweets from the Chronicle’s Susan Slusser indicate that the team is still only considering removing the tarps and has not made a decision yet.
Several #Athletics sources say there has been no decision to remove tarps at Coliseum for LCS but they may consider it if sales justify it.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 9, 2012
I know that clashes with another report, but that’s what I’m being told – tarps NOT officially off for LCS; will be considered if necessary.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 9, 2012
I was told flat-out that that other report about tarps “is wrong.” #Athletics
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 9, 2012
I do think there has been shift in #Athletics thinking, that is not at all inaccurate. The fact they’re even considering it is a big change.
— Susan Slusser (@susanslusser) October 9, 2012
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Original post:
Official word came from the A’s today (via BANG) that the much-reviled upper deck tarps will stay put for the rest of the Division Series against the Tigers, due to the time required to remove them. If the A’s are able to mount a difficult yet not impossible three-game home sweep to advance to League Championship Series, the tarps will be removed.
Today at 2 PM, representatives of Let’s Go Oakland/RemoveTheTarps.com went to the A’s business offices and presented a petition containing reportedly several thousand names. The article linked above noted that seats for Tuesday had sold out and a handful remained for Wednesday, even though online lookups last week made it appear as though both games were unavailable. Tickets for a Game 5 in Oakland are still available.
Initially I had asserted that the A’s had kept the tarps on due to a MLB rule about static capacity until the World Series. I couldn’t be more glad to be wrong, and hopefully there’s some reconsideration about the tarps for next year.
Quick scheduling note: the Raiders had a bye over the weekend, and their next game is a road date at undefeated Atlanta. Their next home game isn’t until the following Sunday, October 21, which could create a conflict with a potential ALCS Game 7 against Baltimore. We can only hope that such a conflict becomes a reality. There has been no clarification as to whether all of the tarps would be removed as opposed to just the tarps for the original upper deck, but I figure that as long as that next Raiders home game is in play, might as well take care of all of the tarps instead of having to split the effort.
newballpark.org 
Let’s just hope they can get to the ALCS (I have my ticket for Game 1 of that series) and not just a single game left for them to play.
re: Raiders. The A’s extending the season already has prevented seeding of the infield with grass for at least six additional days. What a shame.
Hopefully, this’ll shut some people up about ownership conspiracies. There. I said it.
WOLFE LEID HE NEVER TIRED
Dare to dream, Briggs. Dare to dream.
Awesome news all the way around! Let’s hope it’s relevant
The next question is when do they go on sale?
They should keep some of the tarps on. I say have open out, section by section. Everyone buys a tarp seat, seats are assigned in order of purchase after they open the last tarp that will be opened. No walk up tarp seat sales. Thus ensuring a packed house The last thing I want to see is 8,000 empty seats.
I hope that the recent attendance numbers will shut up those Oakland-bashers who constantly state that the A’s can’t draw in Oakland. Put a winning team on the field, and the fans will come.
WTF?! By “recent”, do you mean the last regular season game? Or are you extending it to Monday and Tuesday, which was good, but not great. Or are you regarding “recent” in the context of the last homestand, which included Seattle? Or maybe you’re citing “recent” as in the last few series at home against playoff contenders like the Angels and O’s? How was attendance then, even when they were winning? SSS for the loss……
@Jerry…Fans are coming from all over the area, not just Oakland or the east bay, and it takes a lot more effort for those folks to get there. Also, where were all those “Oakland ” fans during most of the A’s winning season this year?
Jerry: The A’s won the division and ranked 27th in attendance. They put a winning team on the field, the people mostly stayed home. They drew well for a few games but poorly overall. And the A’s charge a lot less for their tickets than the Giants. This year’s numbers reflect a similar lack of success at the Box Office reflected in 2006 (ALCS appearance, ranked 26th in attendance) and 2000-2003, when the A’s went to the playoffs every one of those seasons but never cracked the top half of the attendance list.
I think the fact that there have been these reports (even though they might not be accurate) means that the A’s might have no choice but to open at least some of the tarps for a potential ALCS, because now the backlash if they seemingly “went back on their word” even though they might not be doing that would just be too huge.
Recent attendance will prove they will come?? Huh the 6 game home stand had 1 sell out. While weekend had 16k 21k and 22k. It was just sad.
@A’sFan – Backlash? If they were worried about backlash, they’d have backed off of plenty of things by now. No, “this too shall pass.”
I say take them off and expose the whole farce that thousands of fans are standing by to buy tix- I would bet fewer than 500 sell-how sad it is-
@GoA’s, there is definitely a risk of that happening if they open up 15,000 additional seats. I say open up sales for a set period of time and once they see how many they sold, take off the number of tarps necessary. That way there aren’t empty seats and demand on the secondary market can stay fairly high. I’d guess they’d end up selling between 45,000 and 48,000 seats…
@A’sfan- your approach is logical I just think you are overly optimistic- with one of he most exciting teams in baseball we had a total of 4 sellouts- and that included a pennant race that went down to the last game- I would guess max of 37k especially now hat our backs are against the wall
I’d guess they’d end up selling between 45,000 and 48,000 seats…
…I remember a pre-tarp 2000 A’s playoff game where the media focused on the unsold seats on Mount Davis.
@pjk, GoA’s…I think you guys aren’t being optimistic enough! First of all, a “max of 37k” makes no sense seeing as the crowds at the sellout games are 36,067…I don’t think there’s any doubt that we’d sell 40K, it’s a question of how many over that figure. And pjk yes we have failed to sell out playoff games before (as have the Braves, Twins, Tigers, and likely others), but this year is different in that we’re a textbook Cinderella story as opposed to a team that was expected to be where they are now and cruised through the regular season. This A’s fanbase is as pumped up as I can ever remember it right now, that wasn’t true in the 2000s.
@ to the Oakland only crowd Where was the fan base when the team was getting hot at the start of July? Even last Tuesday’s game was not sold out. It’s so easy to jump on the bandwagon when the team makes the playoffs. Even if the A’s are good all the time, this team would not draw without some sort of promotion, we all know this to be true. It’s pretty ironic this piece of news comes out as the A’s are on the verge of elimination.
http://t.co/eNxVouSE
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There’s still 50k seats available for 5 games? Did I read that right? Assuming Wednesday’s potential game is mostly sold out… Say 4k left. That means the ALCS games (4) average over 10k unsold seats as of now? I am all for taking the tarps off, but I can understand why ownership doesn’t want to sell a bunch of free seat upgrades. I’d bet that if all the ALCS inventory was sold before the end of the ALDS the tarps may come off.
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10,000 folks signed a petition. As with previous efforts, they’d have been better served by getting folks to buy tickets.
dont know what city you guys repsent but its sounds like yall need something else to do beside talk about a city with history and championship teams,famous people… Now what you’re city got a freeway exit or entrance tell yall what you’re city don’t have heart or a team so keep hating on Oakland but for now shut up and enjoy this Oakland team win three in a row
re: talk about a city with history and championship teams
…Yes, the A’s have a deep history of championships and poor attendance. ‘Nuf said.
Glad the hear Wolff will remove tarps based on demand. That’s the sensible thing to do. Kudos to him.
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In the previous post/thread, I expressed my disappointment based on the initial report saying they would not remove the tarps, citing “stadium intimacy” and apparently not reacting to demand.
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But now it appears that Wolff is open to it, if the ticket demand dictates it.
So much for dynamic pricing.
After doing some research since 2000 here are the attendance figures for A’s home playoff games
2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 all Pre-Tarp era- Please note
2000
Game 1 vs. Yankees 47, 360
Game 2 vs. Yankees 47,860
Game 5 vs. Yankees 41,170
2001
Game 3 vs. Yankees 55,861
Game 4 vs. Yankees 43,861 (I attended this game personally, Jermaine Dye broke his leg)
2002
Game 1 vs. Twins 34,853
Game 2 vs. Twins 31,953
Game 5 vs. Twins 32,146
2003
Game 1 vs. Red Sox 50,606
Game 2 vs. Red Sox 36,305
Game 5 vs. Red Sox 49,397
2006 (Tarps on)
Game 3 vs. Twins 35,694
Game 1 vs. Tigers 35,655
Game 2 vs. Tigers 36,168
Conclusion- If the A’s are playing the Yankees or Red Sox then it makes sense to remove the tarps. As those teams draw quite well on the road and evidence is clear. The Red Sox in 2003 Game 2 only drew 36,305 because it was a Thursday afternoon game. Otherwise the other 2 nights games drew 50k each game respectively. The Yankees games were in the high 40k to low 50k range.
While if you look at attendance from the Twins and Tigers games it shows clearly removing the tarps would only devalue seating in the rest of the stadium as they would not crack 40k. At least in 2000-2006 those were economic boom times therefore people had more money to spend.
In the end, if the A’s pull off a miracle and advance and play the Yankees then by all means remove the tarps. If they play Baltimore they will hurt their bottom line by doing so since it would devalue the normal seating across the board.
Thanks, Sid. Interestingly, the ’01 Yankees and ’03 BoSox overcame a 0-2 series deficit to advance to the ALCS.
“While if you look at attendance from the Twins and Tigers games it shows clearly removing the tarps would only devalue seating in the rest of the stadium as they would not crack 40k. ”
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How does a sellout (except for singles I’m guessing) indicate whether or not more seats would sell.
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And Games 1 and 2 in 2002 were weekday day games, plus that was the year they were charging $35 for the bleachers and upper deck, so that explains that year.
From that article Ken Pries said “Despite that fact, we still have plenty of tickets available for a potential Thursday game and for all of the ALCS and World Series games. In total we have nearly 50,000 potential playoff tickets still available for the division and ALCS games,” Pries wrote in the email. He added: “It is also worth noting that in 2006, even during the ALCS games, we did not sell out the games even with the tarps on.” The capacity is 35,007 with an extra thousand for standing-room with the tarps on. Which game of the 2006 ALCS or ALDS wasn’t sold out?
The A’s official quoted in that article is mistaken: both 2006 ALCS games were sold out. Attendance for game 1 was 35,655, and game 2 drew a crowd of 36,168. The A’s hadn’t opened up the 3 Value Deck sections behind home plate in the View Level, making capacity slightly smaller than it is now.
A’sFan, he’s likely referring to the games that weren’t played.
When NY and Boston are in town those other 14k seats are their fans- I was there for game 5 in 2003 and the place was taken over by Red Sox fans- rather have mostly A’s fans than 14k more of an opposing team-
The weekday day games listed above don’t really tell you much – the people who can afford playoff ticket prices generally have to work during the week. I don’t know why MLB ever did that but fortunately they learned and we have night games this year.
I know how the view is from say–312 or 325…a whole lot better than then the upper deck view at many “modern” ballparks. But how is the view from the upper deck of Mt. Davis for baseball?
bad
Mark, my answer would be, “what view?” Seriously, you can’t see anything but the infield from Mt. Davis. And even that is like watching ants play baseball. Anyone who wants the tarps taken off the top of Mt. Davis so people can sit there needs to have their head examined because they’ve obviously got brain damage. Like half the folks at LGO apparently since that’s exactly what they’re asking for.
Mark, this is the view folks at LGO are clamoring for…
As you can see, there is literally not much to see.
@Dan – especially at least 50% of the outfield.
I get it…pro-Oaklanders are clamoring about Tarpgate so they can get a Two Dollar Tuesday AND a One Dollar Wednesdays…increase unnecessary supply and suppress needed demand simultaneously while still blaming it all on ownership.
It wouldn’t “suppress demand.” You had the first part sort of right, no need for the second.
Tim, the needed demand they’d be suppressing is the premium tickets. With a high supply without a demand to meet it, people will buy the cheap seats and free seat upgrade into the premium seats. Without the cheap seats available, those people will need to pay more to get in. There’s probably a better way for Anon to have stated it, but the intent of what he was trying to say is still there.
Dan, nobody wants the tarps taken off of Mt. Davis. Nobody. We want the tarps taken off the regular 3rd deck that was originally constructed for baseball. Huge difference. Mt. Davis for a WS maybe, but in no other circumstance for baseball.
A’sFan, then why did LGO feature Mt Davis in ALL of their promotional material for the petition drive on facebook?
Just got an email from the A’s saying suites are still available for tonight’s playoff game. So the A’s can’t even sell out suites for a playoff game but we’re supposed to believe they’ll sell enough suites to finance a $500-$600 million ballpark?
pjk, to be fair the Coliseum has far more suites than a normal MLB park would have. Remember for the playoffs they’re probably selling suites in Mt Davis as well as the ones in the main stadium bowl.
@ Dan – You beat me to it. O.co has 125 suites for A’s games. Here are some other parks: Target Field 66, AT&T 68, Marlins 50, Yankees 56, Petco 58. O.co has about twice the average # of suites.
Since there’s supposedly 10,000+ people clamoring for tickets for tonight;s game, here’s a treat for you all. I have one ticket available that you can have. Drop me an email at stranx44@gmail.com if you are interested. Sorry, only have 1 ticket and I’d rather give it to someone who would want to attend as opposed to the scalpers.
Thanks. My friends and I already have our tickets, but we appreciate the gesture, Marie Antoinette.
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Q: What is “Oakland Magic.”
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A: http://mlb.mlb.com/video/play.jsp?content_id=25382425&topic_id=&c_id=mlb&tcid=vpp_copy_25382425&v=3
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Excuse me, just getting my gloat on while I got a chance. It ain’t Athletics magic, it ain’t Billy Beane magic, it ain’t Lew Wolfe magic. It’s Oakland Magic. That’s what Roger calls it.
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It sure as hell ain’t San Jose magic. The ONLY person who uttered “San Jose” in our section was wearing a Tigers hat. He used it as a direct taunt. When they ran the PSA that told us to point out suspicious characters, we pointed, yet he was not escorted out. Obvious plant.
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Lew’s in a real pickle now.
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If he enlists his team of specialists to dismantle his signature tarps, he will allow another 10,000 or so folks to have an experience watching Oakland Athletics playoff baseball. Putting money in his pocket. So far, so good. Here’s the rub. 8,000 of them will be rooting for Oakland, for the Athletics, against the Detroit Tigers, against San Jose and against Lew Wolfe.
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I only speak baseball, forgive me if this may be uncouth, but the technical term for this state is quite simple. He’s fucked.
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And if any SF hotel workers are online at this late hour, could you please slip Verlander the funky burrito? Thanks!
How is Wolff in a pickle? There still is no site in Oakland and no way to pay for it. Nothing’s changed. (see the latest Howard Terminal postings and ask yourself is anybody will want to build a ballpark there)
Freddy,
What utter nonsense! Again, it’s comments like that that won’t cause me to shed one tear when the A’s do leave Oakland. (I will have tears of joy though for my beloved San Jose ;).
FWIW, this is the magic of Bob Melvin and our players playing their asses off! It’s also the magic of ALL A’s fans from all corners of the Bay Area who’ve filled the coliseum as of late. And yes, if I could get away from regular life to attend a game, I’ll also hope to contribute to that magic. This being about the City of Oakland, Quan and the other clowns running things in The O?…please! GO A’S!!!
@ Freddy – I get it, when the A’s were losing the first half of the season and no one showed up, that was LW magic. But when team started winning the second half and still no one showed up, that’s the BB/BM magic. And when 20K bandwagon fans showed up the last 3 games, that’s “Oakland Magic”. Thanks for this new internet meme! I can use it when my lazy, procrastinating coworker takes credit for all of my hard work while sitting on his ass pointing fingers at others, I can readily say that he has “Oakland Magic”….
The logic is: When fans don’t show (which is most of the time), it’s Lew Wolff’s fault and he shouldn’t be rewarded by being able to move to San Jose. When fans DO show (during playoff games), it proves the A’s can draw well in Oakland and don’t need to move to San Jose. But of course, none of this changes the realities that there’s no suitable site for a new ballpark in Oakland, there’s no public money available and it would be unfeasible to finance privately in Oakland, even if there was a site.