BART says they cannot extend train service for the fireworks show that the A's plan to put on after that game against the Boston Red Sox. Because of that, the Athletics capped ticket sales at 35,000 fans Thursday, saying they could have sold 10,000 more.
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"I think it's kind of messed up," said A's fan Louis Benavivez. Another fan said, "It's unfair, it's unfair!"
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BART says they won't extend train service for the fireworks show so Thursday, in a surprise move, the A's stopped selling tickets.
"We had to suspend sales of the game at 35,000 because we just can't support any additional fans without the public transportation," says A's President Dave Kaval who told us the parking lots aren't large enough to accommodate all the fans.
"There's really no more parking left. I only have 9,000 parking spots and there really is no overflow spots in east Oakland because we're not in a downtown urban area where you have other spots, so there's really nowhere for people to go," says Kaval.
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BART reps tell us their trains are currently at 20% ridership and they aren't back to pre-pandemic service until Aug. 2. They say they've been very vocal about this, too.
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"We provide extra service for A's fans after the BART closing time of 9 p.m. but we would not be able to accommodate the upcoming fireworks games simply because we can't keep all 50 stations open so late," says BART representative Jim Allison.
Kaval though points to last week's Bay Bridge series in San Francisco where BART trains stayed on late for the fireworks show.
"I just think it's unacceptable that the East Bay would receive less service than San Francisco," says Kaval.
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But Allison says BART has no preference for one team or another.
"For the Giants we have eight stations open and so with eight stations open it was feasible for us to have special event trains after their fireworks show," says Allison.
Damon Bruce of 95.7 The Game spoke about this very issue on his Thursday afternoon show Damon, Ratto, & Kolsky. He says both sides could have probably offered solutions here with buses, Ubers, or extended train service but instead there are none and the fans suffer.
"There's never a moment where A's fans aren't getting handed the short end of the stick, it's just that simple and I don't know if this is BART's fault, the A's fault, or a combination of both, it feels like there's solutions that I've seen extended to the same problem, multiple times," says Bruce.