Oakland A’s are going to use parking discounts to beat the Giants

There are crosstown rivalries, then there’s what the Oakland A’s will do to Giants fans if they come to town to park at Oakland Coliseum.

With spring training coming to a conclusion, MLB teams will play some exhibition games before opening the season Thursday. The Oakland A’s will welcome the crosstown rival San Francisco Giants to Oakland Coliseum on Sunday, and the teams will play their customary six-game interleague series (three in each city) during the regular season.

Parking can be one of the prohibitive costs attached to going to sporting events. So the A’s, and team president Dave Kaval, have announced a step toward keeping the fans in the Coliseum shaded toward green and yellow gear during interleague games against the Giants this year.

Regular season parking for general admission fans has increased from $20 to $30 at the Oakland Coliseum this year, so all non-season ticket holders will be paying a little more to park this year anyway. But Giants fans should be ready to pay some extra on top of that little bit more, unless they want to briefly go against their team allegiance.

Giants fans will have to pay $50 to park at The Coliseum for games against the A’s. Unless they yell “Go A’s” at the gate, then a $20 discount back down to the new $30 amount will be given. The extra $20 is being called a “rivalry fee”, however fitting. But unless someone is wearing Giants’ gear, how will the fee be implemented fairly?

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The message here may be to take public transportation to A’s games this year, regardless of being an A’s or Giants’ fan, rather than drive and pay to park. I know from personal experience, albeit going on 17 years ago now, that the BART train has a stop at Oakland Coliseum.