Last Updated: April 21st, 2022 by Aaron Gwynn
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From what I can gather, real Athletics fans seem to hold this stadium in high regard. It’s strange what an emotional connection you can have to both your team and ballpark. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure might be a nice fit here. Technically the stadium is now called RingCentral Coliseum, but I would bet you any money that no one in the Bay Area will call it that if not contractually obligated.
The Coliseum is America’s 5th Oldest Park – via Flickr user Charlie Day
Things You Shouldn’t Miss
- Ok, so the stadium is kinda ugly, but it has a real charm to it! Look out for the passionate fans in the bleachers beyond LF and RF with their drums and giant flags and synchronized chants!
- Tailgating! Oakland is the one baseball town that really knows how to have a tailgate party, so take advantage if you can!
- Find the bright yellow retired numbers painted on the tarps . . . the upper deck is no longer used, but it sure is . . . green!
Ways To Save Money
- Take Uber instead of parking. Click here to get a free ride
- Take a soft cooler of food & drinks with you
- Stay close by and save $35 on AirBnb rentals by clicking here
- Click here to reserve a cheap parking spot in advance.
There’s a lot of free street parking, but you have to be willing to walk through Oakland at night for it. Using Parking Panda can make that a little easier.
With the Raiders abandoning Oakland for Las Vegas and the Warriors scampering over to the billionaires in San Francisco, this is the last ticket in town! While the crowds might not be giant, they are passionate, loud and multicultural!
A’s fans have had it rough in recent decades: as soon as their players get good, they get sold off to the rich teams. Loyalty is a two-way street, so if the team is doing poorly, they can’t give tickets away fast enough. However, when the Athletics are making a run for the pennant, fans believe again and prices skyrocket.
Ticket Network can help find those deals during the good years.
One money-saving tip: if you’re going with your family/group of four, every Friday there is special pricing for four tickets and parking that is the best deal you’ll find anywhere for the major leagues. Going to a weekday game is also a lovely way to enjoy the Northern California sun and get some discounted tickets too!
There are a few local favorites at the ballpark, and you can never go wrong with the garlic fries. But bring in food if you want to save money.
The Tarp on the Upper Deck is… Festive? – via Flickr user John Lambert Pearson
Oakland fans deserve something better than this. Many argue that the Coliseum will be the next park replaced, and there have been talks for a while about a new stadium in downtown Oakland at the Howard Terminal site.
Arriving at the Coliseum
Alternative/Public Transportation to an Athletics Game
One easy option is to take the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) from various locations throughout the Bay Area to Coliseum/Oakland Airport Station. You can take the Blue, Orange, or Green lines, or the shuttle from the Airport. BART is rather cheap and just steps away from the stadium, which is connected to the subway by bridges so ya can’t get lost even if you tried! Check out the BART here.
The BART: Possibly the Best Part of Your Trip – via Flickr user Paul Sullivan
If you are coming from further afield you may want to consider the Capitol Corridor Train. It connects the Oakland Coliseum station to Sacramento, San Francisco, and more. It’s relatively cheap, very quiet, has wifi and sockets for charging, and has a bar car inside. Some years, they do discounted fares if you have an A’s ticket – call 1-877-9-RIDECC for more details.
If you haven’t used Uber before, get your first ride free.
Driving to an Athletics Game
Stadium parking is free on Tuesdays except for Premium games.
Here is more information about free parking at Oakland Coliseum. If you are looking for a nice mile long walk before the game, I know others who have parked at the Walmart on Edgewater Dr. and walked to the Coliseum. For me that is a little ridiculous, but to each his own. (I am saving my best free parking spot for last).
If you are from out of town I think you need to consider the convenience of a BART station relative to where you are staying. If you are planning on driving to the game, I would save my money and park at the BART station.
Many times if you park in the main stadium lot, you are going to wait forever in traffic after the game. I just wanted to throw in one last reason to not pay good money to park there. Another good free parking spot at “RingCentral” Coliseum is on the street by Denny’s (pictured below). This will put you within easy walking distance from the stadium.
The Denny’s, McDonald’s, and Jack-in-the-Box Just South Offer Free Parking
One option, if walking around in Oakland from distant parking isn’t for you, is to pre-plan your parking by using a service like Parking Panda. Save money and know your route before you even get to Oakland.
Also, if you’re feeling athletic and want to bike to the game, there are special areas for bike parking below the flagpoles located in the north parking lot (near F Lot) and south parking lot (near E Lot).
Helpful Resources
Best Food At & Near the Coliseum
Save Money on Food
First of all, if you are going to eat at the stadium, please choose the garlic fries. If you are sticking to a tight budget, please take your own food to the stadium (but get a garlic fries anyway!)
Oakland Coliseum has a very liberal policy on bringing food into the ballpark which is you can basically bring anything. You are allowed to bring a soft cooler even, with sealed plastic bottles of non-alcoholic drinks and snacks.
Another affordable place for cheap food and ice cream near Oakland Coliseum is Chubby Freeze. The kids will love it!
There are also some legit Mexican food trucks right under the BART station if you’re in the mood for a cheap burrito, quesadilla, or taco!
Food You Shouldn’t Miss at the Coliseum
Garlic fries. They’re everywhere. You want them.
1. Saag’s Specialty Meats and Sausages: this is where you get those baseball park sausages you crave at the game, smothered in onions and peppers. This stand, near section 118 practically behind home plate, offers Polish sausage, sweet Italian, spicy Linguisa… every type of sausage you need to root for the A’s.
Saag’s Specialty Sausages are Delicious and Nostalgic
2. BBQ Ribs and Things: don’t let the milquetoast name confuse you – these guys know what they’re doing when it comes to BBQ. Follow the right field foul pole to section 104, or just follow the line – many locals consider this the best bite at the park. The tri-tip with tangy BBQ sauce is the highlight.
If you are getting dinner at the game you might want to take a friend to the concession stand with you, as the concourses at Oakland Coliseum are not known for being extra spacious. It’s nice if you can put food in one hand and use a stiff-arm with the other.
3. Championship Plaza is now a food truck area with a guaranteed 8 gourmet food trucks available at every game and as many as 16 for larger games. Veggie, vegan and meat-y options abound!
4. Shibe Park Tavern and the Treehouse are also relatively new bar options that have a wide variety of local beer and drink options!
Cheap Athletics Tickets
At this point, nearly every Major League team has some kind of variable pricing model where depending on how in-demand a game is, the ticket prices you’ll pay at the gate may go up or down.
Sometimes pricing varies from day to day, other times it is a more formal “tiered” structure like when they are playing a big draw such as the Yankees. In these cases, you’ll pay a premium price compared to a perennial bottom-dweller who might be in the “budget tier.”
So rather than focusing on specific prices and sections which tend to change fairly often, I want to talk about general rules and strategies for getting the best deals on tickets.
1. Compare 3rd Party Sites
Ticket Network is a big time ticket comparison site that lets you compare a bunch of different ticket brokers, marketplaces, etc. and find the best price for the game you want to go to. They also have a tool that projects whether ticket prices will go up or down – AKA whether you should buy now or wait.
Click here to view Athletics tickets on Ticket Network.
The Retired Numbers and Championship Years on the Tarp – via Flickr user May Wong
2. Buy Last Minute
If you’ve bought tickets online before, you’ve heard of StubHub. What you may not know however is that with the rise of print-at-home and tickets on your mobile phone via the Ballpark App that you can usually buy tickets right up to a couple of hours before game time.
Save $5 On Last Minute Tickets: I recently learned about the Gametime app and it’s legit. Save BIG on last minute tickets. Click here to get the app and you’ll get $5 off your first order.
As someone who has sold a fair share of tickets on StubHub, I also know that sellers are As someone who has sold fair share of tickets on StubHub, I also know that sellers are encouraged to set a declining price for their tickets. This means they’ll set a starting price and then their lowest acceptable price, and StubHub will auto-magically lower the price of those tickets as the event date gets closer.
So in many cases, a game that isn’t sold out will have plenty of below face value deals on StubHub that you can snatch at the last minute and then either print at home, or just use the App on your phone to get scanned into the game.
3. Avoid Craigslist
It’s not to say that you can’t find ticket deals on Craigslist, you can. It is just more of a peace of mind, safety issue. I’m a Craigslist kind of guy, but I also know it’s easy to get screwed buying baseball tickets there.
Remember when I mentioned selling on StubHub? When you list tickets there, all you need to know is the barcode number from that ticket along with the other details on section, row, etc. – So when I sell tickets I never mail them to the buyer, they just print them at home and my actual tickets become void.
If I was a shady character, I could go sell those void tickets to an unsuspecting buyer on Craigslist for cash. The tickets look real, they are “real” in a sense – but what that buyer will find out is when they go to enter the stadium, the ticket scanner will say “thou shalt not enter thy game.”
Don’t be that buyer.
Stick to buying tickets from Ticket Network, StubHub, or directly from the team. You can still get deals and you never have to worry about being scammed.
Best Value Seats at the Coliseum
Sticking with the cheap theme here; you can’t go wrong with the bleachers at Oakland Coliseum. The real fans are known to hang out in the bleachers so it can provide an exciting environment to watch a game.
The other nice thing is, there are normal seats in the “bleachers”. When I think bleachers, I think sitting on a metal seat with no back, but here you can sit close to the field in a stadium style seat for the price of a beer. Are you kidding me? I personally love sitting in the outfield in stadiums where you can sit right behind the wall.
Bleacher Seats Offer a Decent View – via Flickr user Bryce Edwards
If you decide to spend some of your well saved money on better seats, you want to be smart about it. If you are taking kids to the game you might want to go with the infield seats on the second deck.
The Oakland Coliseum seating is a little more exaggerated on the second level so your short people can see over the adults in front of them. If you shoot for somewhere in the 214 – 220 sections, you are going to have one of the best views in the ballpark for a reasonably priced ticket. If you sit in that area, please sit at least 8 or 9 rows up to avoid missing the game because of vendors and fans who can’t stay put. It’s tempting to get a lower row, but you will regret it.
Another free tip from my contact with the Athletics is to always bring a blanket and a thermos of hot chocolate to a night game. The closer you sit to the concourses, the more windy it will be, but I guess it’s better safe than sorry when it comes to being too cold to enjoy the game. Generally speaking with dynamic pricing, you should try to get out to midweek games. The A’s do promotions like free parking Tuesday, Cheap Wednesday, etc. and you’ll find some nice values on these days.
Where to Stay While Visiting the Coliseum
My favorite way to travel to a baseball game is to stay as close to the stadium as possible and walk, or take Uber so I don’t have to fool with parking in a strange place.
AirBnB is the best way to find a really cool house or apartment to rent so you can hang out with your friends/family before the game and get a more authentic local experience.
Not only is it cooler than a hotel, but you can save $35 on your first stay by using my referral link.
Oakland Has Some Great Choices on AirBnB
There are 2 types of rentals – those where you rent a private room and stay with a host and those where you rent out the whole place. I’ve done both, and you’ll have some peace of mind about the people you rent from because of the review system they have for the hosts – so you have a high degree of confidence that you won’t end up on the bad side of a future Dateline NBC episode.
Best of all, you usually can find places to stay that are an easy BART ride to the Coliseum.
Obviously places come and go on the site, but I’ve used AirBnB a number of times for sports road trips and it’s become my default option when I’m traveling. Click the button below to save $35 on your first trip and see what kind of cool places are currently available near the ballpark:
Best of all, you can usually find places to stay that are an easy BART ride to the Coliseum. One area that is on the come-up is Lake Merritt which has a gorgeous lake and park, is right next to downtown, and conveniently has its own BART station to get to/from the game!
Free Stuff at the Coliseum
The Coliseum doesn’t have the attractions of most MLB parks, but they do have a few fun things for free!
Help Me! – via Flickr user May Wong
1. Free fireworks shows and drone shows once per month(ish) and on July 4th!
2. Every year there is a picnic blanket giveaway that is worth it if you are in town that day!
3. The designated driver program to get a free soda! Just go to Guest Services at Sections 101, 134, and 217, or the Guest Services Office at Section 126 to sign up!
4. Out by the right field flagpoles you’ll find the A’s Stomping Grounds, a free area with basic games and activities for the kiddies.