Major League Baseball franchise Oakland Athletics has sold its first suite season ticket for the 2021 regular season for one Bitcoin.
The first of the six-person suites, which includes snacks and access to a private restroom, was purchased by Voyager Digital Ltd., a publicly traded licensed crypto-asset platform.
The highly volatile cryptocurrency was worth around $59,400 yesterday (Wednesday), with the suite normally costing $64,500 in US currency.
Oakland A’s president Dave Kaval said: “Cryptocurrency is a viable and tangible currency model, and we know other forward-thinking companies and individuals will join Voyager in using this payment for ticket purchases.”
Meanwhile, a single game, six-seat box will cost $594 for select April contests.
The San Francisco-based team opens the season at the 63,132-capacity Oakland Coliseum today against the Houston Astros, and other buyers have until the first pitch to make a Bitcoin suite purchase.
Voyager co-founder and chief executive Steve Ehrlich said the suite will be shared with its customer base in the Bay Area and beyond.
Last week, Kaval said the team would be holding any Bitcoin made through ticket sales, adding: “We’re believers in (Bitcoin) and hopefully it continues to go up and maybe we can find some big free agents with some of the proceeds.”
The Oakland Coliseum is able to hold 20-per-cent capacity to start the season, and the A’s expect about 12,000 to attend the opener. General stadium seating is limited to fans in pods of two or four, due to current COVID-19 rules, with suites providing an option for groups larger than four.
Image: Kwong Yee Cheng / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 / Edited for size
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