OAKLAND — It’s the question that many A’s fans want answered: Why won’t the team open up Mount Davis for its final game at the Oakland Coliseum on Sept. 26?
The organization is keeping its specific reasons close to its chest.
When the Bay Area News Group first inquired about the matter, the team responded with the following statement:
“We are committed to providing the best experience for our fans. Mount Davis will remain closed, as it has been since 2019, given it is not equipped to offer the amenities and services we aim to provide.”
We asked several follow-up questions about which amenities are operable, the amount of labor required to remove tarps and clean seats, and whether concerns about a packed parking lot were also a contributing factor in the decision not to open any portion of the 20,000-seat section added to the Coliseum in 1995.
The A’s did not directly answer any questions, instead responding with the following statement:
“We are committed to providing the best experience possible for our fans. For the final game, we will have increased levels of staffing, including in the parking lot, and extra security in place. In partnership with our vendors at the Coliseum, we will ensure that staffing levels are appropriate to meet everyone’s needs.”
The A’s, who have the lowest average attendance in baseball, are expecting a sellout crowd for their final home game in Oakland, three weeks from Thursday when they’ll face the Rangers. The last time Mount Davis was opened for fans was the 2019 American League wild-card game against the Rays.
The team may have no intention of opening up Mount Davis, but that hasn’t stopped fans from making a push. In a letter posted to social media last week, the A’s fan organization Last Dive Bar writes that it has assembled a group of 50 people who are willing to clean Mount Davis to get the space opened for the final game at the Coliseum.
The @athletics have known 9/26 was happening for well over a year. Yet they’ve never taking any measures to attempt to open up Mt Davis. They’ve been pleaded with to allocate headcount to clear away the storage just so fans could watch one last game.
They’ve made it clear they… https://t.co/kSCjQaNaCx pic.twitter.com/poR8B6EBeM
— Last Dive Bar (@LastDiveBar) August 29, 2024
“We want to pledge that, for one night, we will put aside our differences and come together to soak in one last game at the Coliseum,” read the letter. “We want this final game to be a memorable experience for everyone involved.”
Added later: “We know this area hasn’t been used in years and that it has not been maintained. We also understand that it will take some effort to make it usable for one last game. That’s why we are offering our help.”
Simply cleaning up the area may not be enough to sway the team, though, as the concession stands on Mount Davis have not been in operation since that 2019 postseason game. There are already many concession stands around the stadium that aren’t open during regular game days. The third level, in particular, is routinely barren.
Additionally, the parking situation for the final game already stands to be hectic. In early August, many fans had to navigate a massive traffic jam when an A’s-Dodgers game at the Coliseum overlapped with Monster Jam at the Oakland Arena. There won’t be an event at the Oakland Arena that coincides with the A’s final game, but there will likely be a large contingent of fans who tailgate in the parking lot without tickets to watch the game from inside the Coliseum. Opening more seats could further increase an already heavy traffic load.
Despite the fans’ willingness to lend a hand, it appears the team won’t open up the Coliseum’s concrete mountaintop to them one last time.
Nathan Canilao contributed to this story.
