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- The Oakland A’s are selling suite tickets for one bitcoin.
- As of Tuesday, the offer would be 15% less than last week’s price.
- More than 60 people have already expressed interest in the deal, the club said.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
The Oakland A’s are offering a six-person suite for the 2021 home season for the price of one bitcoin.
The deal makes the baseball team the first professional sports team in the US to price tickets directly in cryptocurrency instead of US dollars.
The regular price for the full season suite offering comes in at $64,800 – over 15% higher than the current price of bitcoin. Over the past few months the cryptocurrency has fluctuated between $50,000 to $60,000.
Over the weekend, bitcoin rose to a record high of nearly $62,000, only to fall nearly 10% on Monday to below $55,000.
The baseball club’s president Dave Kaval told the Wall Street Journal over 60 people have already expressed interest in using bitcoin to buy a suite.
“It’s been a great way to see if the hype can turn into reality and hopefully make Bitcoin and cryptocurrency transactions more mainstream,” he told the paper. “If you see it in baseball, you could potentially see it anywhere.”
Other professional sports teams, including the NBA’s Sacramento Kings and Dallas Mavericks have accepted cryptocurrencies in exchange for tickets in the past. In March, the Dallas basketball team owned by Mark Cuban announced they would accept Dogecoin in exchange for tickets and merchandise. However, those offerings were still pegged to a USD price equivalency.
The Oakland A’s are the first team to accept a static price: one bitcoin, regardless of value.
Kaval told The Journal by accepting one bitcoin for the six-person suite, he will be giving buyers the opportunity to gamble on the price of bitcoin.
“We’re basically taking the risk on that and we’ll see how that plays out,” Kaval told The Wall Street Journal. “I think that’s another reason that could compel some people to do it. If it goes down to $20,000, maybe that will drive volume!”
The bitcoin offer is available until April 1, when the baseball team opens their season against the Houston Astros.
Earlier in March, California Governor Gavin Newsom said MLB teams in the state could open at 20% capacity.
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