Add The California Post on Google Willing to sit through nine innings of San Francisco Giants baseball?
Forget paying for tickets — they’ll pay you to go to their games.
The team stinks so much that they’re offering to reimburse attendees for simply honoring the tickets they’ve already bought for the rest of the season.
An email went out to season-ticket holders on Aug. 27, according to SF Gate, offering 15% back off the ticket price in credits for next season to any of them who still showed up for their three-game series this week against the Cardinals or later this month against the Twins.
It’s been such a brutal season that the Giants hadn’t swept a series all year until St. Louis came to town and they took all three games. Each win upped the rebate to 20% off per ticket.
The offer doesn’t apply to upcoming weekend series against the division-rival Padres and Dodgers, which are expected to be well-attended. But it’s proven to be increasingly difficult to convince fans to come to watch a team that has been 20 or more games below .500 since Aug. 9.
“This final stretch is giving a number of new players the opportunity to take the field at the Major League level – some for the very first time,” the email reads, per SF Gate. “We want them to experience Oracle Park at its best: filled with passionate Giants fans who bring the energy to the ballpark.”
A scrappy group led by first-year manager Tony Vitello has actually shown some fight recently with almost all their underperforming stars either traded away or injured, culminating in the unlikely sweep of the Cardinals. They’ve staved off what would be only the second 100-loss finish in franchise history, but clearly in the eyes of many fans, the season was lost long ago.
The email tells fans that the organization “shares your disappointment” but wanted to give an “added incentive” to come out for the remaining weeknight games, per SF Gate.
The offer only applies to season tickets that were already purchased, which count toward official attendance figures whether the ticket is used or not.
Despite a horrific start to the year, attendance held steady through the All-Star break, even up a notch over the last year and on pace to draw 3 million total for the first time since 2018.
They became the second team eliminated from playoff contention earlier this week, but they still rank eighth in the majors in average attendance — 35,256 per game.
But the gate has plummeted since they traded away six players off their major-league roster at the Aug. 3 trade deadline, failing to draw 30,000 fans for nine out of their past 16 home games. They hadn’t drawn fewer than 32,000 for any of their first 56 home dates.
Even the most passionate fanbase’s patience can run thin.
And Giants fans have been tested this season by more than just the dreadful play on the field, which is still on pace to produce the team’s worst record since 2017.
The organization alienated a large segment of its fans and drew a public reprimand from the commissioner’s office for its handling of the Pride Night fiasco. One of their top offseason additions injured himself in a drunken scooter accident. Their beloved former catcher hired to put together their roster has made a series of questionable calls and was embarrassed by a hot mic moment from a producer at their flagship radio station saying that he “sucks, man.”
It’s made for one of the most miserable seasons in recent memory at the corner of Third and King.
Now, at least, some fans can get compensated for their troubles.
