Oakland Athletics close to selling first $64,000 luxury suite using bitcoin

Oakland Athletics president David Kaval said the A's are on the verge of selling the first luxury suite using bitcoin, part of a promotion that expires on April 1.

"I think we'll probably have a transaction today or [Friday] to see the first one go," Kaval said told CNBC's "The Exchange."

This week the A's made 10 suites available for purchase using bitcoin, which was up 1.1% and trading over $59,000 per share as of Thursday afternoon. Consumers can pay one bitcoin in exchange for a luxury suite for the 2021 Major League Baseball season. A suite usually runs $64,000 for the year. Kaval labeled the promotion a "bitcoin discount."

Though the A's are the first MLB team to experiment with bitcoin to sell suites, other pro sports teams like the National Basketball Association's Sacramento Kings have offered to purchase merchandise using the digital currency. The Kings started accepting bitcoin in 2014.

"We thought this was a good way to test the market to see if there really was the interest level in transacting in the cryptocurrency as opposed to just using it to store value, and we felt a suite to the A's game for a whole season was a good place to start," Kaval said.

"If you see it in baseball, you can see it anywhere," Kaval added. "It's an important point to see if this is a real way to transact in the marketplace."

MLB will return to a 162-game schedule this season after playing a 60-game campaign last year due to Covid-19. The A's are allowed 20% capacity as the pandemic continues, but Kaval said the team is on the right "trajectory" to have full capacity in July. President Joe Biden said the vaccine should be widely available by May.

"I think we're on that, and we want to do it in a safe way for our players, fans, and for staff," Kaval said. "I think it will happen this year, and it will be a great moment to celebrate getting through the pandemic."

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