City Ticket Distribution Policy

The City of Oakland receives suite tickets to every Raiders, Oakland A’s, and Warriors game as well as all other Oracle Arena and Coliseum events, along with additional field tickets to every A’s game, resulting in thousands of tickets to the City each year. Most tickets go directly to Councilmembers rather than the City’s executive branch, which is responsible for the management of City assets.

About

In 2016, the Public Ethics Commission opened an investigation into the receipt and use of City tickets by elected officials to determine whether any laws were broken and further initiated a policy and process review to address underlying problems inherent in the City’s policy and process for handing out tickets.

In 2017, the Commission published the report Ensuring Ethical and Transparent Distribution of City Tickets explaining the City’s process for handing out tickets to events at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and Oracle Arena, describing significant flaws with the current system and recommending solutions.

Next Steps

Now, the Commission is proposing a revised policy to the City Council to reform the distribution and use of free tickets by Oakland City officials to ensure ticket distribution and use is for legitimate public purposes and complies with state and local ethics laws, and we want Oakland residents to weigh in! Help us shape accountable government.

Key Findings
  • The City receives and distributes thousands of tickets each year in a manner that is poorly managed. The receipt and use of tickets by City officials who are involved in negotiating, drafting, and approving the contracts under which the tickets are provided to the City presents significant, inherent ethics concerns in the areas of conflicts of interest and self-dealing.
  • Some officials fail to report ticket information as required by law. Public officials and other ticket recipients claim purported reasons for the use of each ticket that is inconsistent with the nature or extent of their ticket use.
  • City tickets are treated as a perk of office or employment rather than a public asset to be managed and utilized for a public purpose as required by law. Many tickets go unused wasting a valuable public asset.
Project Assets

Project Updates

Public Ethics Commission Proposes Reforms to City Policy for Distributing Oakland Coliseum and Oracle Arena Tickets

Apr 25, 2018