Yankees-A’s games draw sellout crowds to West Sacramento for 1st time since March
The Athletics sold out the weekend’s three-game series against the New York Yankees, including a hot Saturday afternoon and the Mother’s Day matchup on Sunday, as the team drew its largest crowds to the West Sacramento ballpark since the team’s debut there in late March.
It was welcome news for the A’s, about six weeks into the team’s three-year residency at Sutter Health Park, and for civic leaders who want to prove the Sacramento region has the fans and the financing to support a Major League Baseball team. Feeble turnout during the A’s stint here could put a dent in their dreams of securing a new team, should the league follow through on its plans to expand beyond 30 teams in the coming years.
Last year at the Oakland Coliseum, the team averaged 11,965 tickets sold per game. At Sutter Health Park, the average as of Saturday was 10,223.
But last year’s ticket sales were weighted heavily toward the end of the season, when tens of thousands of people showed up to watch the final A’s games at the Coliseum, the team’s home of 57 years. Excluding the team’s final month at the Coliseum, the A’s averaged fewer than 10,000 tickets per game last year — a comparison that casts ticket sales at Sutter Health Park in a kinder light.
“It’s nice to see in Sacramento,” said Marco Garcia, as he waited for Saturday’s sold-out game to start. He had attended the Friday night game too, and said it had looked like a full crowd.
The A’s attendance was 12,049 on Friday, 12,113 on Saturday and 12,224 on Sunday.
There is a sense of novelty for fans, in the rare chance to watch a major league team play in a minor league stadium. Sutter Health Park’s capacity is 13,416, while the Coliseum sat 46,847.
“You get up close to the players. It’s pretty special,” said Scott Richardson, a Navy submarine officer who moved to the area four months ago, and had attended two other games at Sutter Health Park. “There’s not a bad seat.”
Jim McGovern, a Yankees fan from Tiburon, said Sutter Health Park reminded him of the baseball scenes he sees in old movies, the stands full of families and “everyday people.”
“To me it feels nostalgic,” McGovern said. “It feels more like what baseball used to be.”
‘Tremendous’ season ticket sales
Regardless of Sacramento’s big-league aspirations, the A’s presence may have already offered a shot in the arm for the region’s minor league team. The Sacramento River Cats saw an increase in excitement about baseball in general after news broke that the A’s would play here, River Cats President and Chief Operating Officer Chip Maxson said last month during a presentation to the board that oversees Sutter Health Park’s bond financing. Season ticket sales rose, he said, and the River Cats’ overall attendance in 2024 was 10% higher than the year prior.
The trend for the River Cats appears to have held: This year’s ticket sales are roughly on par with last year’s.
Steve Fanelli, the A’s vice president of sales and business operations, said the A’s have been selling about 80% of their ticket inventory. After those set aside for community groups and family members of the players and staff, the A’s have about 12,100 to 12,200 sellable tickets available for each game. Compared to the same period last year, he said, sales are up about 60%.
Fanelli said the team’s West Sacramento residency has benefited from a strong base of season ticket buyers.
“I think it’s been tremendous,” he said. “It just shows the amount of support and baseball fans that are in the Sacramento region.”
Smaller park, higher prices
The A’s single-game ticket prices have tended to exceed those of other major league teams. Fanelli attributed the prices to the ballpark’s smaller capacity.
He emphasized that the A’s put $25 lawn tickets up for sale on the morning of each game, and there are other discounts for students, seniors and military members. But with restricted capacity, he said, the market drives the pricing.
“It’s unusual for Major League Baseball to be played in a ballpark of this capacity, and we’re trying to manage it so we can sell season tickets and also get people into the ballpark for a reasonable rate for select games — and give everybody a chance to experience baseball while we’re here in Sacramento,” he said. “We’re trying to work through it the best we can. It’s a little bit of an unprecedented situation.”
The cheapest seats available through the A’s MLB team website, as of Friday, for a Tampa Bay Rays game at Sutter Health Park on a Monday night in August were $48.45, and lawn tickets were $32.45. That same week at San Francisco’s Oracle Park, baseball fans could snag a ticket to watch the Rays face off against the Giants for $24, on a Friday night.
Ahead of opening day, the A’s had the highest median ticket price in the league, at $181, according to an analysis released earlier this year by the ticket-sales company Gametime. Because Gametime is a secondary ticket seller, Fanelli said, “people putting their tickets out for sale are setting that market.”
It’s not unprecedented for teams to charge higher prices while playing in smaller stadiums, said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis. The Los Angeles Chargers were in a similar situation in 2017, he said, when the team kicked off a three-year stint at Dignity Health Sports Park after leaving San Diego.
The Rays, who are also playing at a minor league ballpark this season after Hurricane Milton damaged the team’s home stadium, Tropicana Field, had the third-highest median ticket prices in the league, according to Gametime, at $146.
Of course, Rishe said, if ticket prices are high enough to deter fans, the team misses out on parking, merchant and concession revenues.
“Sometimes it’s worth taking a hit on ticket revenue,” he said.
Over the longer term, Rishe continued, the A’s performance will shape fans’ enthusiasm and willingness to trek in from across northern California.
“There’s still probably a bit of a honeymoon effect,” Rishe said.
This story was originally published May 12, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
