When the A’s came to town, what happened to Sacramento’s other baseball team?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- River Cats attendance dropped 9% amid stadium sharing with MLB's Athletics.
- Minor league games offer value through promotions and fan accessibility.
- Ownership upgraded ballpark in bid to attract permanent MLB presence.
When it comes to Sacramento baseball, the public discourse has focused this year on the Athletics’ local debut, visits from their major league rivals and all other aspects of the former Oakland team’s transitory moment in the region.
But on a recent evening at West Sacramento’s ballpark, when the crowd hooted and hollered for a first baseman’s at-bat, they were cheering for the River Cats, the minor league team that has spent 25 years entertaining baseball fans here with performances by MLB-bound players and quirky promotions.
Little ink has been spilled for the Cats as the team takes on the rare task of sharing a field and a spotlight with a major league franchise, and the team’s attendance has ebbed in this first of three seasons sharing Sutter Health Park with the Athletics. In the first 45 home games of this season, River Cats attendance was down about 9% compared to the same period in 2024.
“There is a finite amount of money, and, presumably, interest,” said Lauren Anderson, director of the Warsaw Sports Business Center at the University of Oregon.
But the team’s fans say there’s a strong argument for West Sacramento’s minor-league ticket. And River Cats players and staff have taken this season’s changes in stride, focusing on the work of winning games and developing future MLB stars.
“We’re here to do a job,” said third baseman Drew Ellis. “Whether we get 100 fans or 10,000 fans, it’s just cool to step onto a baseball field with these guys and play the game.”
The smartest fans in baseball
The River Cats have cultivated a steady following over their years here, from casual fans seeking family-friendly entertainment to San Francisco Giants devotees who want to see their team’s future aces up close. The River Cats were affiliated with the Athletics from 2000 to 2014, but since 2015 have been the Giants’ Triple-A team.
River Cats and Giants fans are “some of the smartest in baseball,” said Zack Bayrouty, the River Cats’ play-by-play broadcaster.
“They’re keenly aware of what the chessboard looks like for the Giants, and who the guys are to be watching,” Bayrouty said.
Bayrouty described Bryce Eldridge, a River Cats first baseman who has generated buzz lately, as “arguably the top prospect in baseball.”
“I think if he doesn’t go up this year, next year out of spring training he’ll be competing for a roster spot with the Giants, for sure,” Bayrouty said.
Utility player Thomas Gavello, who joined the River Cats in July, said he’s routinely asked to autograph baseball cards from the Eugene Emeralds and the San Jose Giants, where he played in previous seasons.
“They want to see us when we’re early in our careers, before we get to the big leagues,” Gavello said.
Still, minor league baseball has a disadvantage on name recognition, said Patrick Rishe, executive director of the sports business program at Washington University in St. Louis. Minor leagues players often move around from year to year, making it harder for fans to connect with and develop a following for any one person.
A small percentage of fans might possess deep knowledge of the minor league rosters, he said, “but I don’t think that’s the average fan.”
The minor leagues offer a price advantage: Lawn tickets for a recent River Cats game against the El Paso Chihuahuas were advertised for $19.55. The lawn for a recent A’s-Tigers game was listed for $32.45, though the team releases a batch of $25 tickets on the morning of each home game.
That difference may not be enough to sway all fans, Rishe said. Whether it’s the majors or the minors, baseball is still a far cheaper ticket than basketball, football or hockey.
“The price difference between major league and minor league baseball is small enough,” Rishe said. “I don’t think that’s the deciding factor.”
Generally, experts said, minor league teams depend more heavily on marketing and locally inspired promotions.
“The beauty of these minor league ballparks is often the community, the promotions, the full entertainment — often more targeted at families,” Anderson said. “Is it Star Wars night? Is it dollar-hot dog night?”
‘It’s just more fun’
River Cats fans say their team has a compelling, if different sales pitch from major-league ball.
During a recent matchup against the El Paso Chihuahuas, with a starting temperature of 99 degrees, fans were energized by a slew of mid-inning antics. There was an apple-bobbing contest during the third. During the fifth, an emcee directed a blindfolded contestant to locate a baseball cap on the outfield grass. The crowd was encouraged to “boo” when he walked farther from the hat, and to cheer when he drew closer.
The River Cats’ mascot, Dinger, danced on the roof of the visiting team’s dugout, and sound effects played during tense and celebratory moments: a feline snarl, and the two-note sting associated in pop culture with an approaching shark.
“It’s just more fun,” said Patrick Maher, a 64-year-old season ticket holder from Yuba City who has attended River Cats games for more than a decade. “People don’t take it as seriously.”
Don Murphy, a season ticket-holder since 2000, said there’s always been a clear appeal to warm, summer evenings at West Sacramento’s ballpark. Plus, sometimes major-league players stop through on rehab assignments, as Madison Bumgarner, one of the Giants’ former ace pitchers and World Series heroes of the 2010s, once did.
“The stadium was absolutely packed,” said Murphy, a 78-year old Sacramento resident. “Those were rare occasions, but that made it fun.”
On a recent Saturday, the River Cats hosted a 1990s-themed night. The first Sunday in September will be “Bark in the Park,” where fans are allowed to bring dogs, and the team occasionally uses alternate names and uniforms. (That practice landed the River Cats in controversy in April when the team announced it would play some of its games as the “Gold Diggers,” and backtracked the following day after local elected officials and news outlets decried the idea and accompanying promotional video as sexist.)
‘Big-league atmosphere’
Though major and minor league teams at times play in the same metro area — minor league teams play within 45 miles of the Houston Astros, Boston Red Sox and Seattle Mariners — no one has studied what happens when they exist in such close proximity, let alone share a ballpark, said Nola Agha, a professor in University of San Francisco’s sports management program who has researched the economics of minor league baseball.
This year offers a test case, with two MLB teams playing home games on non-MLB fields. The Athletics this season began their three-year stint in West Sacramento, and the Tampa Bay Rays have spent the season at the Yankees’ spring training venue, after Hurricane Milton damaged the team’s home stadium.
A dip in attendance, like the one the River Cats have seen this year, is typically harder to absorb in the minor leagues, where teams don’t receive the lucrative TV-rights payments seen in MLB, sports business experts said. For major league teams, ticket revenues are often the second-largest source of revenues, behind broadcast rights fees.
“It is more penalizing,” Rishe said.
The River Cats said in a statement that they have seen strong community support in 2025, and an increase in group and corporate outings to the ballpark.
The team has been majority-owned, since 2022, by the ownership group behind the Sacramento Kings, headed by Vivek Ranadivé, a businessman who founded the tech firm Tibco Software in 1997. Tibco sold in 2014 to a private equity firm for $4.3 billion.
Ranadivé and A’s owner John Fisher announced last year that the Athletics would relocate to the River Cats’ ballpark, temporarily, while awaiting construction on a larger stadium in Las Vegas. Ranadivé has since made clear that he hopes the Athletics’ tenure in West Sacramento could help the region secure a permanent MLB presence.
In the months leading up to opening day, the ballpark was upgraded with a new scoreboard, premium club sections and renovations to the clubhouses, dugouts and bullpens.
Ellis, the third baseman, said the upgrades added “big-league atmosphere” to the ballpark. Gavello said there’s “really not anything more that you could want, as a player.” Catcher Logan Porter said the field is in better shape than ever.
“You can see the money they’re putting into the field,” he said.
Players and staff for the River Cats said they don’t tend to cross paths with the major league team, and after the early logistics were worked out, manager Dave Brundage said, the day-to-day pieces of the 2025 season have been easy.
In the offseason, the team will look back on this year and consider how to approach 2026, said Bayrouty, the broadcaster.
But the minor-league ethos has always been one of fun and accessibility.
“That’s always been the vibe with minor league baseball,” Bayrouty said. “We know it’s more expensive to go to major league venues, so for us, and a lot of minor league teams, I think we really try to make our way catering to families and people who want to bring groups out. To little leagues. To really make it that accessible entertainment here in town.”
