Why are A’s leaving Oakland? Could Sacramento be a permanent home? Your questions answered
The Sacramento region is gearing up to welcome Major League Baseball next spring.
The A’s, who have called Oakland home since 1968, will relocate to West Sacramento, home of the Sacramento River Cats, for three seasons.
As they await the completion of their stadium in Las Vegas, Sutter Health Park at 400 Ballpark Drive will serve as home field for the A’s.
Why are the A’s moving out of Oakland, and could they make Sacramento a permanent home?
The Sacramento Bee is answering your questions about the A’s temporary move to Sacramento. Have a question of your own? Email servicejournalists@sacbee.com.
Could the A’s stay in Sacramento long term?
Arden Arcade resident Dylan Waltz said he is a “big baseball fan” and plans to attend an A’s game in West Sacramento.
“I’m excited about the A’s coming to Sacramento,” he said. “This city deserves major sports.”
With the A’s temporary stay, Waltz said “it’ll be nice to have more than just the Kings.”
“I’m really interested to see how the whole temporary move works out,” he said. “Baseball has a place here in Sacramento.”
Waltz asked The Sacramento Bee: “Is there any possibility of the A’s turning their attention to a possible permanent home in Sacramento if a new ballpark was proposed?”
It’s not impossible — but their plans are to build a new stadium in Las Vegas.
“We will begin playing in West Sacramento at the start of the 2025 MLB season and will continue until our permanent home in Las Vegas is ready to welcome fans, which is projected for Opening Day 2028,” the A’s wrote in a statement to The Sacramento Bee.
The stadium will be on nine acres of land on the Las Vegas Strip where the former Tropicana Resort and Casino once stood.
The decision makers within the A’s, Sacramento’s government and the Kings/River Cats ownership have not yet indicated that Sacramento is being factored into the long-term plan beyond the team’s projected three-season stay beginning in 2025.
“There is part of me that thinks this is all a master plan to either sway the A’s to stay in Sacramento with plans of a new ballpark, or prime time audition to show MLB that Sacramento deserves a team,” Waltz said.
Kings and River Cats owner Vivek Ranadivé has stated he believed having the A’s in Sacramento could showcase the city to Major League Baseball as a possible expansion candidate as the league looks to add two more teams by the end of the decade.
If the A’s were to successfully build a stadium in Las Vegas, another team could make the case for competing for marketshare of Northern California with the San Francisco Giants.
Northern California has been a two-team market since the A’s moved to Oakland. Oakland could also be an expansion candidate.
While nothing is set in stone, there’s certainly a path to the team staying in Sacramento for the long haul if plans for the Las Vegas stadium fall through during the A’s stay.
However, Ranadivé, John Fisher, owner of the A’s, and city leaders would have to present a viable stadium and TV plans to the MLB and other owners.
And a good argument could be made that Sacramento would have a better chance at being a long-term home for MLB with the A’s than expansion given how many cities will be competing for expansion teams.
The more cities the MLB includes in the expansion mix, the more money MLB could make in expansion fees.
On the Sacramento stadium front, the downtown Railyards could fit another new venue in addition to the pending Sacramento Republic FC’s new soccer stadium, The Bee previously reported.
While Sutter Health Park is scheduled to undergo remodels to better-fit MLB standards, the plan is for the A’s to relocate to Vegas come 2028.
Why are the A’s leaving Oakland?
Sacramento resident Melanie Meyers said she does not follow along with MLB, but she enjoys attending live sporting events “for the experience.”
“I’ve never been to an A’s game before, but one of my grandmas was a huge fan,” Meyers said.
She has mixed feelings about the A’s coming to West Sacramento.
“At first I thought the A’s coming to Sacramento was exciting,” Meyers said. “Sacramento is just great at supporting its local sports teams.”
Though she does not fully understand the reason the A’s are coming to West Sacramento during the transition, she said “she is a little disappointed” that Oakland is losing its team.
Meyers said she does not want the A’s move to have a negative impact on the communities in Sacramento or Oakland.
“I just don’t understand why Sacramento is getting involved, while the team transitions to Las Vegas,” she said. “It seems like the move is motivated by money.”
Meyers asked: “Why was the A’s owner wanting to move the A’s to another city for decades? What was the issue with keeping them in Oakland?”
It depends whom you ask.
Fisher decided the current site of the Oakland Coliseum is not viable for a new venue, saying it would be difficult to build a large commercial and residential project, along with a stadium, in the middle of east Oakland.
Some believe the city of Oakland is simply difficult to work with — pointing out the Raiders and Warriors bolted the East Bay to build shiny new venues in Las Vegas and San Francisco, respectively.
Oakland has issues beyond sports venues, with experts likening the city’s issues with occupying commercial real state to those of downtown San Francisco’s.
The crime in the area hasn’t helped either.
The city’s leadership has had more pressing issues, relating to schools and law enforcement, to focus its public resources on.
While studies have shown sports venues are not practical uses of public money, that has not stopped governments from shelling out cash.
In Tennessee, over $1 billion in tax dollars is being given to the Titans for a new stadium after opening their current Nashville venue in 1999. The Buffalo Bills’ new stadium in New York will be getting $600 million from the state, which will own the $1.4 billion venue. The Raiders received $750 million in public money for Allegiant Stadium.
The driving factor for Fisher to take the A’s to Vegas was the $380 million contribution from Nevada tax dollars to help fund the stadium on the strip.
Last month, the Nevada Supreme Court took steps toward shooting down local opposition from a teachers union, which argued the money should be put toward schools.
During his efforts to put together the Las Vegas stadium plan, Fisher has been looking for $500 million of outside investment.
Other stadium plans have fallen apart, including the efforts at Howard Terminal and Fremont, which were connected to real estate projects and would have helped pay for the stadium.
All this helps explain some of the frustration surrounding Fisher’s ownership of the A’s from fans and observers. Owners typically solve their problems with money, and Fisher hasn’t been able to do so.
Which means his attempted stadium deals have been more complicated with more moving parts. Pair that with trying to build in a place as difficult as Oakland, and the result is a team leaving and getting public money elsewhere.
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