How will fans get to and from A’s games in West Sacramento? Here’s what city officials plan
While the Athletics are finishing off their final season at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum and preparing for their final home game there in September, West Sacramento city officials have been busy preparing for the Major League Baseball team’s arrival to the capital region next spring.
There remain logistical questions to be answered. Among them: How will the move affect transportation, both for baseball fans and others?
The A’s will be moving to Sutter Health Park in 2025, where they’ll share the 14,000-seat stadium with the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, with roughly 157 regular season games to be played per year by the two teams for at least the next three seasons. The A’s plan to move to a new stadium in Las Vegas by 2028.
“It’s a little too early for exact details, but we are having ongoing discussions with the River Cats about enhancing transportation for A’s games,” West Sacramento City Manager and Port CEO Aaron Laurel said in an email. “Generally speaking, there are already several options for getting to/from the stadium on game days.”
Laurel noted there has been street work done around Sutter Health Park in recent years, including the opening of the Fifth St. widening project in June and building a separated bike path connecting to the stadium. The Yolo Transit District bus system has five routes to the stadium on game days.
Additionally, the area has been prepared by sell-out crowds throughout the 24-year-old stadium’s history, including the three-game series of Savannah Bananas games in May and an exhibition between the River Cats and their parent club, the San Francisco Giants, in March.
“These games are good proxies for what to expect in terms of managing traffic, parking, and transportation on the higher-attended A’s games we expect to see beginning next season, especially because the current capacity of the stadium is not increasing,” Laurel said.
“Still, we are working with the River Cats to build off those experiences to enhance our capabilities and offerings in order to manage these impacts as best as possible.”
The A’s first game in West Sacramento will be against one of baseball’s biggest draws, the Chicago Cubs, on March 31. This means the city’s transportation plan will be put to the test early.
Parking and shuttles
The River Cats currently list nine parking lots surrounding Sutter Health Park available to drivers for highly attended games, including a garage north across the Tower Bridge Gateway at the pyramid-style Ziggurat building.
Fans will also be encouraged to try West Sacramento’s Via on-demand shuttle service, which offers rides for $3.50 per person and $1.75 for seniors or those with disabilities.
Via operates similarly to Uber or Lyft with users sharing a shuttle.
The app is currently limited to West Sacramento, but Laurel said there are plans to expand drop off points to downtown Sacramento and near the Sacramento Valley Station for Amtrak’s Capital Corridor route.
Trains and light rail
Speaking of trains: The Amtrak station, which can accommodate fans visiting from the Bay Area, is a one-mile walk from the stadium through the western edge of downtown and the Old Sacramento Waterfront.
“In the bigger picture, the efficient management of traffic and transportation for major league games requires strong collaboration with our transportation partners at different levels of government,” Laurel said.
“To that end, these upcoming seasons really highlight the importance of why we need critical regional transportation improvement projects like the I Street Bridge Replacement and the light rail extension to West Sacramento and Sutter Health Park, both of which we are in the process of advancing in coordination with the City of Sacramento, Caltrans and Regional Transit.”
The Sacramento Regional Transit board voted in August 2022 to expand its operations to West Sacramento and create a street car station near Sutter Health Park. However, construction on the $160 million project isn’t expected to begin until 2027, with a preliminary time frame of completion in 2029 — a year after the A’s plan to open their Las Vegas ballpark.
The street cars are also expected to service Golden 1 Center, Downtown Commons, the Crocker Art Museum, the historic waterfront and the Railyards north of downtown, where Sacramento Republic FC hopes to construct a new soccer stadium in the coming years.
Bikes and more
The team has encouraged bikers to use its bike racks and free valet service for bikes, scooters or roller blades near the suite entrance on the southwest side of the stadium near the main entrance.
Stadium upgrades before A’s move in
Sutter Health Park is also going through preparations to host the A’s while more than doubling its inventory of events. The Sacramento Kings, who own the River Cats and the ballpark, last month announced plans for renovations and new premium areas.
Synthetic turf will be installed to avoid surface wear and tear, though questions remain about managing heat on the surface during Sacramento’s hot summer months. July 2024 had the highest number of 100-, 105- and 110-degree days for any month in Sacramento’s recorded history, according to the National Weather Service, and studies suggest synthetic turf gets significantly warmer than natural grass.
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This story was originally published August 9, 2024 at 5:30 AM.
