Could the Oakland A’s come to the Sacramento area? Mayor Darrell Steinberg hopes so
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg would welcome the Oakland Athletics to the Sacramento region as a temporary home for the Major League Baseball team in 2025 — should they come calling amid their uncertain future.
“You better believe Sacramento would be a great place for the A’s to play on a temporary basis, for all the reasons we know,” Steinberg said during an interview with The Sacramento Bee Wednesday.
The A’s are currently working to secure stadium deal on the Las Vegas strip that will take years to complete while their current lease at the Oakland Coliseum is up following the upcoming 2024 season.
The A’s could require a temporary home in 2025 before their new stadium is finished if they don’t extend their lease in Oakland. Continuing in Oakland is considered unlikely given the contentious relationship between the team and city officials stemming from the stadium dispute and fans’ distaste for the direction of the franchise under owner John Fisher.
The A’s ranked last in home attendance over the past two seasons.
Steinberg’s statement Wednesday comes following a report from the San Francisco Chronicle this week which said “industry sources with knowledge of MLB’s and the A’s thinking said Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park, home of the San Francisco Giants’ top farm team, has emerged as a possible A’s landing spot.”
Sutter Health Park is actually in West Sacramento in Yolo County. West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero echoed her neighboring mayor’s interest across the Sacramento River. She, too, likes the idea of having a Major League Baseball team set up a temporary residence in the region.
“We are thrilled to embrace the A’s and look forward to the exciting prospect of collaborating during this pivotal phase as they work on their magnificent ballpark in Las Vegas,” Guerrero wrote in an e-mail to The Bee. “We’re eager to witness A’s games at Sutter Health Park and extend our full support to ensure a triumphant journey for the A’s and their devoted fans in the region.”
Steinberg would not comment on the validity of the report, nor confirm discussions between decision makers in the Sacramento region, the A’s and Major League Baseball have been happening. But he said in a radio interview last April on Sactown Sports 1140, “Major League Baseball knows Sacramento is interested in adding another sports team to this city.”
“This is one of the greatest fan bases in the country,” Steinberg said Wednesday. “And we love all sports, including baseball. And I know if this were to occur, that it would be a major success.”
Sac is a top-20 media market
The proposed temporary venue, Sutter Health Park, is owned by the Sacramento Kings, which bought the controlling stake in the Triple-A River Cats in 2022. West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park opened in 2000 and has roughly 10,600 permanent seats with a capacity of over 14,000 including a grass seating area beyond the right field wall.
The Kings, A’s nor River Cats responded to requests to comment.
Major League Baseball’s schedule for 2025 is expected to be announced in July during the All-Star break. The A’s other options for 2025 include Oracle Park in San Francisco or Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, Nev., home to their Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas Aviators.
Steinberg’s second term as mayor ends in 2024 and he has decided against running for a third term. He has long been a proponent of more major professional sports coming to Sacramento. The city ranks 20th in Nielsen’s media market rankings while Orlando is the country’s only other top-20 market with just one sports team from the NFL, NBA, MLB or NHL.
Charlotte, St. Louis, Kansas City, Indianapolis and New Orleans all rank below Sacramento and have multiple teams in the major pro sports leagues.
Possible MLB expansion
Major League Baseball has been considering expanding from 30 to 32 teams for years, but it’s been stalled by the A’s and Tampa Bay Rays’ ongoing stadium issues. Sacramento hasn’t been seen as a viable expansion market because of its proximity to the Bay Area, which long housed two teams, the A’s and San Francisco Giants. Nashville, Charlotte and Portland are among the cities being considered for expansion.
Sacramento could emerge as a viable option if the A’s complete their departure from Northern California for Las Vegas. And the A’s using Sacramento as a temporary home could create a blueprint for something permanent.
“It would demonstrate to Major League Baseball, as it considers its long term expansion plans, that Sacramento is a major league city,” Steinberg said.
