The Oakland Athletics have been a stalwart in both the baseball and sports world for a very long time. However, with an abysmal roster and a move to Las Vegas in 2028 being almost certain, the team’s future has gone downhill in an instant.
The A’s have played at the Oakland Coliseum for over 50 years, and with their lease with the stadium coming to an end after the 2024 MLB season, it was announced by the team that they will play three years of baseball in Sacramento until their Vegas stadium opens.
The A’s will play at Sutter Health Park (formerly Raley Field) until they’re ready to move to Vegas.
If you are a part of Sacramento and its surrounding areas, you do not want this to happen.
Sacramento sports fans are one of a kind. Throughout the very long streak of the Kings being the joke of the NBA, the city still endlessly supported them. They’ve shown similar support to the Sacramento Republic Football Club and even Sacramento State’s sports teams.
With the A’s move to Sacramento, you’d best believe that Sacramento would pull out the red carpet treatment for the team. Do the A’s deserve that red carpet treatment though? Absolutely not.
The people of Oakland have given the A’s the same treatment that the people of Sacramento will. In the A’s successful years during the mid-2010’s, they were playing in front of sold out crowds constantly.
It wasn’t until the teams’ ownership stopped paying good players to come to Oakland that the team started playing badly, leading to a drop in fan attendance. Last season the A’s set record lows in terms of their attendance, and this was because of a boycott from the fanbase.
However, the A’s ownership and the MLB are using this as a reason for the A’s to make the move to Vegas. The fans of Oakland are still there and still eager to support the team, but not under this ownership regime.
The team’s owners and higher-ups are using the fans and using the city of Oakland to just move onto Vegas. There’s no reason to believe that they won’t do the same to the city of Sacramento.
All majority owner John Fisher and the higher-ups in the A’s organization have done in the last 3-4 years is put a poor product on the field and scapegoat other factors for the teams’ lack of attendance and success.
Sacramento will welcome the A’s with open arms. They will give the A’s three supportive years at Sutter Health Park before moving onto Vegas, and the A’s will act like Sacramento never existed.
As fun as it will be to have another professional sports team in the city, the A’s don’t deserve to play in a diehard sports city like Sacramento.
Unless the current A’s ownership sells the team and the new ownership decides to either keep the A’s in Sacramento or move them back to Oakland, this is a bad move for Sacramento.
Rob • Jun 5, 2024 at 3:17 pm
You did a very, very poor job of researching this. The A’s financial issues were always there, it’s just that the game (and salaries) expanded around them beyond what they could afford. The A’s have been in the lowest 20th percentile in attendance for decades. In the last 10 years, they barely average above 15k per game…while also going to the postseason more than half those seasons. The A’s, since 2010, have been to the postseason more than most of the league, yet people still don’t want to come out. This was happening BEFORE Fisher. The A’s have been trying to get a badly needed new ballpark for over 30 years, and the bay area has not been friendly at all towards that. Included into that is the market territory that the Giants stole from the A’s (yeah, when you borrow something to get a new ballpark, and then immediately sell the team and throw in that borrowed territory, that’s called stealing) which practically buried the A’s, yet they have been finding ways to be competitive. Why haven’t you pointed that out? Why haven’t you pointed out that in seasons where they won more than 90 games, they were still near the bottom of the league in attendance? Why haven’t you pointed out that the City of Oakland has not been honest with people about their handling of the Howard Terminal project and they they never actually had the money for the REQUIRED infrastructure, which would include raising Howard Terminal, which they have to do anyhow so it doesn’t end up under water within the next 10 years? Why have the Raiders, Warriors, and now the A’s all fled Oakland within the last 5 years? Why have many businesses been doing the same? This is Sactown’s chance to show we are a major league city. Expansion will come around, and this is the chance Sactown needs to get ahead in line. But you are entitled to your opinion, just don’t try and pass it on as facts without doing your homework.
Frank • Apr 25, 2024 at 2:14 pm
I think the people of Sacramento deserve better than what the short stay A’s will bring. You will enjoy 3 years of professional baseball then what there will be a emptiness. You want a major league team then pony up billions of dollars of taxpayers money to build one. You will never get the return on your investment and have no garuntees that the team will stay.
Fred • Apr 25, 2024 at 12:42 pm
This writer is pathetic! If you choose to write an article on the Oakland pro sport franchise demise (0 for 3) then do some research. The Oakland politicians have been dragging their feet about building a stadium for the Raiders and A’s for over 20 years. The A’s haven’t signed and kept good players mainly because they can’t afford them with the paltry revenue stream the Coliseum has. Oakland pols also botched the latest deal to keep the A’s in Oaland by insisting on large low income housing around the proposed ballpark. Why should Sacramento snub the A’s? Sac is a great sports town with perfect t-shirt weather for baseball. Everyone have talked to is excited about them coming here. Seems like this writer has a different agenda here. Why stick up for Oakland which is run by a wacko bunch helping to ruin the city?
Tony • Apr 25, 2024 at 8:24 am
The short sidedness of this article just shows how the writer clearly has no understanding of the positive impact a professional sport teams can have on a community. You’re implying that if Sacramento has a chance to land the A’s permanently then they should roll out the red carpet but not for a temporary stay. If Sacramento shows the ability to support the A’s, even temporarily, this puts the city as a front runner for expansion or relocation. Sacramento is still not seen as a major sports market and will never be considered as such without an opportunity to show what it can do.
Employing that Oakland has supported any franchise (with the poor attendance over the years for bothe the A’s and Raiders) to no avail and that Sacramento would fall victim to the same is ridiculous. The A’s in Sacramento, even temporarily, gives this city a chance to show what we can do and open doors for future sport franchises.
Magnifico • Apr 25, 2024 at 6:39 am
I hope this tantrum made you feel better. Other than that your whining has no impact whatsoever. Looking forward to warm summer nights watching the A’s in Sacramento. You can stay home and pout.
Green Mountain Boy • Apr 24, 2024 at 9:03 pm
I became an A’s fan in 1977, my first baseball season in the Bay Area. Both the A’s and the Giants were very mediocre that year. But the A’s, in my opinion, played better ball. They were more exciting to watch and the few fans that came to watch were much more enthusiastic than those at Candlelstick. They got better and better. I went to my first playoff game in 1981 and became a season ticket holder in 1987. I was treated to 3 World Series in 1988, 89 and 90, with a most enjoyable sweep of the Giants in 89. The Hass family were wonderful owners and wonderful for baseball. This complete clown, Fisher, is a piece of crap. And so is Manfred for completely ignoring that fact. Fisher is the reason fans don’t attend. He cares nothing about baseball, nothing about the fans and nothing about putting a competitive team on the field. He doesn’t deserve to own the A’s. I sincerely hope he fails miserably in Vegas, if he even gets there.
David W • Apr 24, 2024 at 5:36 pm
As an A’s fan since the 70’s, I have attended many games at the Collisiem. To have a MLB team in Sacramento would be a plus from my view point. It would add to our Community revenues in West Sacramento and Old Town. It would also show that Sac town is a great city to support a Major League Baseball Team. Even though the A’s is a temp-team, it will showcase our city as a Gem for future possibilities. We should show how supportive we are in our community for our future as a city for prosperity and entertainment for big leaguers.
Eric • Apr 24, 2024 at 3:41 pm
You need to do a little research. The attendance since 88 about 24000 per game, far far from sell outs. When they were in the World series or playoffs for that matter they averaged about 28000 fans. A simple google search would help you get your facts straight. I can’t wait for them to get out of that crap fest city of Oakland. The so called fans in Oakland aren’t hurting the owner. They are hurting the players that need our support. The worthless protesters in Oakland are to stupid to see they are not hurting Fisher. Have whatever view of Fisher you want. I don’t go to games for him. The only sad part about them going to Vegas is that I probably won’t see many game in person. I wish they would have built a stadium in Sac Town. So, for 3 years anyway I will be at a lot of games.
David Hylton • Apr 24, 2024 at 2:44 pm
Welcome the A’s! Sell the stadium out. This is about Sacramento and a trial run at one of the two expansion teams in the MLB. Show we’ll and we could have everyday MLB in Sacramento. It’s not about the A’s, it is about Sacramento.
PG • Apr 24, 2024 at 12:53 pm
WEST SACRAMENTO!!!!
Stay home then.
William • Apr 24, 2024 at 11:44 am
Agree the A’s belong on Oakland and I live in las vegas
Dan • Apr 24, 2024 at 7:17 am
Hot take! Sacramento sports fans don’t want a major league team to move to town! Come on. This is an opportunity for our city and region that should be embraced! I am an A’s fan living in Sacramento. I was born here. I was also born long ago enough to know the Kings weren’t an expansion team, and they came from Kansas City, which to this day doesn’t have an NBA franchise. I’m old enough to know that the A’s moved to Oakland from the same town, Kansas City, and promptly won three World Series in the Bay Area. I also know that Oakland ever strongly supporting the A’s is a fairy tale. There was never consistently strong support. Shortly after winning three championships, the A’s were playing in front of smallish crowds in the 70s and 80s. The presence of the A’s nearby even made a Giants move out of SF tenable. The Bay Area market is stretched having two major league teams.
Sacramento is the x-factor in all this. We are an under-served community for professional sports. Our residents support the Bay Area teams and prop up their attendance. Yet, we time and time again beat ourselves down, saying we shouldn’t go after other pro sports opportunities. The A’s coming here is an opportunity, and makes more sense than moving to over-saturated and untested sports markets in the relatively tiny Las Vegas media market. Indeed, the A’s coming to the growing and already large Sacramento area makes more sense than staying in Oakland. As an A’s fan, I believe this is our best shot at keeping the team here in NorCal. We just need to realize our own worth and boost our region.
Sal • Apr 24, 2024 at 2:05 am
Different team owners have tried to get a stadium built for approximately 25 years. The liberal policies and nonsense of trying to do business in California made it impossible and now all in that area are blaming athletics owner. The team moving is a direct result of radical California policies that forced teams hand
Ajo Knoblauch • Apr 23, 2024 at 4:53 pm
Sell the Team, Fisher!
Fred • Apr 26, 2024 at 8:11 am
Sell the Oakland politicians. They’re the buffoons that lost 3 treasured franchises!
Harry • Apr 23, 2024 at 4:36 pm
The team is Oakland’s who have two sites right now for the A’s to build a stadium and over 1 billion for the Howard terminal site, The A’s ownership is just using Sacramento like it used Oakland and will use Vegas for the most money they can get, the Oakland A’s fans mean nothing,Can you imagine how the Kings fans would feel if someone stole their team ? A frustrated Oakland A’s fan
Rob • Jun 5, 2024 at 3:08 pm
Harry….we WERE going to lose the Kings UNTIL the city and the mayor stepped up and worked with ownership to make G1C possible. The situation in Oakland has been ridiculously one-sided for decades. There have been 5 different locations over 30 years that the A’s have tried to get a new ballpark built on, and ran into nothing but interference and political blocking each time, including the people of Fremont who voted it down. The A’s aren’t being “stolen”; the city of Oakland cannot afford to keep them now and really aren’t even trying. They have you believing they do with their PR stories and paid reporters writing fluff pieces, but go into the actual council and committee meetings and you will see the city was the problem.