The A’s are on the hunt for a place to play after the 2024 season, having already searched south in suburban Las Vegas and west in San Francisco. On Thursday, they went an hour or so northeast of their Oakland home, to the Sacramento area.
Team officials were seen touring Sutter Health Park, home of the Giants-affiliated Triple-A Sacramento RiverCats, in neighboring West Sacramento. CBS Sacramento’s Andrew Haubner captured video of an A’s delegation climbing into an SUV to depart, and the first names of several high-ranking officials — including maligned owner John Fisher — appeared in a welcome message on the stadium’s video board.
The A’s lease at the Oakland Coliseum ends after the 2024 season, and their planned stadium in Las Vegas is not expected to be ready for action until 2028. They have floated the notion of playing in the meantime at the Giants’ home, Oracle Park, or their own Triple-A team’s facility, Las Vegas Ballpark in Summerlin, Nevada, or even remaining at the Coliseum, though Oakland mayor Sheng Thao has signaled she would require significant concessions from the team and Major League Baseball.
Thao’s counterparts up Interstate 80 signaled to the Sacramento Bee that they would welcome the opportunity to host the A’s temporarily.
The two franchises have worked closely together in the past. The RiverCats were the A’s Triple-A affiliate for the first 15 years of their existence, from 2000-14.
“This is one of the greatest fan bases in the country,” Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg told the Bee this week. “And we love all sports, including baseball. And I know if this were to occur, that it would be a major success.”
West Sacramento mayor Martha Guerrero concurred: “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,” she wrote in an email to the Bee.
The ballpark itself is owned by the NBA’s Sacramento Kings, who became majority owners of the RiverCats and Sutter Health Park in 2022.
The A’s, according to a Las Vegas official, got the go-ahead from MLB and the players’ union to receive revenue sharing in 2024 even though the Vegas ballpark deal was only a framework agreement when the collective bargaining agreement-outlined deadline passed on Monday.