Created in 1901, the Oakland Athletics (A’s) are no stranger to moving cities. Originally serving as the Major League Baseball (MLB) team for Philadelphia, the A’s moved to Kansas City in 1955, and then moved again to Oakland in 1968. This April, the organization announced perhaps their most unusual move of all.

About four weeks ago, the A’s reported that they would temporarily move to Sacramento for three years (2025-2027) while their permanent stadium was constructed in Las Vegas. 

The temporary move to Sacramento was made after the A’s met with Oakland city officials to discuss a possible contract extension on the Oakland Coliseum, where the A’s currently play. The two sides were unable to reach an agreement. 

In the aftermath of the failed negotiations in Oakland, Sacramento Kings and Sacramento River Cats Owner Vivek Ranadive met with A’s Owner John Fisher, and struck a deal to allow the team to temporarily play in Sutter Health Park starting next season. Losing the A’s will be the third professional sports team the city of Oakland has lost in a span of five years. 

There have been mixed reactions within the city of Sacramento about this move – some fans believe that this is a hypocritical move by Ranadive since Sacramento almost lost the Kings and now he is helping another city lose their sports team. But others believe that this move is good for the city of Sacramento. 

Although I am disappointed that another city will have to go through the hardships that Sacramento has previously gone through, I agree that this is a good move for the future of sports in Sacramento. If the city can show that they have a fanbase to support baseball, then perhaps in the future MLB may consider expanding to Sacramento permanently. 

As a result of welcoming a major league team into a ballpark built for minor league baseball, Sutter Health Park will need some renovations. I think these renovations are a worthy investment because they could show MLB that Sacramento is worthy of an expansion team.  

Overall, bringing the A’s to Sutter Health park is a good move. It will bring more fans to baseball games in the summer, and it gives the city an opportunity to show that they can support a major league team, which could result in Sacramento receiving an expansion team in the future. This is an exciting time to be a sports fan in Sacramento.