The Oakland A’s Are Moving To Sacramento For Three Seasons, Here’s Why

The Oakland A’s will finish their final season in Oakland this year, then relocate to West Sacramento for three seasons beginning in 2025, Oakland A’s owner John Fisher announced on Thursday April 4.

This move will have the A’s play three seasons at Sutter Health Park, the 14,000-seat stadium in which the AAA Sacramento River Cats play. There will be an option to remain there for a fourth year. Once this deal is done, the team will complete their planned move to Las Vegas in 2028.

The A’s lease with the Oakland Coliseum expires after the 2024 baseball season. After a contentious few years with the city of Oakland, they were unable to reach a lease extension with the city of Oakland and Alameda County. While the team’s new stadium on the Las Vegas Strip is being constructed, the team will play in West Sacramento in the interim.

Sacramento Kings and River Cats owner Vivek Ranadive helped facilitate the deal to host the A’s for up to four seasons.

“We explored several locations for a temporary home, including the Oakland Coliseum. Even with the long-standing relationship and good intentions on all sides in the negotiations with Oakland, the conditions to achieve an agreement seemed out of reach,” Fisher said in a public statement, “We understand the disappointment this news brings to our fans, as this season marks our final one in Oakland. Throughout this season, we will honor and celebrate our time in Oakland, and will share additional details soon.”

The looming move to Las Vegas marks another Oakland team that left the city for the opportunity found in Las Vegas. The NFL’s Raiders moved from Oakland in 2020. The city is becoming a burgeoning hotbed for sports with the incoming A’s, a potential NBA expansion team, and successful franchises in the Las Vegas Aces and Vegas Golden Knights.

Starting next season, Oakland will have no major professional sports teams. This will be a major blow to a city that historically has supported its teams through thick and thin.

On the other hand, Sacramento is getting a great opportunity to host Major League Baseball for several years. This could be seen as an auditin for a potential bid to introduce its own MLB team. Even if that doesn’t come to fruition, this gives fans in Sacramento the chance to see baseball’s biggest stars like Shohei Ohtani, Fernando Tatís Jr., and Zac Gallen.

“Today marks the next chapter of professional sports in Sacramento. The passion of our fans is second to none, and this is an incredible opportunity to showcase one of the most dynamic and vibrant markets in the country.” Ranadive said in a public statement.

The A’s will share the stadium with the River Cats as AAA and MLB seasons run concurrently. This will bring a new host of logistics questions, but the A’s will certainly maintain priority when it comes to scheduling and stadium use.