It’s official: the Oakland Athletics are leaving the city and the Oakland Coliseum behind a bit quicker than anticipated. The team has stated that the 2024 season will be their last in Oakland. This is another unfortunate blow to fans of the club in a long line of issues the past few years. Instead of sticking around Oakland, the A’s are going to a Triple-A ballpark. The current Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants will welcome the A’s into Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.
Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento will host the A’s for the 2025-27 seasons – ahead of the team’s move to Vegas in 2028. pic.twitter.com/KryyjzpLMl
— Oakland A’s (@Athletics) April 4, 2024
A Disappointing End to Oakland Athletics Baseball
The A’s are headed to Las Vegas at the end of this decade after a unanimous vote by MLB owners. However, it was thought that they would be able to work out staying in Oakland for the foreseeable future. Instead, the fans get another slap in the face, knowing that this is the last season they’re in Oakland.
It’s an abrupt ending to a long-standing franchise that’s been rooted in Oakland since 1968.
The team had been working on renewing their lease so the Oakland Athletics could stay in the city until their inevitable move in 2028, but no deal was struck between the city and the team.
In a statement by John Fisher, the owner of the team, he lamented that the two sides just weren’t able to make it work for a temporary home:
“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,” said A’s owner and managing partner John Fisher in a prepared 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.
“We extend our appreciation to the Kings and the City of West Sacramento, and look forward to making Sutter Health Park our home until our new ballpark opens in Las Vegas.”
A’s make Sacramento official. Here’s the statement from John Fisher. pic.twitter.com/taxuR5Ljiy
— Casey Pratt (@CaseyPrattABC7) April 4, 2024
More About Sutter Health Park
It’s no secret that Oakland A’s fans are not happy with the owner and with the moves that the team has been making. In fact, the most recent sting was the club making a questionable roster move in optioning the AL stolen base leader last season in Esteury Ruiz.
The Oakland Athletics had been weighing a few options before their move to Las Vegas. They could stay put, head to Salt Lake City or, in the case that won out, head to Sutter Health Park.
With this move, they’ll head to a ballpark with 10,000 seats usually available. This number can expand to fit 14,000 fans on any given night. Initially, it seems that hosting a big league club in a small park wouldn’t work. However, the little capacity there is at Sutter Health Park shouldn’t be an issue. The Oakland Athletics are only averaging 6,400 fans this year, and haven’t regularly seen 14,000 fans since 2019. With this move to Sacramento, they’ll likely only see a further dip.
In the end, MLB gets closer to a resolution in the Oakland Athletics saga, but it’s the fans of the club that are taking the biggest hit.
The A’s are moving to Sacramento from 2025-27, with an option to play there a 4th year, according to an announcement. They’re planning to be done in Oakland after this season, their 57th in the city. pic.twitter.com/ARVKmZa6TS
— Evan Drellich (@EvanDrellich) April 4, 2024
