Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty highlighted the enthusiastic crowds packing Sutter Health Park during a recent matchup between the Athletics and New York Yankees, noting many fans sporting jerseys displaying Sacramento across the chest.
The California capital region, traditionally viewed as secondary to major markets such as the Bay Area, Los Angeles and San Diego, is embracing its temporary role hosting the nomadic A’s while pursuing its dream of securing a permanent Major League Baseball franchise to complement the NBA’s Kings.
“It would mean everything,” McCarty expressed. “I think we’ve always fancied ourselves as a big league city. Having a team here in Sacramento would mean a lot to our city, bring a lot of economic groups to both sides of the river.”
Local leaders have launched what they call the “Sacramento Pitch” for expansion consideration, revealing in late May a pledge of $1 billion in public financing plus nearly $800 million additional private funding for the initiative.
Several crucial elements remain unresolved in the proposal. Particularly significant is the ongoing search for a primary investor to purchase the franchise, though multiple potential candidates have shown interest. Questions also persist regarding MLB’s expansion timeline and Sacramento’s position among prospective locations.
“What we have is just only one major league team here. So we have definitely room for having another team,” West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero stated. “We have a strong media market, the population is growing. We have a good economic growth here as well. We have the potential to develop a strong market for a Major League Baseball team here.”
The Sacramento market ranks 20th nationally in television viewership and stands as the largest metropolitan area with just one franchise across MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, MLS and WNBA. Approximately 2.7 million residents call the metropolitan region home, though some still consider it secondary to the prestigious San Francisco Bay area.
The community is experiencing major league operations firsthand while temporarily housing the A’s, who are completing their second of three scheduled seasons in West Sacramento following their Oakland departure and awaiting their Las Vegas stadium construction. One additional season remains before the relocation, with the team currently playing two series this week in the Las Vegas market.
Fan turnout has improved from 9,487 per contest last year to 10,820 across 28 home games this season, featuring 12 capacity crowds at the venue accommodating slightly over 12,000 spectators per game. Local leaders express confidence that a permanent franchise would generate greater attendance at a new facility constructed adjacent to the current Triple-A stadium.
“From our perspective, landing Major League Baseball is really a market demonstration statement about who we are,” explained Barry Broome, the President and CEO of Greater Sacramento Economic Council. “We do love baseball. Everybody deep down inside prays we’ll get a phone call from John Fisher and he says, ‘Psych, I’m staying.’ No one wants to admit they pray for that every day. But we love the Athletics. It’d be awesome, but we didn’t. They’re going to Vegas, so we have to bring in our own team which is fine with us.”
Sacramento organizers have secured $800 million through land assets near the existing minor league facility and private contributions, with access to $1 billion in public resources derived primarily from regional property tax revenue.
Despite economists questioning the wisdom of public stadium investments and McCarty’s own opposition to Sacramento’s NBA arena funding during his city council tenure, he considers this proposal more sound.
“That was more of an impact on the general fund,” he explained regarding the plan that resulted in Golden 1 Center opening in downtown Sacramento in 2016. “This one I think is the fairest deal for taxpayers and partners to do big projects that we have on the books.”
MLB’s immediate focus involves negotiating a fresh collective bargaining agreement with the players’ union. Commissioner Rob Manfred announced last week that MLB has informed interested communities that expansion decisions await CBA completion.
Additional cities competing for potential franchises include Charlotte, North Carolina; Montreal; Nashville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; and Salt Lake City. Sacramento’s primary competition would likely emerge from western markets.
“I think the size and scope of the market is really our key advantage,” Broome noted. “We’ve also demonstrated we have a turnkey stadium deal now. That can happen under the mayor and the city manager’s signature. We don’t have to pass a bond or anything like that. It took us four months to raise $800 million. I think people underestimate Sacramento. There’s a lot of money in this town. There is a lot economic power in this town. We can do this.”
