Oakland A’s to move to Sacramento, dashing hopes of heading to Smith’s Ballpark
Apr 4, 2024, 8:30 PM
The Salt Lake Bee’s play a game with the Tacoma Rainiers at Smith’s Ballpark in Salt Lake City on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. The Smith's Ballpark will not be a temporary home to the Oakland A's. (Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
(Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City’s bid to get the Oakland A’s here to the Smith’s Ballpark is now over. They have officially signed a deal to move up North to Sacramento.
Back in January… Smith’s Ballpark hosted the Oakland A’s as they searched for a temporary ballpark. There’s still 3 years left until they finish their slated new ballpark.
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
Salt Lake City, led by efforts from the Larry H. Miller Company, had hopes and a legitimate bid to get them here.
But, some say that was just a pipe dream, like Sacramento’s own sports radio host, Carmichael Dave.
“I mean this just as the truth and not in any way a shot at the wonderful city of Salt Lake, I don’t think it was ever a serious offer for a chance at Salt Lake,” he told KSL NewsRadio.
He said there’s currently mixed emotion in Sacramento; most people are excited to house the Oakland A’s, as “[Sacramento] is a baseball town that’s always had a baseball backbone.”
Others think Sacramento is doing to Oakland what Seattle did to them 12 years ago.
“The [Sacramento Kings NBA team] were sold to Seattle, and they were set to move. The city and the fans rallied, and did something really unprecedented.”
They saved the team and the Kings are now flourishing in Sacramento, not Seattle.
Larry H. Miller Company’s response
The Larry H. Miller company has sent out a statement in response to the news.
We want to express our gratitude to Major League Baseball and the Athletics for approaching the Larry H. Miller Company about potentially hosting the Athletics in our new ballpark in Downtown Daybreak during their transitionary period.
From the beginning, there were economic reasons tied to an existing television contract that favored the Athletics staying in Northern California. We wish the Athletics much success in their home state during this exciting time in their team history.
Our proven and ready ownership group and broad-based coalition is fully committed to bringing an MLB expansion team to the Power District on Salt Lake City’s west side. We are grateful and encouraged that Utah was viewed as a potential host and solution for the Athletics, and we will continue to demonstrate that we are the ideal MLB expansion market.
In the meantime, we are excited to open our new state-of-the-art Bees ballpark in Downtown Daybreak (www.beesballpark.com) in the spring of 2025. Visit www.milb.com/salt-lake/tickets for ticketing information.
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