A's execs arrive at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento in search for team's interim home
WEST SACRAMENTO – Oakland A's executives were on-site in West Sacramento in their search for an interim ballpark their team could call home before a possible Las Vegas ballpark is built.
That is re-igniting talk about Sacramento getting its own Major League team.
Only CBS13 captured the A's executives in their black SUV on the streets of West Sacramento as they left a secret meeting at Sutter Health Park.
CBS13 also captured a shot of the scoreboard welcoming the executives by name.
Sacramento business leaders see this interim ballpark deal as an opportunity to bring a big league club here for good.
Ten years ago, Josh Wood worked to get a downtown NBA arena built with public financing and says there is enough political will to do it again for a major league team.
"The reality is it's a demonstration to the Major League Baseball that this is a city that can support it and do it well," Wood said. "We have a lot of really well-run, financially skilled cities that could be partners in something like this."
The 2024 campaign for the A's comes three decades after another one in 1987, a sensational PR stunt by Sacramento to grab Major League Baseball's attention.
Three hundred buses caravaned down Interstate 80 carrying 20,000 Sacramentans to the Oakland Coliseum to show Major League Baseball the capital city could be a major league city.
ESPN's John Malos reported on the spectacle.
"Major League Baseball at that time didn't pay attention," Malos said. "ESPN did because they called me. They wanted the story."
The 20,000-strong caravan was choreographed by then-Kings' owner Gregg Lukenbill who also spent millions of dollars building the foundation for a ballpark right next to the Kings' former home, Arco Arena, that he hoped would attract a major league team.
All this time later the foundation is still there. The ballpark was never built. Decades later, there is now another pitch from the capital city.
"And these are the kinds of swings we have to take as a region," Wood said.
Get ready for Sacramento to try and score at home again.
In this political year, CBS13 reached out to Sacramento mayoral candidates to see if they would support a public subsidy for a ballpark.
Kevin McCarty said he would not. Steve Hansen said he would work to bring a major league team here, although, he did not specifically support or oppose a public subsidy.
None of the other candidates responded.