Sacramento Kings roll out the red carpet for A's, introduce team to fan base with electrifying overtime win
SACRAMENTO -- The Sacramento Kings rolled out the red carpet to treat the A's like royalty as the region will soon welcome its second major professional sports team to town.
Monday night, exactly 12 weeks out from the A's home opener at their new temporary home at Sutter Health Park, the Kings invited A's players and staff to sit courtside as the team took on the Miami Heat at the Golden 1 Center.
"Welcome to the A's, I hope they have a great time here," one Kings fan told CBS13.
The A's got the perfect introduction to the Sacramento area fan base that the two teams will now share -- the Kings pulled off an electrifying double-overtime win against the Heat, with fans bringing playoff energy to a Monday night game.
"Sacramento is our home and it will be for the next three years. We are gonna do everything possible to make it feel that way," said A's manager Mark Kotsay. "Anytime change happens you can embrace it or reject it. I've learned to embrace it."
Support for the team's move to West Sacramento was sluggish at the start among many players. Monday, A's star outfielder Brent Rooker told CBS News Sacramento he is all in.
"I think we are looking forward to building on our own existing fan base, establishing a new fan base in a way in a new city," said Rooker. "There's always a really cool relationship between sports teams and the communities they represent. The ability to go out and do that in a town as cool as Sacramento with a fan base and community as enthusiastic as they are is exciting for us."
It comes as local businesses work to cash in and the city of West Sacramento is preparing now to get ready for the A's.
The city's police department announced it is looking to increase its staffing ahead of the A's inaugural season by 20 percent.
New housing is going up near Sutter Health park and the city of West Sacramento also increased parking fines and fees in the Bridge District surrounding the stadium, in effect as Jan. 4.
It is also a construction zone inside the ballpark, rushing to make big league upgrades to get big league ready.
"The renovations are going really well," said Kotsay. "The noticeable difference will be the lighting, they've added four new light poles, a ton more LEDs. There are a lot of changes going on to bring it to major league standard and I'm confident they will get that finished."
The A's staff and team members got to take a tour of the facilities on Monday. Rooker says he likes what he sees so far.
"It'll be a unique experience in terms of other Major League parks. We got out there, we got to see it today. We got to see the improvements being made. We feel really good about what's happening. We feel optimistic about the amenities and facilities that obviously are important to us. The clubhouse, locker room, food room, training room, weight room, all those things. We kind of left that tour feeling better about it than we did before having seen it," said Rooker.
The purple and the green, months ahead of a big move, are two teams shooting their shot for a Sacramento region homerun.
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive also owns the the Giants' Triple-A affiliate the Sacramento River Cats which currently, and will continue to, call Sutter Health Park home. The two teams will cozy up and share the stadium.
Starting this Spring, the A's and River Cats will play a combined total of at least 156 games at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento. The A's will host 81 games at home, the River Cats will host 75 on a grass field that will have to be maintained near-constantly.
"We want to embrace it in every way we can, give back to the community as much as we physically can. And win," said Kotsay.
