WEST SACRAMENTO – Oakland A's executives were on site in West Sacramento to find a temporary stadium for the team to call home before Las Vegas Stadium is built.
This has reignited talk of Sacramento forming its own major league team.
CBS13 exclusively captured A's executives in a black SUV on a West Sacramento street returning from a secret meeting at Sutter Health Park.
CBS13 also captured a shot welcoming the leaders by name on the scoreboard.
Sacramento business leaders see this interim stadium deal as an opportunity to bring a big league club here permanently.
Ten years ago, Josh Wood worked to build an NBA arena downtown using public funds and said there was enough political will to do it again for a major league team.
“The reality is this is proving to Major League Baseball that this is a city that can support Major League Baseball and do well,” Wood said. “We have a lot of very well-run, financially proficient cities that could be partners in something like this.”
The 2024 Athletics campaign comes 30 years after the 1987 campaign in which Sacramento made a sensational PR stunt to get Major League Baseball's attention.
300 buses caravan down Interstate 80 carrying 20,000 Sacramento residents to the Oakland Coliseum as Major League Baseball shows the nation's capital can become a major league city. Ta.
ESPN's John Maros reported the scene.
“Major League Baseball didn't pay attention at the time,” Maros said. “I did it because ESPN called me. They wanted a story.”
The 20,000-person caravan was choreographed by then-Kings owner Greg Lukenbill, who was involved in construction of the foundation for a baseball stadium right next to the Kings' former home, Arco Arena, in hopes of attracting a major league team. also spent millions of dollars.
All that time, the foundations are still there. The ballpark was never built. Now, decades later, a new pitch is coming from the capital.
“And these are the kinds of changes we have to make as a region,” Wood said.
Get ready for Sacramento to score again at home.
In this political year, CBS13 reached out to Sacramento mayoral candidates to ask if they support public subsidies for ballparks.
Kevin McCarty said he wouldn't. Steve Hansen said he would work to bring a major league team here, but he did not specifically support or oppose public subsidies.
None of the other candidates responded.
