Athletics owner John Fisher can’t wait for the baseball fans of Sacramento to see players like Yankees star Aaron Judge hit home runs at the A’s new temporary home starting next year.
Fisher couldn’t help but flash a wide grin when he spoke at a press conference at Sutter Health Park, the home to the Triple-A Sacramento River Cats, which he described as the soon-to-be “most intimate” park in MLB when the A’s begin temporarily playing there in 2025.
This came as the A’s announced Thursday that they would be leaving Oakland for Sacramento for 2025-27, making 2024 the ballclub’s final season in the Bay Area.
The team also has an option for Sacramento for 2028 in case their new home in Las Vegas is still being built.
As part of the sales pitch to get fans to come out to Sacramento next season, he painted an exciting image of opposing players — and eventually, Athletics players — belting home runs out of the park.
“We’re excited to be here for the next three years playing in this beautiful ballpark,” Fisher said. “But also being able to watch some of the greatest players in baseball, whether they be Athletics players or Aaron Judge and others launch home runs out of this very intimate, the most intimate ballpark in all of Major League Baseball for the next three years.”
While one would fathom that the excitement of hosting an MLB franchise would mean promoting the players on the current team, even Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, who owns the River Cats, name-dropped stars on opposing teams when speaking about the Athletics coming to Sacramento.
“Just imagine you’re going to have lower bowl seats. You’re going to have [Athletics player] Zack Gelof at second base. You’re going to see [Shohei] Ohtani, you’re going to see Aaron Judge hitting home runs out there,” he said during the news conference.
The A’s move to Las Vegas was unanimously approved by MLB owners in November, which was the final blow in Oakland’s long-drawn-out attempt to keep the team in the Bay Area.
Negotiations fell short of keeping the A’s in Oakland in the near term after multiple proposals from the city to keep them at Oakland Coliseum until their planned move to Sin City.
Oakland officials were notified at 7:36 a.m. PT on Thursday of the club’s intent to go to Sacramento by team president Dave Kaval, ESPN reported.
Fisher, who has been continually blasted by the fanbase, has not attended an A’s game at Oakland Coliseum since April 19, 2023, according to ESPN, and he did not take reporters’ questions during Thursday’s press conference.
