ARCO Park: There was once an attempt to bring an MLB team to Sacramento
(FOX40.COM) — Executives from the Oakland A’s reportedly toured Sutter Health Park on Thursday, as they seek a temporary home before relocating to Las Vegas.
The West Sacramento ballpark has emerged as a possible destination for the A’s for an interim 2025-27 period before relocating to Las Vegas in 2028.
The team is looking for a temporary home after their lease expires with the Oakland Coliseum following the 2024 MLB season.
Sutter Health Park is home to the Sacramento River Cats, who are the Minor League Triple-A affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
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With the possibility of the Major League ballclub coming to the capital city, there was a previous effort to lure a MLB team to Sacramento as part of project involving ARCO Arena.
Former Sacramento Kings owner Gregg Lukenbill presented plans for a privately funded sports complex that included Arco Arena and a proposed hybrid football/baseball stadium that was going to be called ARCO Park.
The proposed stadium was going to be built next door to ARCO Arena, but ultimately plans fell through.
According to a previous FOX40 report, roughly $16 million of infrastructure was built on the site for a 53,000-seat baseball and football stadium adjacent to the arena.
“So, I think if you look at a place like Sleep Train, the freeway access, the airport, the water, the sewer, the roads,” president and CEO of the Great Sacramento Economic Council Barry Broome told FOX40 in May 2021. “That was originally built, legend has it, for a Major League Baseball team and an NFL team. That was the original vision.”
The now demolished Arco Arena in Natomas broke ground in 1986 and opened for the 1988-89 season for the Kings.
The Kings old venue, which also went by the Power Balance Pavilion and Sleep Train Arena, was demolished in August 2022. The Kings moved to the Golden 1 Center in downtown Sacramento in 2016.
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After efforts fell through on a MLB team in Sacramento, Minor League Baseball came to the area with the River Cats, who have played at Sutter Health Park since their inaugural season in 2000.
Sacramento is one of two top 20 media markets in the country that only has one team across major professional leagues in the NBA, MLB, NFL and NHL. The other city is Orlando with the Magic in the NBA.
If Sutter Health Park is chosen as a temporary for the A’s, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg said it would be a chance to showcase Sacramento for another major pro sports team.
“This community is a major league community and this city is a major league city,” Steinberg told FOX40 on Thursday. “If we have the opportunity to show Major League Baseball and the country how much this community loves baseball that would be an easy sell.”
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