Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg calls A’s move to capital region ‘the stuff of dreams’

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The stuff of dreams.

That’s how Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg summed up what for local baseball fans had been an exhilarating day that began with a morning news conference announcing the Oakland A’s would be playing in West Sacramento for at least three years beginning in 2025.

“There is real emotion in this for me in the historic announcement,” Steinberg said in an interview following a second news conference late Thursday afternoon. “One of my favorite movies is “Field of Dreams.” Baseball is about wonder; it’s about connection; it’s about generational relationships.

“And to be able to have the ritual of a ballgame virtually every day in your city is something that I know we will not take for granted during these three years. We’ll enjoy every minute. And then we’ll see what the future holds.”

Steinberg, flanked by council members Eric Guerra and Caity Maple, topped off a surreal day in Sacramento at the news conference in City Hall chambers. Steinberg triumphantly placed an A’s cap and a Sacramento River Cats bobblehead on a podium, declaring the day, “the stuff of dreams. It is a day of understandable excitement for the people of Sacramento.”

Bringing a team with a colorful history that has included hall-of-fame players such as Reggie Jackson, Ricky Henderson, and Rollie Fingers to Sacramento involves an unusual arrangement. Beginning in 2025, the soon-to-be former Oakland A’s will play at least three seasons at Sutter Health Park just across Tower Bridge from downtown Sacramento, while the A’s prepare for a permanent move to Las Vegas.

The A’s residency in Sacramento is being made possible through a partnership between Sacramento Kings owner Vivek Ranadivé and Oakland Athletics owner John Fisher. The Sacramento River Cats and Sutter Health Park are owned by Ranadivé and the Kings. Both baseball teams will play at the park, making nearly every day in Sacramento between April and September a place to see live professional baseball.

At the City Hall news conference, Steinberg said, “People will ask, ‘will this be an audition for Sacramento as it continues to grow and attract more, including the potential for future Major League Baseball expansion?’ And my answer is, ‘you bet it will be an audition.’”

As a state senator, Steinberg was a major booster of the controversial deal involving public financing and incentives to keep the Kings in Sacramento.

The unexpected landing of the A’s, Steinberg said, validated that investment, because without “investing over $300 million in the Golden 1 Center, welcoming Vivek Ranadivé and saving the Kings 10 years ago … the announcement that was made this morning at 10 o’clock in the home of our proud neighbor the City of West Sacramento, would not have happened. Success leads to more success.”

Steinberg predicted that having the A’s in Sacramento would be a major economic accelerator.

“It‘s gonna be huge,” Steinberg said, adding, “I have no doubt that this is going to be a major economic impact and also send a signal to the rest of the country, to other professional sports leagues, to other industry leaders who are wondering where should they think about expanding their companies.”

But can the city that created the “beam team” and a palpable excitement around the Kings create success for a baseball team that has seen hard times of late? The A’s were an abysmal 50-112 in 2023.

Steinberg told The Bee he was already dreaming about a World Series in Sacramento.

“Remember the (1969) Mets?” he said. “Sports is always about the underdog.”