West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero and Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty prepare to throw the first pitch during a MLB game at Sutter Health Park between the Athletics and the Baltimore Orioles on Friday, June 6, 2025. The two are leading a group to win a bid for a MLB team.
HECTOR AMEZCUA
hamezcua@sacbee.com
In an interview with The Bee, Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty made the most definitive comments yet about the local effort to bring a Major League Baseball expansion team to the capital region.
“This is very real,” McCarty said Tuesday. “I think MLB is going to give a hard, hard look at Sacramento with only one team in Northern California.”
McCarty was referring to the Athletics, who will play in West Sacramento this year and next before relocating to Las Vegas in 2028, leaving only the San Francisco Giants in Northern California. MLB may expand from 30 to 32 teams in 2029 and Sacramento could end up competing against Salt Lake City and Portland to be the home of a new team in the Western United States.
McCarty said he and other Sacramento leaders will hold a press conference sometime in May to formally announce Sacramento’s MLB bid, but before then he shed some light on what is coming.
After months of hinting about it, the mayor revealed where a new MLB stadium would be built.
“It would be in West Sacramento,” McCarty said. “That’s one thing I’m 100% locked in on.”
Financing a stadium that could cost an excess of $1 billion would be easier in West Sacramento, McCarty said.
“In Sacramento we get 22 cents on the dollar in property taxes,” McCarty said. “In West Sacramento, they get 48 cents on the dollar. So what does that mean? We just did a (special taxing district) in Sacramento to provide a couple of hundred million dollars… for a soccer stadium in the rail yards. If you did the same thing over in West Sac, you get twice the money.”
West Sacramento is already set up to make this deal happen, McCarty said.
“In West Sacramento, they have an existing ballpark (special taxing district) that will be very comparable to the other states (to create) a public-private partnership,” the mayor said. Aside from a stadium site, McCarty said the question he is always asked is: who would own the team?
“We’re talking to locals who want to be part of the ownership. It’s the proverbial whale — that’s the big, big thing. There are a lot of people who have expressed an interest in buying a major league team. It’s a hot commodity. There’s only 30 opportunities, and there are multiple, multi‑billionaires that would love the opportunity, and they don’t have to live in Sacramento.”“
McCarty would not go into details about who would be involved in an ownership group, but said some of the deep‑pocketed investors vying to buy the San Diego Padres are already “on our radar” as potential lead owners for a Sacramento expansion bid.
“Whoever (comes in second in the bidding process), that’s a good person to talk to,” McCarty said. “Plus, there are others who have expressed an interest in being part of this.”
McCarty highlighted Sacramento’s market as one of the key reasons the city is a viable option for MLB.
“Of the cities that are applying, Sacramento’s got a lot of valuable assets that MLB would be very interested in, most importantly, our market, you know, the Northern California market with only one team.”
West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero confirmed that city officials are eyeing land for a stadium near Sutter Health Park, which currently hosts the Athletics. While the exact location has not been finalized, sources indicate a site adjacent to Sutter Health Park is under serious consideration.
Guerrero expressed similar excitement, citing the growth an MLB team could bring to her city.
“Just when the Bridge District was in the process of building more housing, you saw more business come out here in West Sacramento alone, just with the housing. With the major league baseball team, I anticipate that’s going to significantly grow.”
McCarty said a stadium on the West Sacramento side of the Sacramento River, with downtown Sacramento as the backdrop, would make the Sacramento region a compelling contestant for an MLB expansion team.
“We are in the mix,” McCarty said.
“There is no guarantee, but we have just as much of a shot as other cities.”