{"id":252447,"date":"2026-04-05T03:43:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:43:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/252447\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T03:43:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T03:43:27","slug":"what-west-sacramento-learned-from-a-year-hosting-the-as","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/252447\/","title":{"rendered":"What West Sacramento learned from a year hosting the A\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Athletics<\/p>\n

Athletics and San Francisco Giants fans sit in the stands during a baseball game at Sutter Health Park in West Sacramento on Saturday, July 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

DANIEL HEUER<\/p>\n

Sacramento Bee file<\/p>\n

The Athletics\u2019 first season in Sutter Health Park marked the beginning of a three-year experiment for baseball \u2014 and for West Sacramento.<\/p>\n

Locals wondered what the team\u2019s tenure there would mean for the economics and reputation of the city, suddenly in the spotlight of Major League Baseball. Officials wondered what the team\u2019s presence would mean for the sales tax and parking revenues that fund city services. Business owners around the stadium prepared for an expected influx of foot traffic, but had little idea what to expect.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery news station started coming to me,\u201d said Jeff \u201cFro\u201d Davis, owner of the Tree House Cafe, a four-minute walk from the ballpark. \u201cIt was like\u2026 we\u2019ve got 10,000 people a block away from us. Imagine if we could get 100 of those people?\u201d<\/p>\n

Baseball fans across the country, last year, saw the Tower Bridge on their TV screens. Home stands against the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants delivered throngs of fans to a ballpark that has, for 25 years, hosted the minor-league River Cats<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It all happened under the shadow of the Athletics\u2019 departure from Oakland \u2014 and as officials here speculated about whether they could leverage the unlikely circumstances in a bid for a permanent MLB team, as the A\u2019s plan to move permanently to Las Vegas in 2028.<\/p>\n

With one season elapsed and another approaching, some answers have taken shape.<\/p>\n

The city, indeed, saw a boost in tax revenue. For businesses, the results were mixed. Some reported an uptick in foot traffic, while others said their revenues were about even with previous years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we\u2019re learning as we go,\u201d said West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero. \u201cWe hit the ground running, just to get the ballpark ready.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even more, local officials have begun to view West Sacramento as the preferred location to site a campaign for an MLB expansion team, which city leaders on both sides of the river plan to launch this spring<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Living up to the hype<\/p>\n

At the Tree House Cafe on Third Street, Davis added an outdoor bar ahead of the A\u2019s first season in town. He kept it open during the first 10 games of the season, and hosted live music, hoping to catch ballpark-goers on their way to watch the A\u2019s.<\/p>\n

But fans, he found, were intent on getting to the stadium.<\/p>\n

The cafe was packed during the Athletics\u2019 series against the Giants over Independence Day weekend, he said, and during the Yankees series on Mother\u2019s Day weekend. The A\u2019s hosted seven sold-out game last season: The three-game series against the Giants and Yankees, and their home opener against the Chicago Cubs.<\/p>\n

But other times, traffic was slower than expected.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a good year,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIt just wasn\u2019t what we anticipated based on the way the hype in town was.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New New York Yankees fan Maria Lugo, of Elk Grove, looks at the seven autographs her daughter, Victoria, 7, collected on her ball and glove before the New York Yankees and Athletics game at Sutter Health Park on Friday, May 9, 2025, in West Sacramento. PAUL KITAGAKI JR. pkitagaki@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Officials and business owners offered a range of theories. Some fans may have walked across Tower Bridge to games, from Old Sacramento. Better promotion of the Ziggurat parking garage on Third Street might bring more foot traffic to the restaurants just north of the ballpark.<\/p>\n

During day games, fans were more likely to linger in the neighborhood, Guerrero said, but local businesses reported less activity around night games.<\/p>\n

The wine bar and cafe just beyond the stadium parking lots, Franquette, saw about the same business as usual, said co-owner Clay Nutting.<\/p>\n

The beer garden across the street, meanwhile, drew crowds. The River Cats historically have created a one-hour pregame \u201cpop\u201d of activity at Drake\u2019s: The Barn, said general manager Bia Hoskins. During A\u2019s games, the crowds arrived three hours before games.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably tripled the walk-in traffic during those times,\u201d Hoskins said.<\/p>\n

The beer garden\u2019s busy season \u2014 typically from May to October \u2014 began more than a month early, when the baseball season began. Management expanded business to seven days a week, and hired more seasonal staff. Revenues rose.<\/p>\n

But perhaps more significantly, Hoskins said, the beer garden drew crowds of new customers who may return in the coming years, and its regular appearance in media reports brought new attention.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has longer-lasting impacts than just a single season,\u201d Hoskins said. \u201cMy goal has always been: Folks come here and have a great experience and want to stay here even when the A\u2019s leave town.\u201d<\/p>\n

Business owners for the most part had high expectations, Nutting said. There is room for improvement, he acknowledged. Franquette staff will add new signage this season, and do more promotion on social media to reach baseball fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a huge win for the city, still,\u201d Nutting said. \u201cEven if it isn\u2019t as robust as maybe everyone had hoped.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Fans Fans enter the Sutter Health Park during the first Major League Baseball game in West Sacramento on Monday, March 31, 2025. Hector Amezcua hamezcua@sacbee.com Was tax revenue from A\u2019s game-changing?<\/p>\n

City staff estimated West Sacramento saw a roughly $870,000 revenue increase due to the Athletics\u2019 presence. Compared to West Sacramento\u2019s $80 million general fund, that\u2019s about a 1% increase \u2014 on par with what the city would expect from gaining a new big-box store.<\/p>\n

It was a significant increase in revenues, said City Manager Aaron Laurel, though not \u201cgame-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As has been standard practice for events at the stadium, the city is reimbursed its costs for traffic control, security and other services in and around the ballpark, Laurel said.<\/p>\n

A portion of the estimated revenue increase came from sales tax on concessions and merchandise within the ballpark. The city doesn\u2019t collect any tax on ticket sales. Another portion came from an overall increase in hotel stays across the city.<\/p>\n

The rest came from a year-over-year increase in revenues from paid parking spaces, which are primarily located around the stadium. The city does not receive any revenues from the stadium\u2019s on-site parking lot \u2014 that is split between the property owners and the team \u2014 but it receives a portion of the revenues from the Ziggurat parking garage.<\/p>\n

The increase in hotel tax revenues was \u201cfairly minor,\u201d Laurel said, perhaps because many of the games\u2019 attendees come from within the Sacramento region. And the area competes directly with downtown Sacramento\u2019s hotel market.<\/p>\n

Hotel occupancy across the river, in downtown Sacramento, was modestly higher during all seven months of the 2025 baseball season, compared to the same period the prior year, according to data compiled by the Downtown Sacramento Partnership.<\/p>\n

Guerrero, the mayor, noted West Sacramento likely also saw an increase in event permit fees, and in sales tax from businesses around the ballpark, which were not included in the estimate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was pretty satisfied with the outcome,\u201d Guerrero said. \u201cThat this brought in that much revenue, just on that limited scope.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Athletics Athletics and San Fransisco Giants fans pass through the gates at Sutter Health Park on Friday, July 4 2025, before the teams play in West Sacramento for the first time. DANIEL HEUER Sacramento Bee file \u2018We want to be the frontrunners\u2019<\/p>\n

Attendance is critical in baseball. The season is long, extending from spring training in February through the postseason in October.<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s and River Cats were tasked with filling West Sacramento\u2019s ballpark 150 times for home games last year, about double the usual number for a minor-league season, and the A\u2019s had to sort out how to manage ticket sales in a ballpark with less than one-third the capacity of the Oakland Coliseum.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no real data around what you could do in a situation like this,\u201d said Steve Fanelli, the team\u2019s senior vice president of sales and business operations.<\/p>\n

The A\u2019s paid attendance at home games averaged around 9,500. Sold-out games saw more than 12,000.<\/p>\n

To draw fans to the ballpark this year, the A\u2019s will offer some cheaper single-game tickets, particularly in the first couple of months of the season, when attendance is typically lower in MLB.<\/p>\n

Turnout tends to pick up in the summer, and varies in the later months, depending partly on a team\u2019s playoff prospects. The A\u2019s failed to make the postseason last year, with a win-loss record of 76-86. To start the 2026 season, the team lost five of its first six games during the season-opening road trip against the Toronto Blue Jays and Atlanta Braves.<\/p>\n

The team will offer $8 tickets for select games in April and May, and $99 family \u201cfour-packs\u201d for Sunday home games, which include four tickets, four hot dogs, four drinks and four snacks. Season tickets \u2014 which sold out last season \u2014 have seen \u201cstrong\u201d sales but haven\u2019t matched 2025, Fanelli said.<\/p>\n

The team this year added more locally-themed promotions, like giveaways at home games on so-called \u201cSacramento Saturdays.\u201d During those matches, players will wear gold jerseys with green \u201cSacramento\u201d lettering.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe heard from fans the same thing you\u2019re hearing,\u201d Fanelli said. \u201cFans wanted it as part of the experience, and we wanted to lean into that and appreciate their support, and the incredible atmosphere that they help create at the ballpark.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, to build hype for the franchise\u2019s planned move to Nevada, the A\u2019s will host six June games at Las Vegas Ballpark, the site of their Triple-A affiliate Aviators. Sutter Health Park will host 75 home games this season instead of 81.<\/p>\n

Attendance isn\u2019t just critical for the teams. When the Athletics take the field Friday against the Houston Astros, opening their home season, the region will resume what some officials view as an audition for a permanent, Major League team \u2014 which, experts say, would be bolstered by consistently high attendance at Sutter Health Park<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty has said publicly that he and Guerrero, the West Sacramento mayor, planned to launch a campaign<\/a> this spring for an expansion team. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said that he wants to have a process in place to expand to 32 teams from 30 by the time he retires in 2029.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be the frontrunners,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n

Davis, the cafe owner, also remained bullish.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will build,\u201d he said, \u201cand Sacramento will hopefully show enough demand to have our own team here in a few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Athletics Athletics and San Francisco Giants fans fill Sutter Health Park on Friday, July 4 2025, as the teams play each other in West Sacramento for the first time. DANIEL HEUER Sacramento Bee file
\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Annika Merrilees<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Annika Merrilees is a business reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously spent five years covering business and health care for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Athletics and San Francisco Giants fans sit in the stands during a baseball game at Sutter Health Park…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":252448,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-252447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=252447"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/252447\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252448"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=252447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=252447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=252447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}