Last week, I was on the west coast on assignment for ABF Freight. Sacramento, California to be exact. After a busy week of work and a cool experience at the Golden 1 Center to see the Sacramento Kings play the Portland Trailblazers, I had some personal time on Friday to explore Sacramento’s baseball fields and experiences. One baseball park in particular caught my attention – Sutter Health Park. Sutter Health has been home to one team, and will now be home to another starting in 2025. Two professional teams in one stadium, this I have to see.

Sutter Health Park is the current home of the Sacramento Rivercats, the AAA Affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. For a minor league stadium, it has a decent capacity of over 14,000. By comparison, my local Harbor Park here in Norfolk, VA has a capacity of just over 12,000. So, good size for a top level minor league affiliate. It is fairly easy to get to and has tons of parking available. The area around the stadium looks like it is getting a “facelift” as well.

In 2025 and perhaps for as many as 4 years, it will have another major tenant occupying its baselines, dugouts, and outfield spaces. The Oakland A’s will also call Sutter Health Park home starting in 2025. After a tumultuous period pitting fans against city against ownership of the Oakland A’s organization, the Oakland A’s are moving out of the Oakland Coliseum and into Sacramento. The A’s new home stadium size will be almost 1/4 the capacity size of their former home. Looking on the bright side, the more intimate feel might a whole lot better than the typical empty stadium feel the A’s have grown accustomed to for the last several years. Only recently, the last few home games of the season in 2024, did the A’s draw a respectable crowd. From the outside looking in, it seems like a good fit to move the A’s out of Oakland to a new spot for the time being.

After peeking through the closed gates at Sutter Health’s main gate area and seeing bulldozers, piles of dirt, and other construction vehicles I knew my visit would be relatively short. Not much to see outside the park other than a huge apron blocking the view into the park. I search for and didn’t notice any statues or plaques or commemorative monuments to photograph or research. I walked from the main gate, out and around to wear the bullpens are, peeked in a few times, but there really wasn’t much to see. It will be interesting to see how they pull off the two team tenant situation for the next few years. Perhaps it will be a business model for struggling minor league franchises? As I stated earlier, I think it may revive the A’s franchise fan base in a positive way.

This was my view from the third deck on Monday night. Wow, that Golden 1 Center was impressive. A modern, clean, energetic sports arena with tons of enthusiastic fans. Maybe some of these Kings fans will migrate over to Sutter Health Park this summer and support not only the Rivercats but the Oakland A’s, who will calling Sutter home for the foreseeable future. For now, Sutter Health is under construction and will not be ready until the Spring. I’m psyched I got the opportunity to experience the Sacramento Rivercats and Oakland A’s stadium, even though it was mostly dug up. I will be keeping an eye on how the two teams manage and co-exist in 2025 and for the next few years. Who knows, maybe the A’s will like Sacramento so much they will decide to stay even longer???