The Sacramento A’s have a serious problem on their hands.
Not only are they holding press conferences inside a glorified tool shed at Sutter Health Park, but they’re also sharing their home stadium with a minor league team. The A’s coexisted with the Raiders at the Oakland Coliseum for years, and by late September, that field looked like a war zone. Now, they’re splitting time with the Sacramento River Cats. Imagine what their new home will look like after months of double duty.
Foul Territory doesn’t have to imagine. Neither does Sacramento Bee senior reporter Chris Biderman, who joined A.J. Pierzynski, Scott Braun, and Erik Katz on the show to break down the mess unfolding in Sacramento.
“A lot of things are going to reveal themselves as the season goes on,” said Biderman. “We talked about the attendance. Is that going to hold up over the long term, particularly if the A’s aren’t winning? Is the field going to hold up? How’s that going to work? Is this going to be a situation where there’s a lot of balls in the air? I don’t think it’s a sure thing that the A’s are going to be in Sacramento this whole three-year stretch; I don’t think that’s a given. Particularly, if, like you said, the field gets completely baked out; it turns into concrete by the time August comes around; if opposing teams voice their complaints.”
And then there’s the media situation — or lack thereof.
“The media situation certainly isn’t great,” Biderman adds. “I know fans don’t care about that, but the media situation — the lack of real press conference areas, and press work rooms and press seating — if the A’s do make the playoffs, the press setup is going to be why they don’t host a playoff game. And then you’ll have a scenario where if the A’s do end up hosting a playoff game, most likely that’ll be in San Francisco. And what’s that going to look for the A’s?”
Probably nothing good.
“If enough of these factors go poorly for the A’s, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if this Sacramento thing is a one-and-done,” Biderman explained. “Because you do have a Major League ballpark sitting there in Oakland. I know it’s being used by the Oakland Roots soccer team right now, but it wouldn’t take much for them to get that back ready to major-league caliber. And despite the team’s relationship with the local officials being completely fractured and the fanbase being completely fractured, you do have a Major League ballpark that’s sitting unused, that could potentially make more sense for the A’s than West Sacramento if things go poorly.”
That’s just speculation — for now. But Biderman pointed out that Chicago Cubs players were already complaining before their three-game set against the A’s even started. And then there’s that infamous press shed.
“You have the media situation being what it is,” Biderman said. “That shed that they have out down the left field line where they have press conferences, right, now it’s not climate controlled. Apparently they’re going to climate control it. But if they don’t throw air conditioning in that thing on a 100-degree day, I don’t know how you can have a press conference in basically that’s a metal box that’s going to turn into an oven. That’s something they have to fix.”
Beyond the left-field wall, Biderman noted that the facilities are “top-notch.” The problem? They didn’t build any sort of dedicated media space out there. Instead, they’re trying to make do with a cramped, makeshift setup. They’ve outfitted a three or four-person press box with a few extra spots and repurposed a luxury suite by pulling out its chairs and replacing them with folding chairs and tiny desks.
“It’s not a bad vantage point behind home plate, but if you’re hosting a playoff game, you need 150-200 seats for media people,” Biderman says. “And the A’s right now have about 30 or 40. And you have Opening Night with 150 media people there. The vast majority of them were without seats and were standing on the concourse, watching and standing in the Standing Room Only area.”
And if Opening Night was any indication, the A’s aren’t just struggling to accommodate media; they’re struggling to look like an actual Major League operation at all.
