Athletics call West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park home for the next three full MLB seasons. Photo Courtesy of Sacramento River Cats

 

WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) – Never in the history of Major League Baseball has a major league team played in a minor league stadium for multiple seasons within a market that was neither their original or future home and void of a city name to anchor their fanbase.

This is the predicament the former Oakland Athletics have found themselves in as they call West Sacramento’s Sutter Health Park home for the next three full MLB seasons and small businesses near the ballpark are looking to build relationships with the ball club, capitalizing on the increased exposure to the area.

Fro Davis, the owner of Tree House Café located at 630 3rd St. in West Sacramento, said the City of West Sacramento opened a lot of areas to park south of the French restaurant Franquette, cutting off Sal’s Tacos (400 C St.), The Midway (330 3rd St.) and Tree House Café, three local small businesses near the ballpark.

“We want to see some love over here, but the issue is, we’re not getting the pedestrian traffic,” Davis said.

Drake’s: The Barn, located at 985 Riverfront St. in West Sacramento, is part of Drake’s Brewing Company, based out of San Leandro in the East Bay Area. Their Bay Area location is less than five miles from the Oakland Coliseum, the former home of the Athletics and they had previously sold their beer at the coliseum during games, hinting at an established relationship between the two organizations, based on their proximity and Bay Area ties.

West Sacramento small business owners said The Barn is a great hot-spot for fans, but sees most of the traffic before and after games, as their location is a half a mile away from the stadium in the opposite direction of West Sacramento business such as Tree House Café and The Midway.

Davis said he wants people to know that there is $20 shaded parking in the five-level Ziggurat parking garage, located at 601 3rd St., less than a quarter mile from Tree House Café, a quarter mile from The Midway and under half a mile from Sal’s Tacos. Each location is less than a mile from the ballpark.

Patrons walk into Tree House Café, located at 630 3rd St. in West Sacramento, less than a quarter mile from Sutter Health Park, the new temporary home of the Athletics Major League Baseball team. Photo by Seth Henderson

Parking and traffic has been difficult on the West Sacramento side of the river because of the cones surrounding the ballpark, even when it’s not gameday, Davis said. Comcast has signs posted for dates they will be doing construction, but Davis said the accuracy of the times posted does not always reflect the work being done, blocking crucial parking spots on high traffic days.

Davis said he knows coordinating with the Athletics is going to be a process that takes time, especially only being a few months into their first season at Sutter Health Park.

“On the weekdays, we actually have more fans from out of town than we do A’s fans and we’re hoping that the A’s fans know that we’re here, so we can get some of that business and it’s slowly trickling in,” Davis said. “It’s just not as much as we expected at the start.”

Davis said he has met with the “brass” from the Athletics front office and said they are wonderful people, but he’s not too sure where their head is in terms of developing business relations.

“I would love them to be more involved if they could be, but a lot of the executives still live in the Bay Area and so they’re only coming up for certain home stands, but I’d love any opportunity to work with them,” Davis said. “I’ve met some of the great people who work for them and they’ve brought us nice memorabilia and some A’s stuff.”

According to the A’s organization, the club’s official address is now 400 Ballpark Drive, that of Sutter Health Park and the Sacramento River Cats. The Sacramento Kings have allowed the Athletics front office to use some of their office space in addition to using offices at Sutter Health Park. Some executives are still working remotely, as they have since the Covid-19 pandemic, but other members of the organization have moved locally, living in some of the apartments surrounding the ballpark.

Vana Tu, owner of The Midway, said although the team’s relationship with the city is still fresh, it would be great for West Sacramento businesses to get support from people attending the games, but there is no redirection to advertise attendees to eat locally on the Yolo County side of the Tower Bridge.

Tu said the only support she has received relating to the A’s has been from beer companies and hasn’t seen as many River Cats fans since the debut of Major League Baseball in Sacramento. She said she had reached out to the Athletics and Sutter Health Park to inquire about marketing and was not able to establish contact.

Tu said she hasn’t gotten around to speaking with the mayor’s office, but has been in contact with the city manager to no avail of any proposed marketing developments in the works.

“Small business like Fro and I, we talk,” Tu said. "We’re just like ‘hey, have you seen any spike?’ I mean it has helped a little bit, but have you seen consistency with it?”

As a small business owner and operator, Tu said it’s difficult to manage operations and chase contacts she can never reach, while attempting to grow her business.

The West Sacramento Chamber of Commerce was contacted by phone to comment on their relationship with the Athletics ball club, regarding pending and on-going plans, but they did not respond by press time.

The Athletics organization has been actively getting involved in both the West Sacramento and Sacramento County communities, donating $10,000 to West Sacramento Little League, as well as hundreds of tickets donated to various local little league programs.

According to the A’s, the Nugget Market in West Sacramento catered the press box for the first six to seven games of the season and more relationships will begin to take hold as the club’s time in West Sacramento rolls on. A’s players have made appearances at local Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals centers and are scheduled to make hospital visits, school visits and host day camps for little leaguers.