Let’s make one thing clear: If the A’s are to leave Oakland,which I don’t think will happen, they are not moving to Sacramento.

Earlier this week, Major League Baseball gave the A’s the green light to explore relocation options after over a decade of trying to build a ballpark in Oakland as well as other places in the Bay Area have gone nowhere. Possible relocation cities include Las Vegas,Portland,and Nashville,just to name a few.

“The future success of the A’s depends on a new ballpark,” A’s owner John Fisher said in a statement. “Oakland is a great baseball town, and we will continue to pursue our waterfront ballpark project. We will also follow MLB’s direction to explore other markets.”

The A’s have a proposal to build a new stadium at the Howard Terminal, which is valued at $1 billion and would also have a development for office and retail space as well as affordable housing. This is seen as the most likely scenario for the team to stay in Oakland. But negotiations to get that deal done between the team and city have dragged on.

The A’s have played at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum since their arrival from Kansas City in 1968. The stadium was completed in 1966.

With the news of the A’s possibly leaving Oakland for elsewhere,many fans in Sacramento have lobbied for them to relocate there.

I just don’t see it happening,and it’s not because I’m a Giants fan. Why? Because it’s hard to get professional sports in Sacramento. The Kings nearly left almost a decade ago and it took the commissioner lobbying for the team to stay here and to get investors interested in keeping the team there. The Republic FC has hit snag after snag in their MLS bid and it’s in danger of being given to someone else. What makes anyone think that Major League Baseball is interested in coming here after all that?

There’s not a proposal for any stadium for them to play at,and no,Sutter Health Park (formerly Raley Field), is not an option. When that stadium was built,it was done so in a hurry so the team could have its inaugural season in 2000. The clubhouses aren’t connected to the dugouts like MLB likes its stadiums to have and it would have to be structurally rebuilt to even host a major league team. Therefore,a new park would need to be built for the A’s or anyone else to come there.

Something else to think about: Major League Baseball has ignored Sacramento before. In the late 1980s, there was a proposal to build a baseball/football stadium next to ARCO Arena called ARCO Park in an attempt to get a MLB team as well as a longshot attempt to lure the then-Los Angeles Raiders to Sacramento. The “March on Baseball” took place at Oakland Coliseum in 1987 where 20,000 fans went to an A’s game to get Major League Baseball’s attention that Sacramento was ready for a team. Ultimately ARCO Park was only partially built and a team never came to Sacramento.

I think the A’s if they were to move to Sacramento would have a lot of support as there are a lot of fans that reside here and unfortunately I think some Giants fans who live here (and fans of other teams) would switch allegiances if this were to happen. However, I just don’t see the viability of it happening anytime soon.

Ultimately, I see the city of Oakland and the A’s working things out and the A’s opening a new park in Howard Terminal sometime around 2027.