Former MLB executive gives insight on Oakland-to-Sacramento move

Apr 5, 2024, 8:15 AM | Updated: 8:22 am

(Sactown Sports)

Editor & Kings Beat Writer

The Oakland Athletics are moving to Sacramento, where they will call Sutter Health Park home from 2025-27–and potentially beyond.

During Friday morning’s edition of The Carmichael Dave Show with Jason Ross, David Samson, former president of the Miami Marlins, joined the guys to discuss what goes on behind the scenes for MLB owners and executives during relocation and what motivators are at play.

Samson was president of the Marlins from 2012 to 2017 and worked as the Executive Vice President of the then-Montreal Expos from 1999 to 2002. The Expos relocated from Canada to Washington D.C. in 2005, where they became the Washington Nationals.

Topics Discussed

David opens by saying, “It’s okay to feel good about MLB coming to Sacramento.”
To those in Sacramento who feel hypocritical regarding the A’s relocation, David peels back the curtain on what goes on behind the scenes when team officials make these franchise-altering decisions.
“The problem is, as a fan, we bring you on the roller coaster with us, and I really hated doing that when I was getting a ballpark done in Miami, when I was threatening relocation… But the reason I had to bring the fans on the roller coaster is that it was the only way to get the politicians to understand the game that I was playing, which is I want money to get this ballpark done… So, fans, unfortunately, are brought on this ride.”
Samson says this Sacramento deal “has nothing to do with the Las Vegas deal.”
“[Sacramento] is simply taking advantage of the opportunity that it has now.”
Samson finds it odd that the A’s on-field product wasn’t brought up once during the announcement press conference
Should fans be hopeful that this team will produce a better on-field product over the next three seasons?
Would any other owner take a similar deal to relocate to a minor league ballpark, or is this just on John Fisher?
“It’s not an Oakland problem–and let’s be clear, baseball would prefer the team to stay in Oakland–it really is an expansion problem. The owners are pressuring the commissioner to get to expansion as quickly as possible because of the influx of money that there will be for expansion teams that will be split 30 ways.”
Samson says he’s intrigued to see if Oakland and Sacramento compete for an expansion team
Kings owner Vivek Ranadive says MLB wants an expansion team in California. Was that something that wasn’t supposed to be public?
“Really, what he did, maybe, has guaranteed that Sacramento won’t get an expansion team. Because one thing that owners do is they keep track of what owners say publicly.”
Was Sacramento ever mentioned as a possibility for expansion when Samson was with the Marlins?
Samson says Sacramento was never mentioned as a potential destination, but he adds that the more cities that get involved, the higher the fees for expansion will be.