A's Sacramento home opener is giving fans mixed feelings: 'They're dead to me' vs. 'They're my team'
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) -- It's a new chapter for the Athletics as they play their first home game on Monday at a new field, Sutter Health Park in Sacramento.
With the team's departure, many longtime Oakland A's fans say they are A's fans no more.
"I've been to more than 2,000 A's games. It's really devastating that they're not going to be opening in Oakland," said Chris Dobbins with Save Oakland Sports.
He and many others say they will not show up on opening day.
"It's sad because it never had to be that way," said Bryan Johansen, one of three owners of the Last Dive Bar. "We had to watch and see our team that has been rooted in Oakland for 57 years playing in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento."
MORE: A's say goodbye to Oakland with emotional final win at Coliseum
At VJ's Sports Bar in Alameda, Peter Kim of Oakland said he no longer roots for the A's.
"There's some exciting young players," he said. "I'm excited for them to get a chance to play in the show. It's really good for them, play for the fans, but I'm not rooting for them, I'm not following them. I don't care if they make the playoffs. They are dead to me."
Ron Luk has mixed feelings about going to a ballgame in Sacramento.
"I will probably at some point," he said. "I want to see a Major League game in a minor league ballpark looks like. I'll go to one game and that will be it. I really don't want to give John Fisher any of my money."
MORE: ABC7's Larry Beil's passionate reaction to A's owner John Fisher sending goodbye letter to fans
The Athletics will play in Sacramento for the next few seasons while they wait for their new ballpark in Las Vegas to be built.
The A's will share a minor league stadium with the Sacramento River Cats, who are the AAA affiliate of the San Francisco Giants.
While many Bay Area fans say they don't care for the A's any longer, some fans are still willing to shell out big bucks and go the distance and support the A's.
Joseph Audelo says he paid for season tickets.
"It was about a 50% increase at this ballpark which is a bit of a disappointment," he said.
Audelo says he made a tough choice.
"There's been so some indigestion over the whole thing," he said. "In the end, I'm really a baseball fan. The A's are my team."
Athletics fans show up to Sacramento to support team
It became official on Monday as the A's are now (temporarily) in West Sacramento, and this city welcomed the team dressed in yellow and green.
"Throwing on my colors opening day for the A's, I have my A's hat, my socks. I'm ready to go," said Ernesto Vargas, an A's fan.
Vargas took two days off and drove from Milpitas. He couldn't miss this day.
"I have been an A's fan since I was born. My family is an A's fan, my dad is a big A's fan, and I have been going since the 80's. Every year, I try to go to a new stadium," said Vargas.
Some fans even flew to be here.
"We are coming from Detroit. All the way from Michigan," said Taylour Barnowski and Justin Barnowski, A's fans from Michigan.
For many, it is about tradition.
"The A's just bring back so many memories for me and my siblings, and just core memories for me. So being in Sacramento, and just living it with a whole bunch of other A's fans is amazing," said Mckayla Becerra, an A's fan.
Many fans are gearing up for three seasons of the A's playing at Sutter Health Park, a minor league field before moving to Las Vegas. Businesses here are excited about that boost to the economy and hoping this new change leads to a World Series win and a longer stay.
"Energy, magic, sometimes in sports, weird things happen. So it will be really cool for that to happen here just right before they hop on to Vegas. Maybe they will reconsider the thoughts and stay in Sacramento? Oh who knows, knock on wood," said Joseph Lozoya, Retail Events Manager for Drake's Brewing.
Despite the excitement of opening day, the truth is, this change still hurts for many.
"They should be in Oakland. That is where they should be. But it is what it is. They are here now and we have to accept it," said Vargas.
'The A's are still the Oakland A's to me!'
The Coliseum seats are still there, the lights are still standing, heck the Rickey Henderson Field sign is still up in Oakland; but the A's players remembering Rickey Monday night were wearing his number 88 miles down the road at their new home in Sacramento.
"I respect them putting on 24 tonight, you know. I would have rather seen them stay in Oakland then adios to Vegas okay, but the agreement didn't work out that way," said Rodell Harrison of Oakland.
If there's one thing fans do well in Oakland it's keep it real. Those we talked with Monday night at Plank in Jack London Square, full of thoughts and opinions that were about as real as they come.
"If you don't get no fan base, how're you gonna keep players and pitchers and catchers, you know? The economics," said Harrison.
"I still love baseball, I still love the A's, but I am sorry that I will not be coming to Sacramento," said Rhonda Holmes of Oakland.
"I'm gonna support 'em but support 'em from afar, you know what I mean? I can't see myself going to Sacramento to watch them games or nothing," said one man.
In Oakland Monday night, the parking lot was packed but there was no A's game, no green, and no gold. Only long lines to get into a K-Pop concert with J-Hope at the Oakland Arena.
Hard for those like die-hard A's fan Dana Morgan, who showed us her Oakland A's memorabilia two years ago. Right now, she's not ready to watch the A's, especially a 'home' opener elsewhere. A day she always looked at as sacred.
"It's supposed to be a holiday for us, my Jello shots that I had been making for years and years, and you know just getting together for an entire thing. It was a holiday and now it's just a blah!" said Morgan.
Thoughts echoed by a fan base who seem to still look at the A's as a team of The Town.
"I even wore an A's t-shirt when I walked last week, so I mean the A's are still the Oakland A's to me, they aren't anything else, they're the Oakland A's, that's it," said Kathleen Fulmore.
