With A's leaving, is there a pro baseball crisis in California?

The Modesto Nuts play a game at John Thurman Field in Modesto in July. The Dodgers’ entry in the California League — now the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes — agreed to move into the new Ontario ballpark, scheduled to open in 2026, city officials said. Quakes owner Bobby Brett declined to comment, but city documents say the team “intends to relocate its operations to the city of Ontario.” Jennifer McLain Hiramoto, the city’s director of economic development, said Ontario would pay about $100 million to build the ballpark. “The way I describe it,” Wapner said, “it’s a major league stadium hosting a minor league team.” Most independent economists would scoff at that level of taxpayer investment, in part because the local audience for minor league baseball already is served by another California League stadium eight miles from the proposed Ontario ballpark, and in part because entertainment spending within the city would be diverted from, say, the mall or the sports arena to the ballpark. “This is kind of a love fest for Oakland.” To underscore the Ballers’ raison d’etre — a baseball team that never would abandon Oakland — Freedman and Carmel sold ownership stakes to fans.