Pima County endorses plan to save spring training

TUCSON — Trying to save baseball spring training in Tucson, Pima County supervisors gave tentative approval Tuesday to try to copy a successful plan in the Phoenix area.

Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry painted a dim picture Tuesday of what would probably happen if a new plan to save baseball spring training doesn’t ultimately get an OK by voters and state legislators.

Right now, there are three major league baseball teams training in Tucson.

One of them, the Chicago White Sox, is getting ready to leave for the Phoenix area.

If that happens and there’s no replacement team, the other two, the Arizona Diamondbacks and last year’s National League champs Colorado Rockies, would probably follow, Huckelberry said.

The County Supervisors will revisit the issue April 1 for a formal vote on the new plan and to launch the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority.

The authority would help finance stadium improvements and other things to attract and hold major league baseball teams for spring training.

In Phoenix and Maricopa County, there’s the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority to build and improve major league football and baseball stadiums. It also has the authority to raise taxes and provides up to 6 percent of its revenues to youth and amateur sports.

The tentative plan for Pima County would more than quadruple that, providing 25 percent of its revenues for youth and amateur sports.

The Pima County supervisors gave their endorsement Tuesday to the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority.

To pass, it would need a majority vote of Pima County voters and be passed by the Arizona Legislature.

The first major league spring training in Tucson was when the Cleveland Indians arrived in 1947.

The Colorado Rockies replaced the Indians at Hi Corbett Field at Randolph Park in south central Tucson.

In 1998, Pima County opened a two-team major league spring training facilities at Kino Park on the far southeast.

The Phoenix team, the Diamondbacks, and the White Sox have been tenants there since.

The Arizona Cactus League Baseball Association estimates that spring training brings $30 million a year in direct and indirect economic benefits to the region.

There’s concern that if the White Sox move to the Phoenix area, the Diamondbacks and Rockies would eventually follow, leaving the major league training sites Tucson Electric Park and Hi Corbett Field empty.

There’s a minor league team, the Tucson Sidewinders, that plays at Tucson Electric Park, but it has been sold and expects to relocate to Reno, Nev., about midseason in 2009.

There’s no money in the county’s existing Stadium District Revenue for renovations and improvements at Hi Corbett or TEP.

County Administrator Huckelberry’s Tuesday memo said, “No new revenues are available for any expansion, renovation or significant modification of spring training facilities in the county either at Hi Corbett or at Tucson Electric Park.”

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