Editorial: County goes to bat for spring training

Pima County has started a late-inning rally to save spring training in Southern Arizona.

Three teams, the Arizona Diamondbacks, Chicago White Sox and Colorado Rockies train here, with their fans pumping $30 million annually into the economy. The March boost from spring-training visitors is something we cannot afford to lose.

We support the resolution passed by the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to create the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority. If approved by county voters and State Legislature, the authority would have the power to levy taxes, which would be used to upgrade facilities and keep and attract teams to Southern Arizona.

The White Sox plan to leave Tucson Electric Park for Glendale next season. When that happens, expect the Diamondbacks and Rockies to follow if Pima County cannot find a replacement team. The D-Backs and Rockies can break their contracts to train at TEP and Hi Corbett Field if there are not three teams in Tucson.

There’s nothing we can do about the White Sox at this point except blame them for putting the grim prospect of no spring training in Southern Arizona into motion.

Even though the White Sox’s contract requires them to find a replacement team for TEP if they leave, they will pay a penalty and depart. We doubt Pima County will pursue legal action that contends the White Sox will cause irreversible harm by leaving. Legal action would scare other possible spring-training teams from coming to Southern Arizona and dealing with Pima County politicians.

The White Sox will train in a new complex in Glendale with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are leaving Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla., after 60 years to move to Arizona.

Another priority must be to spend $10 million to $20 million to renovate Hi Corbett Field, located in the Reid Park Zoo complex.

The City of Tucson operates Hi Corbett, but if asked to help, the county cannot afford to upgrade the facilities without new taxes on tourism-related industries.

Many local people attend spring training, but out-of-town visitors should pay a greater share through hotel bed taxes, rental-car surcharges and RV-space rental charges.

Pima County still owes $24.7 million on TEP, paid through the Pima County Stadium District. All existing tourism-related revenue goes to retiring that debt. The Pima County Sports Authority, if approved by voters, would have the money to pay for renovations and eventually build another spring-training site.

Maricopa County’s sports and tourism authority was created to build a new Arizona Cardinals stadium, build spring-training facilities and construct youth-league fields. It paid $300 million to build the Cardinals stadium and has funded four new complexes — in Peoria, Surprise, Maryvale and Glendale. The lure has been irresistible to teams such as the White Sox, who can move to the Phoenix area and play 10 other teams within a 50-mile radius.

Voters in Maricopa County passed Proposition 302 and the Legislature signed off on it in 2000. Voters liked the proposition because 6 percent of the money collected was earmarked for youth sports fields. The 6 percent was brilliant tactical ploy by supporters who failed previously to pass funding for a Cardinals stadium.

The resolution passed Tuesday established the Sports Authority would use 25 percent of the money collected for youth sports fields in Pima County. That will make the supervisors’ resolution hard for voters to reject if it’s placed on the ballot later in November.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Respond by e-mailing letters@gvnews.com. Comment online at www.gvnews.com.