Tucson Spring Training: Spring training supports rally behind new sales tax

Is spring training baseball in Tucson doomed?

Not if the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority has anything to say about it.

On Wednesday, PCSTA members announced that a new sales tax would be needed to help keep the Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks in Tucson, while attempting to lure a replacement team for the Chicago White Sox.

The money raised would be used to renovate current parks and build new spring training facilities in Tucson.

PCSTA chairman Tom Tracy said the proposed tax would be attached to movies, museums and other attractions.

Retail items would be subject to a one-tenth of a cent tax, while hotels, rental cars, restaurants, bars and other amusements would fall under a 0.375 cents per dollar spent tax.

The group introduced a bill regarding this new tax toward the end of the last legislative session. It passed through the house with little resistance, but a heated gay-marriage amendment debate kept the bill from getting heard in the Senate before the end of the session.

Although Tracy called this a setback, he said the bill had support from many senators and Gov. Janet Napolitano and expects the Legislature to call a special session to discuss the measure.

If the legislation made it past the Senate, it would still need approval from Pima County voters.

Spring training generates more than $31 million annually, with more than 270,000 attendees in 2008.

“Spring training isn’t just surviving in Tucson,” said PCSTA Treasuruer David Cohen, “it’s thriving.”

Tracy called spring training baseball a source of pride and a part of the fabric of the community, but said that this isn’t simply a baseball issue.

“Whether or not you like baseball or care about spring training, this is an economic issue, plain and simple,” Tracy said.

The Diamondbacks and Rockies are expected to make their decisions regarding future spring-training sites in 2009. Whether they follow the White Sox out of Tucson will depend upon the quality of facilities, said PCSTA executive director Dan Schneider.

“These teams are focused on player development, and we need the facilities that will make that happen,” Schneider said. “This is the single-biggest industry in Tucson economics.”

He added that the long-term goals would be to see Tucson host up to four spring training teams as well as add as many as two new facilities — not only for Major League Baseball, but to help improve Tucson’s youth and amateur sports climate.

“[Youth and amateur sports] is a sleeping giant in our community,” said Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing of The Metro Tucson Convention and Visitor’s Bureau Rick Vaughn.

He said that improved youth and amateur facilities will not only bring major events to Southern Arizona, but it will also help keep families from having to travel outside of the area to participate in these activities.

“We have to stop losing and start winning,” Vaughn said.

The next PCSTA public meeting is scheduled for Sept. 17.

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