Moneyball

The Cactus League has survived a few near deaths to become a major economic engine

By Ron Matejko, Sports Arizona Monthly

Looking at how the Cactus League is so entrenched within the fabric of Arizona it is hard to imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have spring training baseball at all. Yet, on two occasions that scenario not only seemed to be a reality, but a probability.

The Cactus League first took root in 1947 when the New York Giants and Cleveland Indians moved their spring workouts to Phoenix and Tucson respectively. Throughout the 50s and into the mid 60s, the Cactus League gradually added teams, including the Chicago Cubs, and grew to six teams by 1962. Other teams would come and go, relocating either to California or Florida, but the Cactus League continued on.

Reaching a crossroad

Trouble began brewing after the 1965 season when the Boston Red Sox moved to Florida to be closer to home and the Chicago Cubs left for Long Beach, Calif. The Cactus League was pared down to its original two of the Indians and Giants with the California Angels training in Palm Springs, Calif. Even though the Cubs returned in 1967 to train in Scottsdale, the future of spring training in Phoenix was on life support.

Resuscitation came in 1969 in the form of Major League Baseball expansion and the addition of the San Diego Padres and Seattle Pilots. The Padres set up camp in Yuma and the Pilots moved into the new Tempe Diablo Stadium. That year, the Oakland A’s also relocated to Mesa’s Rendezvous Park, bringing the total of Cactus League teams up to a record-high seven.

“The Cactus League was at a crossroad after the 1965 season, no one knew if it was going to survive” said Rodney Johnson, president of the Arizona Chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research. “What saved the Cactus League was when the three new teams came here. That solidified the league and enabled it to weather the storm.”

The league grew to eight teams with the addition of the expansion Seattle mariners in 1977 and remained stable for the next decade until another more serious challenge threatened its existence.

Baseball boom, Cactus League bust

During the late 1980s, Major League Baseball was entering a boom period. The value of television broadcast rights were shooting through the roof and bringing player salaries with it. Attendance was climbing and the beginning of the new stadium era was at hand. Baseball was now big business with a lot at stake, for management, for players and for its business partners.

As multimillion dollar contracts became the norm, players were looked at as valuable commodities. More importance was put on taking care of major league players and developing from the farm system played a greater role. With the margin of error now much smaller, teams looked to improve their baseball operations and a major target was spring training. In the past, the major league players and minor league players trained in separate locations. Now, teams wanted to consolidate the operations in facilities that more closely resembled their major league accommodations. Plus, with the increasing popularity of the game, owners saw spring training as another revenue source instead of a loss leader.

Many Cactus League facilities fell short of the higher standards owners now demanded, as did many Grapefruit League sites in Florida. However, while Florida reacted to the new environment with tax legislation, Arizona was restricted by tax laws that made it tougher to implement funding mechanisms to renovate or construct spring training complexes.

This window of opportunity allowed many cities in Florida, along with officials in Texas and Nevada to make overtures to Cactus League teams in hopes of luring them to their city with promises of state-of-the-art baseball cathedrals unlike any seen before.

“A few places were bragging that they were going to take them all away from here,” Robert Brinton, president of the Cactus League and executive director of the Mesa (Ariz.) Convention and Visitors Bureau told the Kitsap Sun. “People in Texas were saying they wanted to get in on it, and Las Vegas was ready to take our teams. Everyone was saying in the early ‘90s that the Cactus League was doomed.”

Florida already housed 18 of the 26 MLB teams and nine other cities lay in waiting for a team of their own. Ron Safford, the state’s promotion director, led the drive and was unapologetic about his intentions.

`”No team plays in a desert climate, so why should any play in one during the spring?’” Safford told the Seattle Times. “Game results miss media deadlines in the East. You can see twice as many players here as the Arizona league. Combine all that with sweetheart deals we can offer.”

Until that time, there were many individuals and groups that supported the Cactus League but there was a need for someone to respond to the threat and address how to keep the Cactus League intact. In fact, many Arizona officials initially didn’t take the threats seriously even though Safford confirmed that the Cubs, Mariners, Angels and Indians had all inquired about relocating. Half of the Cactus League was considering leaving, which surely would lead to its demise and no one was doing anything about it.

While Arizona was slow in dealing with its prohibitive tax laws, Florida already had statewide matching-fund legislation and special hotel bed taxes earmarked for sports facilities.
“If something isn’t done, and something isn’t done fast, they’ll be writing the Cactus League’s obituary within a year,” MLB Commissioner Bart Giamatti said in the spring of 1988.

A rosy future

Governor Rose Mofford, a life-long sports fan and All-American softball player, provided the unifying effort needed to focus the drive to protect this economic engine. One of her first acts as Governor was forming the Arizona Baseball Commission in 1989 to determine a solution to the problem. This group of local leaders included valuable contributors Joe Garagiola Jr., and Steve Patterson, the father of the Cactus League who brought many teams to Arizona including the Cubs in 1952.

In 1991, the Cleveland Indians gave notice of their intention to relocate to Florida after the following season. Priority number one then became retaining the Cubs, who were the top attraction and accounted for 20 percent of the revenue generated by the Cactus League. If the Cubs left, others were sure to follow, especially with four teams facing leases that expired after the 1991 or 1992 season. Also, if the Cactus League dropped below six teams, existing contracts could be voided allowing all teams to relocate. Governor Mofford and her task force recognized the threat and were determined to not let that happen as indicated by this quote from the task force report.

“The future of Cactus League Baseball is now in question. Although it would be nice to believe that the weather conditions, convenient travel and cozy ballparks are enough to encourage a team to remain [in Arizona], the reality of the situation is that baseball is not just a sport; it is also a business. Spring training losses can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars, and all teams are actively exploring ways to offset the expenses.”

The circumstances for determining a solution couldn’t have been greater. Local government was enduring civic confusion thanks to a number of serious internal issues (a run-off gubernatorial election, a bribe scandal, the mishandling of the MLK holiday legislation). Thanks to determination by Mofford and her team, along with support from newly-elected Governor Fife Symington, legislation was passed in 1992. The bill included a new $1.50 surcharge per car rental, which was earmarked for the construction and renovation of spring training facilities throughout Maricopa County.
Desert bloom

This windfall of revenue led to the construction of new state-of-the-art facilities. An updated version of HoHoKam Stadium was built to keep the Cubs in Mesa and a new Scottsdale Stadium ushered in the new stadium era. However, it was the Peoria Sports Complex, which opened in 1994, that set the new standard for spring training facilities because it was the first complex built to accommodate two teams for year-round use and served as a hub for future development in a sparse area. With the addition of these new ballparks, spring training flourished and several more complexes were constructed.

The creation of the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority (AZSTA) in 2000 also greatly benefitted the Cactus League at a time when funding was needed to renovate existing ballparks and build new ones. This enabled the Cactus League to extend the agreements with current teams while attracting expansion franchises or relocating exiting ones in exchange for a long-term agreement.
When the Cincinnati Reds join Cleveland in Goodyear for the 2010 season, the Cactus League and Grapefruit League will each have 15 teams. With several local tribes and Casa Grande all expressing interest in building their own facilities, that number will likely climb further.

With the future of the Cactus League secure, it is business as usual; big business. With the addition of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Cleveland Indians for the 2009 season, the economic impact of the Cactus League will likely top $360 million. Despite a slower than expected pace in attendance, a new Cactus League record for total attendance is still expected, perhaps reaching 1.5 million. So, while today’s version of spring training baseball may lack the charm and intimacy of yesterday, thanks to some fortunate breaks and the long-term vision of numerous local officials, there is no doubt that Cactus League baseball is here to stay.

Subscribe to your favorite Phoenix team or sport or Follow us on Twitter.