FanPost

It's official: Cactus League to Expand

According to the Tribune, the cactus league expansion is official. The basics:

  • The Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority has approved plans to build two new spring training complexes, one in Glendale that will house the Dodgers and White Sox ($50M) and a second one in Goodyear that will house the Indians ($30M).
  • The Sox are contractually bound to remain in Tucson, however they are allowed to move sooner than that if they can find a team to take their place in Tucson. Pima County officials can reject the replacement team, however this is very unlikely to happen.
  • If the Sox are unable to find a team to take on their lease they would simply play out the lease, which expires in 2013. The new complex in Glendale will be built regardless, for two teams. If the Sox are unable to move in 2009, the Dodgers will be the sole occupant of the Glendale Complex until the Sox can move out of Tucson.
  • There are two additional candidates to move to Arizona, both the Cincinnati Reds and the Baltimore Orioles, who are unhappy with the state of their facilities in Florida. According to ESPN the Orioles and other teams are interested in taking the Dodger's place in Vero Beach. Apparently the Cactus League is not concerned about having an uneven number of teams, feeling that they can work enough split schedules and days off to deal with the situation. IMO this is untrue as split squads are rare in the last two weeks of the spring and each team usually has one day off, in the middle of the spring.
  • Spring baseball in Tucson, seemingly, is in trouble unless the city can find a replacement for the Sox. The Rockies and Dbacks would be the only remaining teams down there and the Rockies lease expires in a few years. They need at least three teams down there.
  • DmL

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