Under normal circumstances, the gates of Scottsdale Stadium would swing open for the start of Cactus League play on Saturday.
Giants fans from the Bay Area and beyond are eager to flock to the team’s spring training home and take a peek at a club tasked with defending a National League West division title for the first time in nearly a decade.
It’s been a long time since circumstances were normal, and in ballparks around Arizona, the wait continues.
A day of celebration is instead a day of silence. Major League Baseball’s ongoing work stoppage has kept those gates shut.
“Spring training is by far one of the best times of the year historically,” Scottsdale director of tourism Karen Churchard said. “We see really high occupancy rates and our businesses do tremendously well in both February and March.”
Two years after the coronavirus pandemic brought spring training to a screeching halt, business owners and public officials in Scottsdale and nearby municipalities expected Cactus League baseball to play a major role in the state’s economic recovery process.
Those hopes began to fade when MLB owners locked out players upon the expiration of the league’s collective bargaining agreement on Dec. 2. Nearly three months later, an on-time start to the season is in jeopardy and it’s possible spring training won’t take place at all.
“We’re encouraging businesses at this point in time to plan on (spring training) not happening,” Thomas Barr, the vice president for business development at Local First Arizona, said. “Because if you’re banking on that happening and you don’t have a backup plan, then you’re going to be in a world of hurt. It’s always better to have a plan B and plan C because this is out of a small business’ control.”
According to an economic impact study conducted by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, spring training provided an influx of more than $640 million into the local economy in 2018. Two years later, when the pandemic forced the abrupt cancelation of nearly half of the Cactus League schedule, the economic impact was slashed to an estimated $364 million.
“We know from the study in a regular season that 1.7 million people come through our gates and six out of 10 are coming from somewhere else,” Bridget Binsbacher, executive director of the Cactus League, said. “Spring training is the primary reason they come here, but they might spend three days and travel to different areas all throughout Arizona.”
Binsbacher indicated the delay — and possible cancelation — of spring training is felt acutely at the 10 Cactus League facilities and the businesses that surround them, but added there’s a “trickle-down effect” throughout the state in tourist destinations such as Tombstone and the Grand Canyon.
If MLB owners and the Players Association reach a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement by a league-imposed deadline of Monday, Feb. 28, players would report to camps within the week and games could start within a 10-to-14 day period. The regular season would begin on March 31, as scheduled, so businesses could make up for some of the losses they’re experiencing now.
Revenue lost from a condensed spring training, however, will still have a ripple effect during a time when businesses were initially optimistic about the possibility of the first normal spring since 2019.
“When that restaurant might not see as much revenue as they had hoped for, that might mean the web development company, the graphic design company or the payroll company they’re working with is going to lose revenue too,” Barr said.
Owners and players are hopeful spring training will still happen, but neither side has publicly acknowledged the damage MLB’s lockout is already having on businesses and communities in Arizona and Florida that rely on baseball to make ends meet.
“It’s not anything I’ve heard them address at all, I’m not hearing anything,” Binsbacher said. “Like everyone else, we’re waiting for the outcome of this negotiation, hoping for something to break so we know what we’re dealing with.”
Certain areas of Arizona such as Scottsdale should fare better than others because they’ve emerged as travel destinations that can succeed independent of baseball. But many cities are already hurting. Glendale spends $17 million annually to operate Camelback Ranch, the spring home of the Dodgers and White Sox, and city manager Kevin Phelps is asking MLB to step in and help offset the losses it is causing.
“I propose MLB provide a $10 million subsidy to the Arizona Office of Tourism,” Phelps wrote in an op-ed for the Arizona Republic. “These dollars would help promote our tourism and hospitality industry, which has been significantly impacted by canceled and shortened Cactus League seasons.”
Phelps also suggested the league work with cities that have invested in spring training facilities to secure corporate sponsors for ballpark naming rights and added that, “MLB cannot afford to alienate cities here in the Valley that will be asked to fund these improvements.”
At Local First Arizona, which works to provide resources to businesses around the state, Barr is encouraging restaurants and other businesses to seek out grants to help ease some of the economic challenges created by MLB’s lockout.
“We’re facilitating a grant program with Maricopa County right now,” Barr said. “There are millions of dollars available, up to $25,000 per business currently and there’s money out there. If you’re a small business hoping to earn revenue, look for these grant programs.”
As fans wait to buy tickets to Cactus League games and book spring training trips, local leaders in Arizona are hopeful a delayed start to the schedule or a condensed version of spring training will still leave businesses in a position to capitalize ahead of the hot summer months when tourism shrinks. The overriding sentiment, however, is one of disappointment, as no one can predict the long-term effects the lockout is having on the local economy.
“We could and should be a part of Arizona’s recovery,” Binsbacher said. “That’s what we’ve been hoping for.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com