D'Backs-Rockies Training Complex Part Of Entertainment District

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community's (SRPMIC) $100M investment in a Spring Training complex for the D'Backs and Rockies will be a "key element of an emerging entertainment district on tribal land just east of Scottsdale," according to Peter Corbett of the ARIZONA REPUBLIC. The SRPMIC won the bid to build facilities for the teams, and the tribe will "try to tap into" $2B in federal stimulus funds "set aside for Indian communities to help fund the baseball complex." Construction is "slated to start in November on 12 practice fields and an 11,000-seat stadium," and the complex will feature a clubhouse and offices for both teams. The D'Backs and Rockies "will share a team shop, including a ticket office." HKS Architects, which designed the Camelback Ranch complex in Glendale for the Dodgers and White Sox, will design the facilities, including the stadium, which will offer "fixed seating for 7,000 fans and 4,000 lawn seats." The complex will "try to replicate the cozy spring-training experience between fans and players" that the Dodgers previously experienced at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Florida, before moving to Glendale. The D'Backs and Rockies expect their home Spring Training attendance "will increase at Salt River." The D'Backs this year averaged 6,738 fans per game at Tucson Electric Park, fifth-highest among Cactus League teams, while the Rockies ranked last with 4,722 fans per game at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson. Rockies President Keli McGregor said that the new complex "will make it easier for Colorado fans to fly into Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and follow the team in the Valley" (ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/24). 

Rockies Under Contract To Play At Hi Corbett Field Through '11, But Want To Leave Sooner

WHAT'S IN A NAME? In Sarasota, Doug Sword reports the Orioles, as part of their tentative agreement to move to Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium for Spring Training, will get the "naming rights to the new stadium, although certain sponsorships are barred, including tobacco companies." While the Ed Smith name also "would have disappeared under the 2007 proposal to keep" the Reds at the ballpark, Sarasota City Commissioner Fredd Atkins and County Commissioner Joe Thaxton "objected to the name change as the deal moved toward approval Wednesday." Thaxton said that while the deal "calls for historic plaques, including one for Smith, to be in the new stadium, that does not make the change more palatable." Thaxton: "I would plead with you not to take away the historic names of this stadium in Sarasota and give it to the highest bidder" (Sarasota HERALD TRIBUNE, 7/24).

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