17 March 2nd–March 8th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | Chicago Cubs fans from near and far toted buckets of baseballs and binders spilling with collectible baseball cards with the hope of snagging an autograph from their favorite players. Others sat on picnic blankets in the grass, munching on hot dogs as they eagerly watched one of the first batting practices of the 2023 Major League Baseball season. Since 1929, Arizona has been a magnet for baseball fans nationwide who want to soak in the sun’s rays while watching players show off their talents before the regular season begins. But in recent years, the strain of the coronavirus pandemic paired with a labor dispute threatened the viability of the tourism machine, a key economic driver for Phoenix-area busi- nesses and jobs for residents. In 2020 and 2021, there was no spring training in Arizona. And last year, the event was nearly nixed again amid a lockout, causing a multi-million-dollar hit to the event’s usual economic impact. Cactus League’s ‘First Normal Season’ This year, spring training is back to normal in metro Phoenix, according to MLB execu- tives. That has fans buzzing at the ballparks. “We are anticipating the first normal Cactus League season in four years,” Cactus League Executive Director Bridget Binsbacher told Phoenix New Times. “We expect that it will deliver massive economic impact for Arizona.” The return of the Cactus League is another moment in a year of unprece- dented sports mega-events in the Valley. It started earlier in February with the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the most- attended stop on the PGA Tour, followed by the Super Bowl, Spring Training and the World Baseball Classic. The international baseball tournament will take place at Chase Field in downtown Phoenix from March 7 to March 23 — right in the middle of the Cactus League schedule. Then it’s the NASCAR Cup Series Championship at Phoenix Raceway in November and the NCAA men’s Final Four in 2024. Arizona’s sports tourism sector contrib- uted $24.1 billion to the state’s gross domestic product in 2022 and hundreds of thousands of jobs, according to a new report from the non-partisan Common Sense Institute. There are 15 MLB clubs that migrate to Arizona for spring training every year, often attracting fans from the Midwest, the West Coast, and the Southwest to work- outs and games. The Cactus League stadiums are spread across the Valley, including Mesa, Tempe, Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Surprise, and Goodyear. But Sloan Park is one of the most popular and it now hosts the Cubs, which have trained in the East Valley since 1952. For years — from 1985 to 2002 — the Cubs led all major league teams in spring training attendance. In 2022, some 99,219 fans attended the team’s spring training in Mesa, the third-best attendance of 30 venues in Arizona and Florida. This year, with the Cactus League returning to normal, Cubs executives predict that attendance will be even higher. “It feels like clear skies. We haven’t had a normal spring training since 2019,” Sloan Park CEO Justin Piper told New Times. “We can really see it with the fans. That excitement is starting to build in the Valley.” >> p 18 Baseball from p 15 Sloan Park CEO Justin Piper predicts the first ‘normal’ spring training in four long years. Elias Weiss
