PHOENIX — Lawmakers are taking steps to see if there can again be professional baseball in Tucson’s future.
The House Appropriations Committee voted Monday to allow creation of a Southern Arizona Sports, Tourism and Film Authority that would consist of Cochise, Greenlee, Graham, Pima, Pinal and Santa Cruz counties and the tribes within their limits. Yuma and Gila counties could be added. The committee vote was 8-4.
Senate Bill 1710, approved by the committee on an 8-4 bipartisan vote, would also provide $500,000 to start the authority.
The idea is that some Grapefruit League teams might be lured to Arizona with offers of a new stadium for spring training. There’s also the possibility of a full-time minor-league team.
All of this could generate revenues that then could be used to promote Southern Arizona attractions.
There used to be baseball in Tucson.
The Cleveland Indians — now renamed the Cleveland Guardians — trained in Tucson from 1946 until 1992. They were replaced by the Colorado Rockies at Hi Corbett Field.
Both the Chicago White Sox and Arizona Diamondbacks also did spring training in Tucson.
All eventually wound up in the Phoenix area, at least in part because it was easier to play games against each other if they were closer.
“This southern region lost a tremendous amount of infusion of dollars, as you can imagine, when you lose three baseball teams for a whole month,’’ said Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, who is sponsoring SB 1710.
He said some new teams are needed to broaden the appeal of the area and get folks to see Tucson, and Southern Arizona, as a place to visit in the spring. Gowan said the authority is key to all that.
As envisioned, the authority would have a 13-member board. The board would have the ability to borrow money to build new facilities that might convince one or more teams training in Florida that they’d rather be in Tucson.
Tucson Electric Park, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Chicago White Sox, shortly before opening day of spring training in 1998.
There would be no taxpayer obligation, with revenues from the operation of the facilities being pledged to pay back lenders.
But the presumption is there would be enough additional revenues to boost tourism promotion for the region.
“Where I live, obviously, we have Tombstone, we have Kartchner Caverns,’’ Gowan said. The area is building a reputation for growing wine grapes, he noted.
“We just want to be able to draw some of that (tourism) down our way as well,’’ Gowan said.
The measure drew the support of Blake Eager, a former Flowing Wells High School star who was with the New York Mets minor-league organization. He was a member of a committee first tasked last year with looking at the issue of creating such an authority.
“I grew up loving the game because of Southern Arizona and having the game surround me,’’ Eager told lawmakers.
“With this bill, we will be able to identify potential teams to bring to Southern Arizona for both major league spring training and minor league baseball,’’ he said. “This bill will bring a once-prominent sport that thrived in Southern Arizona back home.’’
All that will help market the counties within the district, Eager added.
What is causing some concern is the vagueness of the issue.
The closest parallel lawmakers have is when they voted in 2000 to create the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority.
Bob Doty, equipment man with the Arizona Diamondbacks, loads up a Diamondbacks bags for a moving van as the team departs Tucson in 2010.
In that case, however, there was a clear prime purpose: to build a stadium for the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale and to improve Cactus League spring training facilities. SB 1710, however, sets up the new Southern Arizona authority first, with no actual project yet in mind.
That lack of focus did not bother most members of the Appropriations Committee — as long as a new authority does not tap taxpayers to repay any money borrowed.
“With the understanding that there is no taxing authority here, and it’s just the bondholders that are assuming the risk of getting revenue from the facility and that … there is no liability to governments or the state, I vote ‘aye,’” said Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills.
Rep. Lorenzo Sierra, D-Avondale, said his support was based on a personal memory.
“Back when I was a kid in the ‘80s, we would cut class and go watch the Cleveland team play at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson,’’ he told colleagues. “Rod Carew waved to me once.’’
None of the lawmakers who voted against the bill explained their decision. The measure goes next to the full House.
