The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) Council has signed a memorandum of understanding to partner with the D’Backs and Rockies to build a new Spring Training facility on SRPMIC land. The 25-year agreement calls for a multipurpose facility that would include an 11,000-seat ballpark, a total of 12 practice fields, and office buildings. The council and the teams will make joint decisions on the design elements for the facility ( SRPMIC ). In Phoenix, Peter Corbett reports the D'Backs and Rockies could begin Spring Training play at the new facility in '11. The complex, which will be designed by HKS Architects and have a price tag "estimated at more" than $100M, will be the first MLB facility "built on Indian land." More details concerning the facility are "expected to be unveiled next week." Cactus League President Robert Brinton noted that the move would leave Tucson, the current Spring Training home for both teams, "without spring baseball for the first time since 1949, when the first Cactus League teams arrived in Arizona." While Scottsdale Mayor Jim Lane and local baseball execs "lauded the move as a way to consolidate teams in the Valley, improve competition and place the Diamondbacks before a hometown crowd, Tucson interests made it clear they will fight the move." Pima County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry: "We've given them notice: If they leave before the lease is up, we will take legal action." The Rockies are under contract to train at Tucson's Hi Corbett Field through '11, while the D'Backs are "committed to play at Tucson Electric Park" through '12. The D'Backs "have an escape clause if there are fewer than two teams in Tucson." But Huckelberry in a letter to the D'Backs said that the Rockies "do not have a clause that allows them to leave Tucson before the end" of '11, which "negates the Diamondbacks' escape clause." Still, D'Backs Managing General Partner Ken Kendrick "seemed unfazed by Pima County's legal threats" ( ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/17 ). The Rockies have trained at Hi Corbett Field since the franchise's inception in '93 ( DENVER POST, 7/17 ). FINANCIAL SUPPORT : In Florida, Glenn Miller reports Sarasota County is "about to receive" a $7.5M grant from the Florida Office of Tourism, Trade & Economic Development that could put the county "over the top in its quest to snag" the Orioles for Spring Training. Sarasota County Administrator James Ley: "We think it could be done late Friday or over the weekend." Miller notes the money will "go toward renovation of Ed Smith Stadium," which was the Spring Training home of the Reds from '98-'09. Lee County Commission Chair Ray Judah acknowledged that the grant "could hurt Lee County's chances" to lure the Orioles ( Ft. Myers NEWS-PRESS, 7/17 ).
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