Leaders assess benefits of Goodyear spring training

With spring training baseball coming to Goodyear, business leaders want to know what it means for the local economy.

Southwest Valley Chamber of Commerce members peppered a Cincinnati Reds executive with questions about team spending, job creation and charitable donations at a breakfast meeting last week at Estrella Mountain Community College.

Goodyear broke ground Nov. 17 on a $33 million training facility for the Reds. The team will share a 10,000-seat stadium with the Cleveland Indians (who begin spring training in Goodyear next year) starting in 2010.

"(Spring training is) going to have a direct impact on how many people move to this side of town," said Gary Fetters, owner of Litchfield Park-based Castle Rock Homes who was at the Nov. 20 meeting. "I'm totally excited. I think it's right on cue with what we need to be doing over here."

Cactus League baseball is big business in the Valley. According to a 2007 study, the league brings nearly $310 million a year to Arizona. Each new team adds another $25 million or more.

At the chamber meeting, Reds Vice President of Baseball Operations Dick Williams said the team spent $5.5 million a year in Sarasota, Fla., and brought in another $38 million in visitor spending.

The team started looking for a new spring training home after Sarasota voters turned down a measure to renovate their stadium.

"They just couldn't get their arms around the economic impact, the growth and the vision" of baseball, Williams told a group of about 75 people.

Goodyear and other Valley cities will start getting a piece of the action when the Reds begin training here in about 10 months.

Here's what local businesses can expect from the Reds:

• Nearly $700,000 a year in hotel spending. The team buys nearly 8,000 room nights for players, coaches and staff.

• New local jobs will primarily be stadium-related, such as security guards, ushers and concessions staff. Clubhouse managers and other Reds staffers will move with the team from Florida.

• Charitable spending on projects such as youth baseball field renovations. Reds Community Fund renovation projects in Sarasota topped $50,000 in 2006.

Goodyear and the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority are building the city's $108 million spring training complex southeast of Estrella Parkway and Yuma Road in the city's future downtown area.

Hardhats and shovels lined up for Cincinnati Reds spring training facility groundbreaking in Goodyear.