ARLINGTON, Texas — After three disrupted or irregular years, the Valley’s sports, tourism and hospitality sectors are eagerly awaiting Major League Baseball’s 2023 Cactus League spring training season.
The Cactus League, which consists of 15 MLB teams that play at 10 ballparks across Maricopa County, is set to begin its 2023 season on Friday and will run through March 28. This will be the first “normal” season in Arizona in four years after the 2020 and 2021 seasons were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the 2022 one was delayed and shortened by a labor dispute between MLB owners and players.
While the Cactus League’s roots go back to the 1940s, it took off as a major tourism driver in the 2010s. During that decade, attendance grew, but more importantly, the amount of money spent around the Valley by people visiting to attend Cactus League games increased too. The 2015 Cactus League season generated $544.3 million in economic impact, according to a study by Arizona State University. Then in 2018, the economic impact increased to $644.2 million for the season.
With three lesser seasons in a row — including a 2020 season that abruptly ended but still generated an economic impact of $363.6 million — league officials forecast a lot of interest from local and visiting fans in 2023.
Texas Rangers bring a load of changes to Surprise
After finishing a 68-94 record in 2022, the Texas Rangers have headed to their Spring Training location of Surprise with a new manager, pricy changes to its starting pitching rotation, and fresh optimism of getting back to the playoffs after a major rebuild that took several years.
Last year, the Rangers lured three-time World Series-winning manager Bruce Bochy out of retirement to take over the team. The team also made a huge splash in free agency by signing two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom to a five-year, $185 million free agent contract in the offseason.
A retooled pitching staff, paired with free-agent deals for shortstop Corey Seager and second baseman Marcus Semien the previous season, and a solid offensive lineup has the team optimistic about its 2023 future.
The Rangers uniforms this season will have a new jersey patch ad that Indianapolis-based CSM Sport & Entertainment has signed to exclusively represent the team, not only for sales of the MLB team’s jersey patch ad but for a larger combined sponsorship; a "Founding Partner" sponsorship, inclusive of the patch.
In addition, the Rangers are eagerly anticipating hosting the MLB All Star Game at Globe Life Field in 2024.
'Anticipating big things'
“Everyone is anticipating big things,” Bridget Binsbacher, the executive director of the Cactus League, told the Business Journal. “We are hearing tourism is up. With fans and families being able to make plans ahead of schedule and plan their spring break — we are expecting big numbers in 2023 for sure.”
The Cactus League is already working with researchers from ASU to measure spending, job creation and total economic impact caused by the 2023 season.
While there is a proven constituency for spring training baseball, Binsbacher said the Cactus League is making a “significant push” to remind fans, especially local ones that spring training is back to normal in 2023 through a series of targeted advertisements.
“The second the Super Bowl was over we wanted to get the word out in front of fans that it is time to play baseball,” Binsbacher said. “We’ve had a focused effort on social media that is targeted towards local fans.”
Binsbacher said out-of-town visitors typically start showing up to Cactus League games in droves around mid-March, and the league wants to drive Valley residents to games towards the start of the season when ticket demand is not as high.
So far, it appears that ticket demand is higher than it was in the delayed and truncated 2022 season and closer to 2019 levels, according to Spring Training Online, a website dedicated to informing baseball fans and travelers about visiting Arizona or Florida to watch spring training games.
The Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants, which respectively play in stadiums in Mesa and Old Town Scottsdale, are always popular Cactus League teams, with this year being no different. The San Diego Padres, which play in Peoria, are seeing a lot of demand for tickets this year after making some high-profile roster moves in the offseason.
Binsbacher said that during her meetings with teams and stadiums, there has been more demand for group ticket packages across the board. Group travel and corporate group sales are important because they bring in more revenue to the teams, and those groups tend to spend more at hotels, restaurants and bars around town before and after the games.
“I think people are really looking for experiences. They are looking at things differently after what we’ve been through, and they are wanting to create memories and look for special and unique experiences,” Binsbacher said. “We are all looking at ways to create experiences for our fans that are memorable, and that will bring them back.”
Hotels expected to be full
The Valley’s hotel industry is coming off a major win earlier this month with a very high-performing extended weekend with the Super Bowl in town, but after missing spring training for the past few years, hoteliers are ready for baseball fans to be back in March.
“It is going to be a big spring training year this year,” said Robert Rauch, a hospitality consultant who owns and manages hotel properties in San Diego and Phoenix and teaches hospitality entrepreneurship at Arizona State University. “Every hotelier is expecting a strong spring training this year.”
Rauch, who manages properties and consults with hotel owners through his firm R.A. Rauch & Associates, said not only is it fans who want to come experience Cactus League after having three years off, but he said with the World Baseball Classic being played at Chase Field in Phoenix in mid-March, demand for hotels will be strong and international travelers should be expected.
In the past year, the Valley’s hotels have been charging record-high rates and seeing record occupancy levels. While inflation in travel has been slowing, Rauch said there is no sign that spending on leisure travel is going down, and he expects business and group travel to be up this year for Cactus League as well, which would be a big benefit for hotels.
Rauch predicted that most hotels in the Phoenix-area — even those in outlining suburbs — will experience compression during parts of the 2023 Cactus League season, meaning they’ll have more than 90% occupancy. During moments of compression, hotel operators are able to raise rates and increase profitability.
In the past, many operators around the Valley budgeted for compression during spring training, but with three disrupted seasons in a row, it might be hard for them to know exactly what to expect this year.
New rules for MLB
It is not only the hospitality sector that finds spring training important for its business, but Major League Baseball itself uses the games to find ways to improve the game itself and its product for the regular season.
Fans at this year's games will be the first to witness MLB's bigger bases and its pitch clock, among some other new rules.
“We listen carefully to our fans on this topic over a long period of time,” said Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred during a press conference in Phoenix last week. “We think the changes will produce a crisper, more exciting game, with more balls in play. I think the athleticism of our great athletes will shine through. It's really not about changing the game. It's about ensuring we put the best form of baseball on the field.”
Although many players have mixed feelings about how the changes would affect the game, managers around the league are excited about the chance to test out the rules before the regular season.
“I think it will be great for our team to put all the rule changes into play starting on game one, and we'll be able to see and feel what they're like in the environment,” Nick Krall, the Cincinnati Reds' general manager, said. “If you make a mistake in spring training, it will not be as costly as the regular season.”
“What's nice for us is we have six weeks of like a grace period where if we stumble a little bit, it's not the end of the world, so there really won't be an excuse when the season starts, we should be ready,” said Terry Francona, the manager of the Cleveland Guardians.
Although it will take players time to adjust to the changes, Manfred believes fans will enjoy the shorter games and the more intensified game action as a result.
