Brewers make pitch to stay in Maryvale
After months of exploring possible new sites for spring training, the Milwaukee Brewers have decided to commit long term to Phoenix's Maryvale Baseball Park by putting up as much as $63 million of their own money to renovate the aging, outdated facility.
The Brewers and City of Phoenix officials presented a proposed agenda Thursday afternoon for approval by that city's council that would commit the team to continue holding spring training in Maryvale for another 25 years. The Brewers have trained at the facility since 1998.
If approved at a city council meeting next Wednesday, it would green light the first significant renovation of a Cactus League facility primarily paid for by a team and be the secondlongest lease in that circuit. The Brewers would agree to invest $41 million to $63 million to the project, with Phoenix paying $2 million a year for the next five years, for a total of $10 million.
Under the proposal, the Brewers
would assume operation and maintenance of the facility, but the City of Phoenix would continue to pay current net operating costs of approximately $1.4 million per year.
The Brewers plan to begin construction immediately after spring training concludes in 2018 and substantially complete the renovations before spring training begins in 2019. That is an aggressive schedule, especially considering the Brewers maintain their minorleague office and training facility there year-round, but the team and city officials believe it can be done.
The centerpiece of the project would be a 65,000 square-foot clubhouse and office building that would house the major-league and minor-league clubhouses and training facilities as well as administrative offices. The current clubhouse/office building will be repurposed, not torn down. The current minor-league building eventually will come down and be converted to parking.
Other improvements will include a wider first-base concourse, new concessions and restrooms, a kids’ play area, a retail and ticketing building, enhanced parking and landscaping as well as expansion of one practice field to meet the playing dimensions of Miller Park. The current seating bowl of the stadium will remain largely unchanged.
The Brewers also would partner with nearby Grand Canyon University to open a “learning lounge” in which local students would have access to free tutoring. The team already has relocated a front office employee to Maryvale to implement and manage team-funded events with schools and the community.
In a statement, Brewers vice president of finance and administration Bob Quinn said:
“The Milwaukee Brewers are committed to Phoenix and the community of Maryvale, and pending Phoenix city council approval, will develop a worldclass facility for our year-round Arizona-based operations, including spring training. The project, in which the Brewers will invest between $41-$63 million, will ensure our continued presence in a community that has served as our second home for the past 20 seasons."
The Brewers moved from their training facility in Chandler, Ariz., to Maryvale – a community in west Phoenix – in 1998 with a 15-year lease. The land was donated by local developer John F. Long, and the facility was funded jointly by Maricopa County, the local stadium district and the City of Phoenix.
Before that original lease expired, the club made requests to update the facility to put them on better competitive terms with other teams with newer and better accommodations. Unable to get funding for those desired improvements, the Brewers began courting other Arizona communities about the possibility of building a new training facility.
In the meantime, the Brewers signed a new lease at Maryvale that went year to year, allowing them to get out on short notice if moving elsewhere.
A report surfaced last August that the Brewers talked with officials in the nearby town of Gilbert, Ariz., about building a $75 million facility but talks were shut down over concerns that the economic impact locally would not be sufficient to warrant that spending. The Brewers explored other areas around Phoenix as possible sites without results.
When the Brewers began training in Maryvale 20 years ago, it was hoped the opening of the facility would spur further development in the community, an economically depressed area of the city that has experienced its share of crime. That never happened to any significant extent, which likely has contributed to lower attendance for exhibition games.
Still, as far as one-team facilities go, the Brewers always thought Maryvale Baseball Park would suffice with certain improvements and updates. Their only desire was not to have a competitive disadvantage with other teams, and they finally decided to make the financial commitment.
When the Oakland Athletics moved their training facility two years ago from Phoenix Municipal Stadium to HoHoKam Park in Mesa, Ariz., it left the Brewers as the only team training within the city limits.
The City of Phoenix will continue to own the Maryvale facility, but the Brewers have the option to purchase it at an appraised value at the end of the 25year lease in 2042.