The Cubs moving to Florida?

This was Naples after Hurricane Wilma...just imagine what Cub fans will do to this place!

As has been reported for over a month now, the Cubs are looking for a new spring training facility.

And with good reason.

Over the last 2 decades, baseball has seen a huge number of new baseball stadiums.  But that hasn't been the only major building boom in baseball.  Over the last 10 years, a number of new enormous and impressive spring training facilities have popped up...especially in Arizona.  And Arizona and the Cactus League have seen an influx of new teams over the last few years.


The Cubs have been fixtures during the spring in Arizona since the '50s and have played at HoHoKam Park in Mesa since the late 1970's.  The Cubs also are the number one team in attendance in Arizona.

But the facilities in Mesa at HoHoKam, and a couple blocks away at Fitch Park, are, like Wrigley Field, very out of date...especially in comparison to the new complexes that have been built over the last 10 years.

HoHoKam...not a webcam of a Hostess factory.

With this in mind and the new Cubs ownership officially in charge now, Naples, Florida is in the process of making a bid to the Cubs for a new spring training facility.  Carrie Muskat reports (as I posted in the side bar yesterday) that Cubs chairman, Tom Ricketts, and team president, Crane Kenney, will be making a trip to Naples to meet with officials there. This will be the second such trip.

How serious is this bid by Naples?  It sounds like they are going all out to get the Cubs to move there.  Something like 120 acres and a 15,000 seat stadium...cool!

But are the Cubs actually going to take an offer from Naples seriously?  As I said, they have been a fixture in Arizona.  Could the actually abandon the Cactus League...a league they have basically supported single-handedly for a number of years until recently?  Or is this just a ploy to get a Mesa to build them a new spring training facility.

I'm rather torn by this issue.  I think Arizona really is a great place for the Cubs...and a better place for spring training in general.  All the teams in Arizona are extremely close together in the Phoenix area. And the competition in Arizona is much better now that the Brewers, Dodgers and a number of other teams have moved there. Plus, there are a high number of transplanted Cubs fans in the desert.

The Dodgers new spring training facility in Glendale. It's pretty.

But maybe a move to Arizona isn't such a bad idea.  Yeah, the grapefruit league is more spread out, but maybe those long bus rides will make for the team bonding more. And another glaring fact, 16 of the last 19 World Series champions have had spring training in Florida.  A change of scenery may not be too bad of an idea.  And Naples has a beach! Besides, there are enough Cub fans in Florida to make it worth it.

Either way, the Cubs are going to get a new spring training facility...and that's a really good thing!

Let Naples and Mesa battle it out!