Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers Florida, site of Minnesota Twins spring training – Courtesy: Shutterstock – Image by Evan Meyer
With the first preseason games played in the last few days, Major League Baseball’s spring training has returned to Arizona and Florida. Baseball fans from all over the nation have been traveling to these beautiful states to see their favorite teams prepare for the next season.
Every year, 15 MLB teams from each state travel to Arizona and Florida for over a month in advance of the start of the regular season to get ready for the next campaign. The Cactus League is for teams headquartered in Arizona that have their preseason camps there, and the Grapefruit League is for teams based in Florida.
For the first time in three seasons, spring training was completely accessible to fans last year. Three weeks into spring training in 2020, the start of COVID-19 forced its cancellation, and in 2021, MLB teams restricted attendance because of the pandemic. Due to a labor disagreement over a contract between the MLB Players Association and franchise owners in 2022, spring training was first curtailed and then postponed. As a result, the 2023 season will mark the first time in recent years that complete fan participation has been seen at spring training.
“We were thrilled to come back to a regular environment last season and we’re just planning on continuing to ride that momentum and move in the right direction for the 2024 season,” Bridget Binsbacher, executive director of the Cactus League, told FOX Business in an interview.
Compared to regular season games, spring training games provide fans a more relaxed, up-close look at their favorite MLB clubs and players because they are played in smaller stadiums.
This, along with the warmer temperatures in southern Florida and the larger Phoenix area of Arizona, makes spring training an alluring travel destination for baseball enthusiasts nationwide and sparks a tourist boom in the areas where spring training games are held.
The W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University conducted an economic analysis that revealed the 2023 Cactus League season contributed $418.5 million to the state’s GDP and produced $710.2 million in total economic activity, or gross output.
ASU’s study revealed that about 60 percent of Cactus League attendees were from outside the state. This group accounted for a noteworthy share of the 1,565,182 spectators who watched the 216 games in the previous season, with an average attendance of 7,246 per game.
The study, which polled 3,386 out-of-state tourists who traveled to Arizona to see games at the 10 Cactus League ballparks, found that the average Cactus League visitor spends roughly $421 per day, stays in Arizona for four nights, and watches three games.
“It doesn’t just impact the host cities where our facilities are located across the valley, it truly does impact all of Arizona so they’re coming for spring training but we know from our economic impact study and the thousands of out-of-state fans that we survey that they’re enjoying Arizona from Tombstone to the Grand Canyon so it’s tremendous,” Binsbacher added.
In 237 games last season, the Grapefruit League in Florida drew 1,425,259 spectators, with an average attendance of 6,014 per game.
A 2022 survey indicated that the Florida economy received $679.8 million in overall economic impact in the fiscal years 2019–20 and 2020–21; however, numbers for 2023 are not yet available.
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Mike has more than 30 years of experience in marketing and public relations. He once owned his own agency and has worked with some of the largest brands in the world.
