Spring Training

TPI Member is Ready to Play Ball!

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona -- The Arizona Diamondbacks are one step closer to having a state-of-the-art Spring Training facility. A groundbreaking ceremony for their new complex recently took place on a dirt lot that will eventually be where baseball fans can watch the team train.

The new facility will not just be home to the Arizonia Diamondbacks,but also to the Colorado Rockies.

The complex is the first ever to be built on Native American tribal land and the 140-acre project is being paid for by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community. The estimated price tag is $100 million.

The ballpark will seat a total of 11,000 people and 7,000 of those seats are in the bowl.

The architects of the project, who also designed the new Dallas Cowboys stadium, say the facility will bring Spring Training to a whole new level. Fans will have to wait until the 2011 season to catch the D-backs batter up in their new training facility. The new complex has not yet been named.

The turfgrass to be used is Tifway 419 which is being provided by West Coast Turfs Salt River sod operation and will tentatively include:

• 12 practice fields - Installation scheduled for May 2010 - approximately 1.4 million square feet of total turf.
• 2 half fields and maybe several bunting areas.
• 1 main stadium seats - 7000 plus 4000 more on berm in outfield.