Spring training 2018 is in full swing, so is the business of spring training. At one time it was mostly a Florida experience, commonly called the Grapefruit League. It began when the Chicago Cubs moved their training from New Orleans to Tampa in 1913. According to the Tampa Bay Rays, more spring training games have been played in St. Petersburg than any other city.
Jump ahead to 2018…
Half the major league teams have been lured to the Cactus League in Arizona, mostly the Phoenix area. Suburbs such as Glendale and Peoria have gone all-out to lure teams to “The Valley of the Sun,” in hopes that “snow birds” from the Midwest and East Coast will follow their favorite teams there.
Sharing facilities has become more common. After training in Florida for decades, the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers now share an elaborate state-of-the-art complex in Glendale (owned by the City of Glendale) called Camelback Ranch. It has fully equipped training, exercise, weight-room facilities for each team, in addition to 16 diamonds. And that’s the business of spring training.
Contributing sources:
The Official Site of the City of St. Petersburg, Florida
Tampa Bay Rays
The business of spring baseball