Spring Training Online

Scheduled to open in Spring Training 2011, the new spring-training home of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies should raise the bar for spring-training facilities, according to HKS's Mo Stein, who gave us a sneak preview of the project.

The first spring-training complex ever built on Native American tribal land, the 140-acre project will be fully funded by the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) as part of a larger development project on a site directly east of Scottsdale, near Indian Bend Road and the 101 Freeway. Seating 11,000 -- 7,000 in the bowl, 4,000 on the large outfield berm -- the ballpark and adjoining complex is being designed by the same firm that gave us Camelback Ranch, the Dodgers/White Sox complex that we liked very much when it opened this spring .

For the Diamondbacks and Rockies, the goal is to bring fans even closer to the action. "We have two teams absolutely committed to doing the best in the fan experience, giving fans a back-door look into baseball training," Stein says. "Fans will be able to see baseball like they’ve never seen before."

With five and potentially six entries to the complex from a variety of freeways and major streets, fans will have a variety of ways to enter the complex. Embracing that, the site layout will be decentralized, with fans a short walk right up to a baseball opportunity. "Fans will watch major leaguers warm up and stretch, poke heads through fences, and see everything," Stein promised.

Judging by the site location fans should be subject to some pretty spectacular views while watching a game.

The ballpark itself will feature a 7,000-seat bowl and a second level. The suites will come in different sizes and be configurable to handle groups as small as 6 or as large as 100. "We're opening it up and creating some very large social areas," Stein says. The berm will wrap around each foul pole, with a terraced area down each line.

Finding someone to pay for a a spring-training complex is this economy is somewhat of a miracle; what's in it for the tribal council? Potential development in the area. Besides the 130 acres dedicated for recreation, the tribe is reserving 80 acres for economic development. There are some potential tenants already in negotiations for space in the complex.

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