After three disrupted or irregular years, the Valley’s sports, tourism and hospitality sectors are eagerly awaiting Major League Baseball’s 2023 Cactus League spring training season.
The Cactus League is already working with researchers from ASU to measure spending, job creation and total economic impact caused by the 2023 season. So far, it appears that ticket demand is higher than it was in the delayed and truncated 2022 season and closer to 2019 levels,, a website dedicated to informing baseball fans and travelers about visiting Arizona or Florida to watch spring training games.
“It is going to be a big spring training year this year,” said Robert Rauch, a hospitality consultant who owns and manages hotel properties in San Diego and Phoenix and teaches hospitality entrepreneurship at Arizona State University. “Every hotelier is expecting a strong spring training this year.” In the past, many operators around the Valley budgeted for compression during spring training, but with three disrupted seasons in a row, it might be hard for them to know exactly what to expect this year.It is not only the hospitality sector that finds spring training important for its business, but Major League Baseball itself uses the games to find ways to improve the game itself and its product for the regular season.