“I grew up loving the game because of Southern Arizona and having the game surround me,’’ Eager told lawmakers.
“With this bill, we will be able to identify potential teams to bring to Southern Arizona for both major league spring training and minor league baseball,’’ he said. “This bill will bring a once-prominent sport that thrived in Southern Arizona back home.’’
All that will help market the counties within the district, Eager added.
What is causing some concern is the vagueness of the issue.
The closest parallel lawmakers have is when they voted in 2000 to create the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority.
Bob Doty, equipment man with the Arizona Diamondbacks, loads up a Diamondbacks bags for a moving van as the team departs Tucson in 2010.
In that case, however, there was a clear prime purpose: to build a stadium for the Arizona Cardinals in Glendale and to improve Cactus League spring training facilities. SB 1710, however, sets up the new Southern Arizona authority first, with no actual project yet in mind.
That lack of focus did not bother most members of the Appropriations Committee — as long as a new authority does not tap taxpayers to repay any money borrowed.
“With the understanding that there is no taxing authority here, and it’s just the bondholders that are assuming the risk of getting revenue from the facility and that … there is no liability to governments or the state, I vote ‘aye,’” said Rep. John Kavanagh, R-Fountain Hills.