"We have more than 2,000 volunteers who put in about 100,000 volunteer hours each year," said Cactus League Executive Director Bridget Binsbacher.īinsbacher said another shortened Spring Training Season will definitely hurt the Valley's economy. Most parks limited the number of fans to about a fifth of capacity to promote social distancing.Īnd it appears it will be the labor issues that threaten this Cactus League season.
However, pandemic-driven limits on attendance in 2021 did hurt youth sports teams last year. He said that wasn't necessarily a problem in 2020 because most youth sports leagues were shut down by the pandemic. "We've earned enough money for the past two years to basically cover our operating costs, but didn't have any left over for youth sports," Adams said. "The pinch we're feeling is that we're not able to distribute as much money out to youth sports," said Steve Adams, the president of the Hohokams nonprofit group, which handles parking at both Mesa ballparks. The business school estimates the economic impact that shortened season fell to only $363 million that year. That number dropped significantly in 2020 after the pandemic forced an early end to Spring Training Season on March 12. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University estimated the 2019 Cactus League season generated over $644 million in economic impact.
That's not good news for people in the Valley who rely on Spring Training to bring in tourism dollars and boost the local economy. However, for that to happen, Spring Training and possibly regular season games would have to be postponed. Both sides are hoping that as financial pressure builds, either in the form of missed paychecks or gate receipts, the other side will be more willing to compromise. Owners, however, don't want to give up their gains. AP says the last time salaries were this low was in 2015. The median MLB salary last year was down 6% from where it was in 2017. The Associated Press reported that the average salary for Major League Baseball players has dropped from about $4.1 million in 2018, to $4.05 million in 2019, to $3.89 million in 2020 (based on a whole season).
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