Kino Sports Complex

Kino Sports Complex is a multiple-use sports complex in Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox formerly utilized the complex's main ballpark, Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, for Cactus League games each March and had their minor league complexes on-site. The ballpark was also home to the Tucson Sidewinders of the Pacific Coast League for the team's last decade in Tucson, running from the stadium's 1998 opening season to the 2008 season. The ballpark was a temporary home (2011–2013) to the Tucson Padres (formerly the Portland Beavers) of the Pacific Coast League during the team's relocation to El Paso, Texas. It is also the regular season home of the Pecos League's Tucson Saguaros baseball team since 2016. It seats 11,500 fans, and hosts concerts in addition to its primary function as a baseball park.

Kino Sports Complex
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium (baseball)
North Stadium (soccer)
Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium during a spring training game, March 2013
Former namesTucson Electric Park (1998–2010)
Coordinates32°10′36″N 110°56′0″W
OwnerPima County
OperatorPima County Stadium District
CapacityKino Veterans Memorial Stadium
11,500
North Stadium
3,200
Field sizeFoul lines – 340 ft (103.6 m)
Center field – 405 ft (123.4 m)
SurfaceGrass
Construction
Broke groundFebruary 14, 1997
OpenedFebruary 27, 1998[1]
Construction cost$38 million[2]
($68.2 million in 2022 dollars[3])
ArchitectPopulous
Structural engineerHMW Consulting Structural Engineers Inc.[4]
Services engineerM-E Engineers, Inc.[5]
General contractorConelly Swinerton[6]
Tenants
Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB)* (1998–2010)
Chicago White Sox (MLB)* (1998–2008)
Tucson Sidewinders (PCL) (1998–2008)
Tucson Padres (PCL) (2011–2013)
FC Tucson (USL2) (2012–present)
Tucson Saguaros (PL) (2016–2017, 2022–present)
Website
www.kinosportscomplex.com

Kino Sports Complex is also used to host soccer matches. FC Tucson of USL League Two plays its home matches at the complex's North Stadium, its primary soccer stadium. The complex serves as the preseason home of Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls and host of the Desert Diamond Cup preseason soccer tournament.

History

Spring training and AAA venue

Tucson Electric Park opened in 1998. Larger and more modern than central Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, it is situated 4 miles south of Hi Corbett, at the intersection of several major thoroughfares including I-10 and SR-86. TEP opened the same year that the Arizona Diamondbacks began operations in Phoenix, and the Tucson Toros moved from Hi Corbett to TEP, renamed themselves the Tucson Sidewinders, and became the Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate. Furthermore, the Diamondbacks themselves became a tenant of TEP for spring training, sharing the facility with the Chicago White Sox (who moved from their previous spring training facility in Sarasota, Florida). Across town, the Colorado Rockies continued to hold their spring training at Hi Corbett Field.

Mexican Rookie team

The unaffiliated Tucson Mexican All-Stars of the Arizona Rookie League played at the spring training complex across from the stadium from 1998 to 2000.

Departure of MLB spring training

The Chicago White Sox had an agreement to move to Glendale in a stadium that was completed in the 2009 season. However, the Sox' lease on TEP was to last through 2012. In order to leave TEP early, the Sox proposed a youth baseball academy backed by Major League Baseball surrounding TEP. On November 18, 2008, the Pima County Board of Supervisors agreed to the White Sox's revised offer of $5 million, thus allowing the team to move to Glendale in time for the 2009 season.[7] Colorado Rockies, spring training occupant of Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were tenants at TEP and the Kino Sports Complex, indicated that they would both need Tucson to have three teams in order to continue playing there.[8] Tucson was therefore abandoned as a spring training venue, and all Cactus League games now take place in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Diamondbacks and Rockies share the new Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, which opened in 2011 near Scottsdale.

Departure of the Sidewinders

The Tucson Sidewinders also played their last season at TEP in 2008. The team moved to Reno, Nevada, renaming itself the Reno Aces and remaining the AAA affiliate of the Diamondbacks.

At the same time, the Reno Silver Sox of the independent Golden Baseball League, displaced by the arrival of the Aces, relocated to Tucson. Instead of using TEP, however, the new team located itself at the more historic Hi Corbett Field and retook the historic name of the Tucson Toros.

TEP was thus, for a time, without any Major League or minor league baseball tenant.

Name change

In 2010, after the end of the naming agreement with the local electric utility, Tucson Electric Power, the stadium was renamed after Eusebio Kino, the Jesuit missionary who first explored southern Arizona in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved the name change (Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium) on January 18, 2011.

Tucson Padres

In 2011, the San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate relocated from Portland, Oregon to Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium and renamed itself the Tucson Padres. They were formerly known as the Portland Beavers. Originally the San Diego Padres organization wanted to arrange for a stadium to be approved and constructed in Escondido, California, however that stadium plan later fell through when California eliminated their redevelopment agencies.[9] The team departed Tucson for El Paso, Texas prior to the beginning of the 2014 season and assumed the name "El Paso Chihuahuas."[10]

FC Tucson

Since 2012, FC Tucson has played its games at Kino Sports Complex's North Stadium. The club began its existence in the Premier Development League (now USL League Two), and in 2019 began play in the higher-level USL League One. In 2023, the team went back to USL League Two.

Pima Community College

The Pima Community College Aztecs football played its home games at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium for several seasons. The team moved to the Kino Sports Complex North Stadium for its 2014 fall Football season.

World Baseball Classic

The qualifiers for the 2023 World Baseball Classic were held at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in September 2022.[11]

References
  1. "Tucson Electric Park". www.baseballpilgrimages.com.
  2. "Baseball Tax Plan Adds Local Diversions to the List". Arizona Daily Star. June 28, 2008.
  3. 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved May 28, 2023.
  4. "Tucson Electric Park – Holben, Martin & White Consulting Structural Engineers Inc". Archived from the original on May 5, 2014.
  5. "sports.html". January 15, 2002. Archived from the original on 2002-01-15.
  6. Teichgraeber, Tara (April 5, 1998). "Field Construction Hot Ticket for Valley Crest". Phoenix Business Journal.
  7. Watters, Carrie (November 18, 2008). "White Sox Will Play in Glendale Next Spring". The Arizona Republic.
  8. http://www.pima.gov/current/White.Sox.economic.development.proposal.pdf
  9. Smith, Dylan (December 18, 2010). "Tucson's New Triple-A Team Announces Name: Tucson Padres". Tucson Sentinel.
  10. Finley, Patrick (December 29, 2011). "Tucson Padres Owner to Look at Selling Team". Arizona Daily Star.
  11. Axisa, Mike. "Hall of Famer Mike Piazza to manage Italy when World Baseball Classic returns in 2023." CBS Sports. March 23, 2022. Accessed March 24, 2022. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/hall-of-famer-mike-piazza-to-manage-italy-when-world-baseball-classic-returns-in-2023/

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