Lawmaker introduces bill to keep Cubs in Arizona

Posted - 2/9/2010 at 11:22AM

images

Lawmaker introduces bill to keep Cubs in Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) - An Arizona lawmaker has introduced a bill to raise money for a new spring training facility for the Chicago Cubs.

Phoenix Republican Rep. John McComish introduced the measure late Monday. It would increase car-rental taxes and levy a surcharge on all tickets for spring-training baseball games in Arizona.

The bill does not specify an amount for the tax or surcharge. McComish has said those details will be worked out later. McComish says the state needs to raise $59 million of the stadium's $84 million cost.

Owners of other baseball teams that train in Arizona last week said a ticket surcharge would be an unfair expense on their fans. Cubs supporters have said all teams benefit from the Cubs because the Chicago team increases attendance at their away games.

2 comments

Comment Guidelines - KVOA wants to foster a healthy, vibrant communtiy discussion on all stories. Please be civil and treat others with respect. Spamming, or wildly offensive comments could result in a ban. Please do not feed the trolls.

Help us moderate these forums! - Registered users may use the

and

to rate comments. Downrating causes comments to fade and eventually disappear. It only takes a moment! We know things can get heated but please help us keep the discussion civil.

troopert (1 total posts | 0 total karma)

2/9/2010 at 7:37PM

Mr McComish should re-think this one. We need taxes to keep this state solvent. Not to pay for a new facility for a team that is here for four months.

tpny112 (1 total posts | 0 total karma)

2/10/2010 at 8:10AM

I am all for keeping the Cubs and other MLB teams in AZ, but why build a new facility when there are perfectly good one's here Tucson. Some may think that the facilities are not good, OK fine maybe they need some renovations, but we don't need to build a whole new spring training facility. Lets spend some money on getting these facilities up and running and keep them going for a long time coming. The City of Tucson needs this type of revenue.

Please login to Comment

Join the conversation - Create an account!

Commenting Guidelines

Share your comments with us! Please be polite and treat others with respect.

Comments that are abusive, profane, or overly racist can result in a ban.

Each comment may only be 1500 characters long.

Hate Captchas? Captcha's prove you are a human and not a spamming robot. We use a small selection of real words in order to make it as easy as possible.

GRAVATAR support - Our comment widget supports Gravatars, use your Gravatar e-mail and your G rated avatar will be displayed.

Commenting - Frequently Asked Questions