Are the Cubs Moving Out of Town?

photo from:   www.thefuntimesgame.com

Story By - Mary Clausen

March 20.  Don't be afraid Cubby fans.  Your Cubby Bears are not leaving their happy home in Chicago.  You know how much they love Chicago and their great fans too much.  Did I scare you?  Sorry if i did.   What they're thinking of right now is possibly moving out of their spring training home, Mesa Arizona.  As you probably new, the Cubs are the most popular team in the Cactus League right now, so the folks in Arizona won't be happy.  Their lease in Mesa is up after the 2012 season, so they need to tell the city of Mesa what their plans are before the 2010 season.  That's coming up fairly soon so Ricketts family, new owners that is buying your Cubs from the Tribune, has begun to work on the negotiations for a possible change.  A member of the Richetts family was on hand during talks with Kenney, the club chairman, and  Mesa officials.  Mesa Mayor Scott Smith said, "I'm not going to speculate on whether they're posturing, but we are talking with them seriously. . .We'll look at all the options and see what work in this economy."

The Mesa city officials thought that the Cubs were interested only interested in making some improvements to the current facility that they are in, so the talk of a possible move was a complete surprise to them.    Some of the options the Cubs are considering  in their possible move to Sarasota, Florida is the need to add seats to the current seating and add batting cages to the Mesa facility.  They are talking to Mesa officials to see about the possibility of improving  the two in their current facility. Keney made a comment that it is pretty much up to the new owner about the possible Cub move.  He knows they will need to decide if they will stay in Mesa in a renovated facility or relocate in Arizaona or a completely different state.

The Cubs have been in the Valley for their spring training home since 1952 and have been in Mesa since the season of 1979.  The Mayor of Mesa commented that they already have a hotel and conference center planned for the area so  building a new 15,000-seat stadium in southeast Mesa is one of their "possibilitities."