The Colorado Rockies played their final spring training game of the season at Hi Corbett Field on Wednesday, March 26. The lingering question about the team is will they be back next year?

City and county officials were successful in filling the stands for the last game of the year, trying to show the Rockies that the Old Pueblo wants them to stay. Spring training games have been held at Hi Corbett for 61 consecutive years, but the Rockies are saying privately that they need upgrades to the facility - upgrades that will cost millions of dollars. No one knows where that money is going to come from.

This year, Rockies fan Dave Shelpuk of Denver made his first trip to Tucson to take in spring training. He says he thinks Hi Corbett Field is fine, with one exception. “The thermometer says 78 degrees,” he says. “That’s plus or minus 30 degrees, right?” Despite the heat, 8,600 autograph-seeking fans turned out for the game.   

Another fan, Deb Mellentine wants to keep the Rockies here. “I think they need to stay in Tucson because Tucson’s been good to the Rockies,” she says. The Rockies say they want to stick around, but in order to do so they would need about $30 million in improvements at Hi Corbett.

“Unitl we see some evidence that these needs can be met, and the future of baseball isn’t bright here, our vision has always been we’re gonna figure this thing out,” says Rockies President Keli McGregor. City officials and community leaders are working with the team to figure out how to do that, but so far they don’t have a clear-cut answer.

Jack Camper of the Tucson Chamber of Commerce is leading the charge to keep baseball here. He says one way to do that is to support the teams training here currently, but also support the enhancement of youth and amateur sporting activities in Tucson. Camper says that’s all part of the bigger picture to possibly get the funding to keep the teams here.

Over at Tucson Electric Park the Chicago White Sox have agreed to move to the Phoenix area and reportedly are working to find a team to replace them here, but so far that team hasn’t been found. It won’t be easy, because the state of Florida, which is losing two teams to Arizona next year, has set up a panel to find ways not to lose any more teams. That’s how important spring training is to a local economy.