Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium

Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium

Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium during a Spring Training game, March 2013
Former names	Tucson Electric Park (1998–2010)
Coordinates
Owner	Pima County
Operator	Pima County Stadium District
Capacity	11,500 (8,000 metal seats, lawn seating for 3,000, 500 standing areas)
Field size	Right/Left Field – 340 ft (103.6 m) Center Field – 405 ft (123.4 m)
Surface	Grass
Construction
Broke ground	February 14, 1997
Opened	February 27, 1998
Construction cost	$38 million ($55.2 million in 2024 dollars)
Architect	Populous
Structural engineer	HMW Consulting Structural Engineers Inc.
Services engineer	M-E Engineers, Inc.
General contractor	Conelly Swinerton
Tenants
Arizona Diamondbacks (MLB spring training) (1998–2010) Chicago White Sox (MLB spring training) (1998–2008) Tucson Sidewinders (PCL) (1998–2008) Pima CC Aztecs Football (2010–present) Tucson Padres (PCL) (2011–2013) FC Tucson (USLPDL) (2012–present) University of Arizona Club Baseball (NCBA) (2011) Casino del Sol College All-Star Game (2012)
Website
www.kinosportscomplex.com

Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium is a baseball stadium in Tucson, Arizona. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Chicago White Sox formerly utilized the park for Cactus League games each March and had their minor league complexes on-site. It 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. During that time, it was known as Tucson Electric Park or TEP.

The stadium 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 seats 11,500 fans. Concerts are often held at the stadium as well.

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.

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. The Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockies, spring training occupant of Tucson's Hi Corbett Field, indicated that they would both need Tucson to have 3 teams in order to continue playing there. 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. The team departed Tucson for El Paso, Texas prior to the beginning of the 2014 season and assumed the name "El Paso Chihuahuas."

Pima Community College

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

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Kino Sports Complex, operators of Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium
• Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium - Ball Parks of the Minor Leagues
• Ballpark page on dbacks.com

Preceded by Hi Corbett Field	Home of the Tucson Sidewinders 1998–2008	Succeeded by Aces Ballpark
Preceded by first ballpark	Home of the Arizona Diamondbacks Spring Training 1998–2010	Succeeded by Salt River Fields at Talking Stick
Preceded by Ed Smith Stadium	Home of the Chicago White Sox Spring Training 1998–2008	Succeeded by Camelback Ranch
Preceded by PGE Park	Home of the Tucson Padres 2011–2013	Succeeded by New El Paso Ballpark