High Cost Not Likely to Stop Spring Training Center

PHOENIX-The future spring training home for the Kansas City Royals and the Texas Rangers is costing more than expected, but the plans will move forward.

Surprise, a suburb to the west of Phoenix, plans to continue building a spring training stadium for the two teams, even though the price tag is more than the $45 million the city had planned to spend. Construction costs on the stadium complex, which is going up near Bullard Avenue and Greenway Road, could be approximately $42.5 million, but the cost of the land and development will total $48 million, says City Manager Bill Pupo.

In addition to the rising cost of development, the city has to contend with getting less financial help from the Tourism and Sports Authority, which holds the purse strings on millions of public dollars earmarked for building the Arizona Cardinals stadium and spring training baseball facilities. Surprise was counting on getting $30 million from the TSA, but the authority now says it will only give the city $26 million toward the new facility.