Major League Baseball announced Feb. 18 that an ongoing labor dispute would officially cancel the first week of spring training, confirming the fears of many West Valley cities that benefit from ticket sales and tourism dollars the annual games bring.
The city of Goodyear, which hosts the Cleveland Guardians and Cincinnati Reds at Goodyear Ballpark, is now offering refunds to customers who purchased tickets for games between Feb. 26 and March 4 from GoodyearBP.com, Reds.com or CleGuardians.com.
Refunds will be processed automatically, and customers can expect to see refunds in the next two weeks, the city announced on the Goodyear Ballpark website.
But those who purchased tickets from places like StubHub, or other secondary ticket providers, should contact the company directly, the city said.
Season ticket holders will receive a credit back to their account, but can contact the Goodyear Ballpark Box Office if they’d like a refund instead.
Spring training, which was set to begin Feb. 26, has been delayed until at least March 5, possibly longer.
“We are disappointed that we are not able to start as scheduled and apologize for any inconvenience this causes you,” the city said. “MLB is working to get the game back on the field as quickly as possible.”
The city of Goodyear owns and operates Goodyear Ballpark.
A city spokesperson told the Goodyear Independent in December that spring training disruptions could cost Goodyear anywhere between $500,000 and $1 million.
The lockouts come after two years of pandemic-related disruptions. The COVID-19 pandemic cut the season short in 2020, and fan capacity was limited to just 25% in 2021 because of COVID mitigation measures.
Spring training disruptions and cancelations over the past three years have cost the state and local governments hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
The games raked in an estimated $644 million for the state during 2018, but just $363 million in 2020.
Madeline Ackley Salazar can be reached at mackley@iniusa.org or found on Twitter @Mkayackley.
Madeline Ackley is a Phoenix-area native who joined Independent Newsmedia in July 2021 as a reporter for the Goodyear-Litchfield Park Independent. She is passionate about delivering hyperlocal coverage of issues that matter to her community.
She has previously covered immigration, policing, homelessness, veteran’s issues and breaking news and her byline has appeared in The Arizona Mirror, The Arizona Republic, The Phoenix Business Journal and Cronkite News.
Madeline is passionate about animal welfare and the environment. She loves to cook, travel and spend time with her family.
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