Spring training feels economic pinch

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona (Reuters) - For the first time in years, baseball fan Don Jarvis finds he has an empty seat beside him at Scottsdale Stadium.

His brother Jim did not travel from California for spring training with the rest of the family to cheer on their beloved San Francisco Giants -- because of the recession.

"He drives a truck for the San Francisco Chronicle and doesn't know if he is going to have a job," said Jarvis, munching on a hot dog, with a cold beer beside him.

"He thought he'd better stay home. They are talking about closing the paper."

Last year, more than 1.3 million people attended spring training games in Arizona's Cactus League to take a close-up look at the pitchers and sluggers of some of the United States' best teams as they honed their skills before the start of Major League Baseball (MLB).

As the economic downturn deepens, officials report that fewer fans are turning out at ballparks to watch training games in Arizona, despite the addition of the Cleveland Indians and Los Angeles Dodgers to boost the Cactus League to 14 teams.

Spring training is longer this year, with more games among the teams taking advantage of Arizona's warm weather to prepare for the opening of the MLB regular season on April 5.

SOUVENIR SHIRTS

Officials say that attendance is off by a little more than five percent through the first 148 games of spring training in this desert state, a decline felt by the concessionaires and businesses who have worked the grounds for years.

"We used to have swarms but now we have dribbles," said Larry Creagan, 62, who minds the door of a souvenir shop at Hohokam Stadium in Mesa, where the Chicago Cubs play a busy schedule of pre-season games.

Not only are the lines of fans queuing up for tickets shorter this year, fewer are piling into the Cubby Hole team shop to stock up on souvenir shirts, caps and other merchandise, and officials report that business is down by 30 percent.

"Everyone has their hands in their pockets and they're not pulling them out," Creagan said. "People are trying to save money and I don't see that changing for a while."

Spring training also usually brings an important boost to the local economy in the Phoenix area and Tucson, where many teams come to train in the sun. A 2007 survey showed it was worth $311 million.

Gwen Briley, longtime owner of the Pink Pony restaurant in Scottsdale, where baseball greats Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams and Sandy Koufax once dined, said she had seen about a 25 percent drop in business this spring training.

"It's just been terrible," said Briley, whose restaurant draws fans to splurge on its famed 28-ounce prime rib and buy baseball memorabilia. "And it's not just me, everyone is hurting. And if they don't say that they are, they're lying."

STEADY ATTENDANCE

In Florida, the chosen spring training destination of 16 teams, league officials report that the number of fans is down in a handful of parks but that overall attendance is holding steady.

Mainstays such as the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees, and World Series teams the Philadelphia Phillies and Tampa Bay Rays continue to draw.

There have been scattered reports of hotels and restaurants seeing a slump in business for spring training, according to Nick Gandy, a Florida Sports Foundation spokesman.

"The consensus before the season was that the sky wasn't falling," he added. "And the attendance we've seen has kind of backed that up."

For the fans, the fun and exuberance of the game are still there, though the economic woes have crept in to the bleachers with them.

"It's a shame that some extreme risk-takers were able to create such a havoc in the general economy," said Mark Raffles, a Chicago-based investment manager at one recent Giants game. "And that is has to hit this wonderful place."

(Writing by Tim Gaynor, Editing by Clare Fallon)