Glendale went ahead and built a new spring-training facility for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox without working on a revenue deal with Phoenix, which is where the ballpark is actually located. A revenue-sharing deal was finally announced last week.
It is one of the quirks of the west Valley of the Sun: There are parts of Glendale that are actually park of west Phoenix, no matter what it says on the map.
And one of those areas is where Camelback Ranch, the spring home of the Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago White Sox, was built. Glendale went ahead with development of the facility without reaching a firm agreement with Phoenix on payments for essential services like water and sewer. And with Glendale in a precarious financial position, such uncertainty didn't sit well with city leaders.
So the announcement of an agreement with Phoenix was good news for all. Under the agreement, Glendale will retain 80 percent of the tax revenue generated by the project, with 20 percent going to Phoenix. In addition, Glendale will reimburse Phoenix for more than a million dollars the city spent on planning and parking.
Subscribers to the weekly Ballpark Digest newsletter see articles before they're posted to the site. You can sign up for a free subscription at the Newsletter Signup Page.
Join Ballpark Digest on Facebook and on Twitter!