Kino Sports Complex

• 1. Introduction

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  Kino Sports Complex sits at the intersection of Interstate 10 and State Route 86, four miles south of one of Tucson's oldest ballparks, and it has spent nearly three decades being many things to many teams. It opened in 1998 under the name Tucson Electric Park, seating 11,500 fans in what was then a larger and more modern alternative to Hi Corbett Field at the center of town. Within its first year, it hosted a major league spring training operation, a brand-new AAA franchise, and the inaugural season of the Arizona Diamondbacks. How did a regional sports complex in the Sonoran Desert end up attracting two major league clubs, a Triple-A affiliate, a Pacific Coast League transplant, a World Baseball Classic qualifier round, and a Major League Soccer preseason tournament? The answers run from real estate deals in Escondido to a $5 million county vote and a renaming ceremony honoring a Jesuit missionary who explored southern Arizona centuries before any stadium stood there.

• 2. Opening Season, 1998

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  Tucson Electric Park opened the same year the Arizona Diamondbacks began operations in Phoenix, a coincidence that immediately shaped the new stadium's identity. The Tucson Toros, who had played at Hi Corbett Field, made the four-mile move south, changed their name to the Tucson Sidewinders, and became the Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate in the Pacific Coast League. The Diamondbacks also took up residence at the stadium themselves for Cactus League spring training. The Chicago White Sox joined them, having left their previous spring training home in Sarasota, Florida for the new Tucson facility. Across town, the Colorado Rockies stayed put at Hi Corbett Field rather than moving south. An unaffiliated squad, the Tucson Mexican All-Stars of the Arizona Rookie League, also used the spring training complex adjacent to the main stadium from 1998 through 2000.

• 3. The Exit of Spring Training

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  On the 18th of November 2008, the Pima County Board of Supervisors accepted a revised offer from the Chicago White Sox worth $5 million, releasing the team from a lease that was otherwise set to run through 2012. The deal cleared the path for the Sox to join a new stadium in Glendale in time for the 2009 season. That decision set off a chain reaction. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies signaled they would only stay in Tucson if the city retained three spring training clubs. With that threshold no longer reachable, Tucson lost its Cactus League standing entirely. Both the Diamondbacks and Rockies eventually moved to Salt River Fields at Talking Stick, near Scottsdale, which opened in 2011.

• 4. A Stadium Between Tenants

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  The Tucson Sidewinders played their final season at the stadium in 2008, the same year the spring training clubs departed. The franchise relocated to Reno, Nevada, where it rebranded as the Reno Aces while keeping its status as the Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate. The displacement of the Aces in Reno pushed the Reno Silver Sox of the independent Golden Baseball League out of that market. Rather than take up residence in the renamed Tucson facility, the Silver Sox moved instead to Hi Corbett Field and reclaimed the old Tucson Toros name, leaving the main stadium without a professional baseball tenant for a period. It was during this gap that the naming agreement with Tucson Electric Power expired, and in 2010 the county began the process of giving the stadium a new identity.

• 5. A New Name, A New Chapter

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  The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved the name Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium on the 18th of January 2011, honoring Eusebio Kino, the Jesuit missionary who first explored southern Arizona in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The renaming also applied to the broader complex, which became Kino Sports Complex. That same year, the San Diego Padres' Triple-A affiliate relocated from Portland, Oregon to the newly renamed ballpark. The team had been the Portland Beavers; it arrived in Tucson as the Tucson Padres. The original plan had called for the Padres organization to build a permanent home in Escondido, California, but that stadium never materialized after California eliminated its redevelopment agencies. The Tucson Padres played at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium through the 2013 season before departing for El Paso, Texas, where the franchise became the El Paso Chihuahuas ahead of the 2014 season.

• 6. Soccer, College Football, and New Leagues

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  FC Tucson has played at the complex's North Stadium since 2012, beginning in the Premier Development League, which later became USL League Two. The club moved up to USL League One in 2019, then returned to USL League Two in 2023. The North Stadium also served as the football home for Pima Community College's Aztecs for several seasons; the team shifted from the main ballpark to the North Stadium for the 2014 season and remained there until the college ended its football program entirely in 2018. On the baseball side, the Pecos League's Tucson Saguaros have made the main stadium their regular-season home since 2016. The complex additionally hosts preseason matches for Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls and is the site of the Desert Diamond Cup preseason soccer tournament.

• 7. World Baseball Classic Qualifiers

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  In September 2022, Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium hosted the qualifying round for the 2023 World Baseball Classic, bringing international competition to a ballpark that had spent its first two decades as a regional minor league and spring training venue. The stadium's capacity of 11,500 and its infrastructure from years of professional baseball made it a workable host for a tournament with genuine global stakes. That the same field where the Sidewinders once played AAA ball could anchor a pathway to the World Baseball Classic points to how the complex has continued to find new roles rather than fade after the departure of its highest-profile tenants.