Kino Sports Complex is a multiple-use sports complex in

Tucson, Arizona , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

. The

Arizona Diamondbacks The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...

and

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and ...

formerly utilized the complex's main ballpark, Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, for Cactus League games each March and had their minor league complexes on-site. The ballpark was also home to the

Tucson Sidewinders , "(at the) base of the black ill , nicknames = "The Old Pueblo", "Optics Valley", "America's biggest small town" , image_map = , mapsize = 260px , map_caption = Interactive map ...

of the

Pacific Coast League The Pacific Coast League (PCL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the Western United States. Along with the International League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Ba ...

for the team's last decade in Tucson, running from the stadium's 1998 opening season to the 2008 season. The ballpark was a temporary home (2011–2013) to the

Tucson Padres The Tucson Padres were a minor league baseball team representing Tucson, Arizona in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). They were the Triple-A affiliate for the San Diego Padres. The team moved to Tucson from Portland, Oregon for the 2011 season. I ...

(formerly the Portland Beavers) of the Pacific Coast League during the team's relocation to

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; "the pass") is a city in and the seat of El Paso County in the western corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The 2020 population of the city from the U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the 23rd-largest city in the U.S., the ...

. It was also the regular season home of the Pecos League's

Tucson Saguaros The Tucson Saguaros are a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, that began play in 2016. The club is a member of the Pecos League, an independent league baseball, independent baseball league which is not affiliated with Major Leagu ...

baseball team from 2016 to 2017. It seats 11,500 fans, and hosts concerts in addition to its primary function as a baseball park. Kino Sports Complex is also used to host

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

matches.

FC Tucson FC Tucson is an American soccer club based in Tucson, Arizona that plays in USL League Two. The club has an amateur women’s team, FC Tucson Women, that play in the WPSL. Organized in 2010, the club first fielded a team in March 2011, then join ...

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...

plays its home matches at the complex's North Stadium, its primary soccer stadium. The complex serves as the preseason home of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...

New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...

and host of the

Desert Diamond Cup The Desert Showcase (formerly the Desert Cup, the Desert Diamond Cup, the Mobile Mini Sun Cup, and the Visit Tucson Sun Cup), is a preseason soccer tournament hosted by Phoenix Rising FC of the USL Championship and FC Tucson of USL League One. The ...

preseason soccer tournament.

History

Spring training and AAA venue

Tucson Electric Park opened in 1998. Larger and more modern than central Tucson's

Hi Corbett Field Hi Corbett Field is a baseball park in the southwestern United States, located in Tucson, Arizona. With a seating capacity of approximately 9,500, it was the spring training home of the Colorado Rockies and Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseb ...

, it is situated 4 miles south of Hi Corbett, at the intersection of several major thoroughfares including

I-10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally p ...

and SR-86. TEP opened the same year that the

began operations in Phoenix, and the

Tucson Toros The Tucson Toros were a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. The original Toros were a Triple-A minor league baseball team in the Pacific Coast League from 1969 to 1997, where they won the PCL Championship in ...

moved from Hi Corbett to TEP, renamed themselves the

, and became the Diamondbacks' AAA affiliate. Furthermore, the Diamondbacks themselves became a tenant of TEP for

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives estab ...

, sharing the facility with the

(who moved from their previous spring training facility in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County, Florida, Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The c ...

). Across town, the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The team plays its home baseball games at Coors Fi ...

continued to hold their spring training at Hi Corbett Field.

Mexican Rookie team

The unaffiliated

Tucson Mexican All-Stars The Tucson Mexican All-Stars team was an Arizona League baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, made up of developmental players from the Mexican League. It played from 1998 to 2000 at the Tucson Electric Park spring training complex. The team c ...

of the

Arizona Rookie League The Arizona Complex League (ACL) is a rookie-level Minor League Baseball league that operates in and around Phoenix, Arizona, since 1988. Prior to 2021, it was known as the Arizona League (AZL). Along with the Florida Complex League (FCL), it ...

played at the spring training complex across from the stadium from 1998 to 2000.

Departure of MLB spring training

The Chicago White Sox had an agreement to move to

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

in a stadium that was completed in the 2009 season. However, the Sox' lease on TEP was to last through 2012. In order to leave TEP early, the Sox proposed a youth baseball academy backed by Major League Baseball surrounding TEP. On November 18, 2008, the

Pima County Pima County ( ) is a county in the south central region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census, the population was 1,043,433, making it Arizona's second-most populous county. The county seat is Tucson, where most of the populati ...

Board of Supervisors agreed to the White Sox's revised offer of $5 million, thus allowing the team to move to Glendale in time for the 2009 season.

, spring training occupant of Tucson's

, and the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were tenants at TEP and the Kino Sports Complex, indicated that they would both need Tucson to have three teams in order to continue playing there. Tucson was therefore abandoned as a spring training venue, and all Cactus League games now take place in the

Phoenix metropolitan area The Phoenix Metropolitan Area – also the Valley of the Sun, the Salt River Valley, or Metro Phoenix (known by most locals simply as “the Valley”) – is the largest metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States, centered on the city ...

. The Diamondbacks and Rockies share the new

Salt River Fields at Talking Stick Salt River Fields at Talking Stick is a stadium complex located in the Salt River Pima–Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona, at the former site of the Indian Bend Country Club. It serves as the Major League Baseball spring-traini ...

, which opened in 2011 near Scottsdale.

Departure of the Sidewinders

The Tucson Sidewinders also played their last season at TEP in 2008. The team moved to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is th ...

, renaming itself the

Reno Aces The Reno Aces are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks. They are located in Reno, Nevada, and play their home games at Greater Nevada Field, which opened in 2009. ...

and remaining the AAA affiliate of the Diamondbacks. At the same time, the

Reno Silver Sox The Reno Silver Sox were a minor league baseball team that existed on and off from 1947 to 1992. The team name is derived from the nickname of Nevada, the "Silver State". There was another baseball team known as the Reno Silver Sox who played i ...

of the

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

Golden Baseball League The Golden Baseball League was an independent baseball league based in San Ramon, California, with teams located in the western United States, western Canada and northwest Mexico. The GBL was not affiliated with Major League Baseball or the orga ...

, displaced by the arrival of the Aces, relocated to Tucson. Instead of using TEP, however, the new team located itself at the more historic Hi Corbett Field and retook the historic name of the

. TEP was thus, for a time, without any Major League or minor league baseball tenant.

Name change

In 2010, after the end of the naming agreement with the local

electric utility An electric utility is a company in the electric power industry (often a public utility) that engages in electricity generation and distribution of electricity for sale generally in a regulated market. The electrical utility industry is a majo ...

Tucson Electric Power Tucson Electric Power (TEP) is an electric utility company serving southern Arizona in the United States. It is a subsidiary of Fortis, which announced its acquisition of parent company UNS Energy in 2013. Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium, a ba ...

, the stadium was renamed after

Eusebio Kino Eusebio Francisco Kino ( it, Eusebio Francesco Chini, es, Eusebio Francisco Kino; 10 August 1645 – 15 March 1711), often referred to as Father Kino, was a Tyrolean Jesuit, missionary, geographer, explorer, cartographer and astronomer bor ...

, the

Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

who first explored southern Arizona in the late 17th and early 18th centuries. The Pima County Board of Supervisors approved the name change (Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium) on January 18, 2011.

Tucson Padres

In 2011, the San Diego Padres Triple-A affiliate relocated from

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous ...

to Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium and renamed itself the

. They were formerly known as the

Portland Beavers The Portland Beavers was the name of separate minor league baseball teams, which represented Portland, Oregon, in the Pacific Coast League (PCL). The team was established in 1903, the first year of the PCL. Franchise history Many baseball teams ...

. Originally the San Diego Padres organization wanted to arrange for a stadium to be approved and constructed in

Escondido, California Escondido is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. Located in the North County region, it was incorporated in 1888, and is one of the oldest cities in San Diego County. It has a population of 151,038 as of the 2020 census. Ety ...

, however that stadium plan later fell through when California eliminated their redevelopment agencies. The team departed Tucson for

prior to the beginning of the 2014 season and assumed the name "

El Paso Chihuahuas The El Paso Chihuahuas are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. They are located in El Paso, Texas, and play their home games at Southwest University Park, which opened ...

FC Tucson

Since 2012,

has played its games at Kino Sports Complex's North Stadium. The club began its existence in the Premier Development League (now USL League Two), and in 2019 began play in the higher-level

. In 2023, the team went back to USL League Two.

Pima Community College

The Pima Community College Aztecs

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

played its home games at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium for several seasons. The team will move to the Kino Sports Complex North Stadium for its 2014 fall Football season.

World Baseball Classic

The qualifiers for the 2023 World Baseball Classic will be held at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in September 2022.Axisa, Mike. "Hall of Famer Mike Piazza to manage Italy when World Baseball Classic returns in 2023." CBS Sports. March 23, 2022. Accessed March 24, 2022. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/hall-of-famer-mike-piazza-to-manage-italy-when-world-baseball-classic-returns-in-2023/

References

External links

Kino Sports Complex, operators of Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium

FC Tucson – Stadium

* ttp://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/spring_training/ballpark.jsp?c_id=ari Ballpark page on dbacks.com {{Music venues of Arizona Arizona Diamondbacks spring training venues Chicago White Sox spring training venues Minor league baseball venues Sports venues in Tucson, Arizona Baseball venues in Arizona FC Tucson Soccer venues in Arizona 1998 establishments in Arizona Sports venues completed in 1998 Sports complexes in the United States USL League One stadiums