Updates on The List have been made for the month of March and there were a lot of changes, mostly due to indoor football league changes. MLB’s Spring Training was also looked at, as there was only one facility change. That comes from the Cactus League where the interestingly named Salt River Fields at Talking Stick was built in Scottsdale. This ballpark will host spring training for both Arizona and Colorado as they move from Tucson Electric Park (which gets a tenant back as the PCL’s Portland Beavers relocate there)
The craziness is in the ever-changing world of indoor football. That’s a wacky sport with wacky league structuring. The biggest news comes from the folding of the AIFA as their teams went to the SIFL, IFL or just closed up shop. Many franchises across the vast lands of arena football did not survive and that leaves many arenas that were previously on the The List now gone, because they aren’t hosting sports any more. Several were primarily used for rodeos anyway like San Angelo Arena, Leudecke Arena (Austin, TX) and Golden Spike Arena (Ogden, UT). Others though are more prominent. Little Rock’s $80 million, 18,000 seat Verizon Arena now sits devoid of sports as the Arkansas Diamonds folded. Also we say goodbye again to the historical Cow Palace on the West Coast as the San Jose Wolves folded.
Some arenas were saved as they host high school championships each year like the Yakima Valley SunDome and the Ohio Expo Center (Columbus). Its also nice to see Charlotte’s Bojangles’ Coliseum hosting sports again as the Carolina Speed are an expansion team in the SIFL. That arena holds a special place in locals’ hearts, so its good to see it still around. There was one new stadium I was able to find and that comes from Grand Island, Nebraska as the 6,000-seat Eihusen Arena will be home to a franchise in the IFL.
As April arrives, baseball begins and I’ll be going through all of those leagues beginning play once again…amazing how fast the winter goes by.
Stadium and Arena Visits 