The Cubs are very smart to use the threat of a move to Naples, FL to get Mesa to build them a new spring ballpark and year round training facilities. One has to wonder how delusional Naples officials are to think the Cubs might actually move there. The trend for years has been for teams to move from Florida to AZ because there's just so many advantages to being there.
The Reds are moving to AZ this spring and AZ will then have 15 teams. By 2011 when the new ballpark for the Diamondbacks and Rockies near Scottsdale... all 15 teams will play their games in the Phoenix metropolitan market. That is great for fans because it makes it easy to follow your team on the road.

If the Cubs moved to Naples, FL, here are the travel distances by car to the other Grapefruit League ballparks. Ain't gonna happen.

Naples to...

Lake Buena Vista 3hrs. 41 minutes

Fort Myers 50 minutes

Jupiter 2 hrs 45

Tampa  2 hrs 44 minutes

Bradenton  2 hrs 14 minutes

Port Charlotte  1 hr 20 minutes

Viera 4 hrs. 18 minutes

Sarasota 2 hrs.

Lakeland 3 hrs. 9 minutes

Kissimmee 3 hrs. 49 minutes

Port St. Lucie  3 hrs. 10 minutes

Clearwater  2 hrs 56 minutes

Jupiter  2 hrs 45 minutes

Dunedin  2 hrs 55 minutes

The mayor of Naples just admitted on TV that you exposed his little sham.

Nice work!!

Like team travel time is a key factor. If some fool town in FL or AZ is willing to build a park and a training facility to the Cubs' specifications, the team will move there in a heartbeat. Personally, I think that the Cubs would be better in FL, just because the travel time for most of their fans is shorter:

Chicago-Naples 20 hours, 36 minutes
Chicago-Mesa 1 day, 4 hours

Like this matters.

If you believe that, you know nothing about spring training. One of the most appealing things for the fans about being in Mesa is that the farthest Phoenix area team is a 50 minute drive... 1 hr 40 min round trip... so if they come down for a week they can go to games every day.

Compared to a 6 to eight hour round trip for many of the Florida ballparks. The players, fans, coaches and even the GM would hate that compared to AZ. The Cubs management has zero interest in Naples. They will just use Naples to get the deal they want in Mesa.

I would hate it. Think about all that travel for the players during ST. They would be tired even before the season started. Keep them in AZ where they belong, they get the biggest draws and the cubs bring in 52 million dollars per year. Do you really think AZ is going to just let 52 million dollars move away?

"Naples FL can buy Mesa AZ 10 times over. If Mesa wants to keep the Cubs, they will have to out-do Naples(along with the Naples proposal to build a stadium that has been designed to duplicate Wrigley Field).

I would LOVE to see the Cubs Spring training in Naples, but I'm biased!!...lol."

You are biased enough that you don't see the main points. It makes no difference how rich Naples is compared to Mesa. You are wrong that Mesa will have to out-do Naples. Naples will have to out-do Mesa in a major way. A close comparative offer will always go to Mesa. There's just way too many advantages for the Cubs to stay there.

the players would be too tired eh? boo-hoo, they are professionals. the other teams that paly in FL arent whineing about it after all these years. to say that money doesnt matter is ridiculous. it always matters in any sport.

you seem so confident that you are the authority in what cubs management would do. any reasoning? i know lou isnt the boss but he would love it

"It doesn't, and you want to keep ST in your own backyard?. Your interest here on ST is purely economical, same as mine. "

It's never been in my back yard. My four spring training trips to AZ were from near South Bend, IN.
I flew three times and drove once because I was staying for the whole month. If you never been to spring training in AZ, you don't understand how different it is. Just give you an example of the travel difference for teams and fans.... many Cubs fans stay in Scottsdale which is home of the Giants.

From Scottsdale, here are the driving differences....

to Mesa ballpark 17 minutes

to Scottsdale ballpark 5 minutes

to Phoenix ballpark 10 minutes

to Goodyear ballpark 40 minutes

to Maryvale ballpark 30 minutes

to Surprise ballpark 54 minutes

to Peoria ballpark 42 minutes

to Glendale ballpark 35 minutes

to Tucson ballpark 2 hrs. … these teams will move to a new Scottsdale ballpark in 2011, then it will be about 5-10 minutes.

As of 2011, all 15 teams will play in one metropolitan area, which makes road trips short and vacations much more enjoyable.

"the players would be too tired eh? boo-hoo, they are professionals. the other teams that paly in FL arent whineing about it after all these years. to say that money doesnt matter is ridiculous. it always matters in any sport.

you seem so confident that you are the authority in what cubs management would do. any reasoning? i know lou isnt the boss but he would love it"

I never said money doesn't matter. The Cubs will make much more money in Arizona. The cost of travel and the reduced attendance will assure that outcome. The Cubs have already said what is best for the fans is an important factor in where they choose to play.

Why would it matter what Lou thinks, he will be retired then anyway. The Cubs are committed to Hohokam through 2012.

If you had made several trips to Cactus league spring training you would understand the vast differences and advantages to spring training in AZ over FL.
Much better attendance, better weather, much less travel. The fans get more vacation time and the players, coaches, GM and even the owners spend many hours less waste in travel. In the last ten years teams have been pulling up stakes from Florida to move to AZ... because everything about the Cactus League is an improvement over the Grapefruit League. There simply is no benefit for the Cubs to move to Naples Florida.

I know Naples is a loooooooooooong shot. However living in Ft. Myers,That would sweet(selfishly) It's been on the news and in the papers quite a bit. I'm sure the cubs are just using Naples for leverage.But like i said it would be sweet.

all im saying is your opinion has no bareing on what the cubs will do.

winter/spring in southern florida is quite possibly the best weather ever, IMO. i lived in naples for several winter/ spring to get out of the cold here in the midwest.

cubs fans will always follow the team even if it requires more travel.

dont assume ive not followed the team during ST.

all that said, i could care less where they have ST is all, just cant wait for 2010

go cubs

"all im saying is your opinion has no bareing on what the cubs will do."

Where did I ever claim my opinion would matter in their decision. My opinion is based on my experience going to spring training games and the obvious fact that teams are desiring to move from Florida to AZ... not the opposite.

"winter/spring in southern florida is quite possibly the best weather ever, IMO. i lived in naples for several winter/ spring to get out of the cold here in the midwest."

Phoenix is a dry climate where rain happens very infrequently. I'm sure Naples is beautiful, but rain is much more likely in Naples.

"cubs fans will always follow the team even if it requires more travel."

The evidence says that's not true. Many more fans follow the Cubs spring road games in AZ to the closer parks than attend the Cubs road games to Tucson. The biggest reason the Tucson teams don't draw and are all moving to the Phoenix area is because none of the other teams fans travel that far in the same numbers as locally in Phoenix.

"dont assume ive not followed the team during ST."

OK... how many times have you gone to spring traing in Mesa?

"People that vacation in Florida tend to actually want to drive, which is unfortunate for the residents b/c the accident rate goes way up in the Winter. I guess it would depend on why you vacation, most prefer water over desert. If I were to take a vacation focusing on baseball, I would go to AZ as well. What I do know is that the SW part of Florida has a lot of snowbird Cub/Bear fans that own property. I'm actually surprised the Red Sox are still in Ft. Myers, most vacationers from the Boston area stay over on the East Coast of Florida(plus the Red Sox facility is in a lousy neighborhood"

What it seems you are missing is it's not the local population that teams mostly depend on to have good spring training attendance. It also is not the people who have mostly chosen to got to FL or AZ for vacation. A huge % comes to see baseball... and that is especially true for Cubs fans.

The fans that come for baseball would much rather travel 15-30 minutes to a game rather than 2-4 hours. There is a reason why The Cactus League is growing and the Grapefruit League is growing.

<<The fans that come for baseball would much rather travel 15-30 minutes to a game rather than 2-4 hours.>>

I would think that its much more than just what the fans want. The players/teams would not want to travel those longer distance times to get to their games. The greater Phoenix area is the place to be. If you do go to Fla, you would want to be more centrally located instead of being at the southern most tip of the state.

I really dont see the Cubs moving from AZ. But to be honest, I couldnt care less where they play their ST.

OK... how many times have you gone to spring traing in Mesa?
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ive been going since the early 80's, my grandpa resides in mesa. i love guys like you that think they know what others lives involve and that you are a better fan because you obvisously go to ST. at least by your words it seems like you are implying. you know we have way too many of them here. i know nothing of you and hope im wrong.

thanks for the post though, i didnt know them possiblity of them moving to FL. which would be ok with me because my brother lives in cape coral.

Uhh....I have been to Naples many times and it is a big $$$$ town. It is filled with old dudes (many retired Chicago cops, firemen, public defenders and such). This gang likes to talk about their "conservative" philosophy all the while on the public pension ride.....a bunch of hypocrites. I can name names but I will not. On US 41 in Naples I came across an Astin Martin dealership.....amazing cars....if you have to ask about the cost don't bother. The homes along the Gulf are really mansions...lots of golf courses, tennis clubs, etc. It is also Rush Limbaugh country.....tune in any A.M. radio station down there and you will hear the most vile, hateful people on this earth.....the Cubs have no business going to a place as revolting as Naples, FL. I will say this about the place....there are dolphins out in the Gulf and they are amazing to see......I have no plans to go back there EVER.

Also one extra thing: the driving times you give are way off.....Naples is about 90 miles from Orlando, 45 from Tampa/St. Pete and the farthest place is probably Miami (across Alligator Alley) that is about 150 miles tops...I have no idea where you got thesde travel times but they are wrong. Just look at a map of the state.....