Baseball Stoppage Puts Arizona, Florida Towns in Economic Limbo

Major League Baseball’s work stoppage threatens to eat into business revenue in Sun Belt spring baseball towns.

That can be a big deal for areas like Clearwater, Florida, or Surprise, Arizona, but overall, experts agree that the states themselves will still see plenty of tourism. In total, the Arizona and Florida leagues that host spring training baseball bring about $1 billion in combined annual economic impact to their states, according to recent studies published by both leagues -- a drop in the bucket for Florida and Arizona’s economies with gross domestic products of $1.2 trillion and $400 billion, respectively.