Cactus League Opening Day 2024
My original intent for this post was to be about attending the Opening Day of the 2024 Cactus League season at the Peoria Sports Complex in Peoria, AZ. The game was played between the San Diego Padres and the Los Angeles Dodgers on Thursday, February 22, 2024.
I will have to spend some time on planning out this and all subsequent posts about the Cactus League games that I attended.
Meanwhile, you can read my previous post about the Cactus League at the following link. Think of that post as more of an introduction about the Cactus League.
All About the Peoria Sports Complex
In my previous post about the Cactus League, I created a map depicting the locations of the various Cactus League stadiums to be found throughout Maricopa County, AZ. Actually, I'm quite proud of how both the map and table I created for that particular post turned out. Since I currently live in the Sun City-Peoria, AZ area, the closest Cactus League stadium to me is the Peoria Sports Complex.
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| Map of the Peoria Sports Complex |
In no particular order, here is an info dump about the Peoria Sports Complex. (Note: I have wracked my brain over the past several weeks trying to come up with a way to structure and organize all of this information. I can't seem to figure out a way to do either. For now, it is what it is.)
As I mentioned in my previous post about the Cactus League in Arizona, the San Diego Padres of the National League and the Seattle Mariners of the American League are the two main joint tenants of the Peoria Sports Complex. Based upon my research, both teams have an agreement with the City of Peoria, AZ to use the Peoria Sports Complex for Spring Training games until the year 2034. As a result, if you a fan of either team or you live in the Sun City/Peoria/Glendale, AZ area, you can relax.
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| San Diego Padres Team Logo |
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| Seattle Mariners Team Logo |
The Peoria Sports Complex is the main venue for Spring Training games for Major League Baseball in Peoria, AZ. While the Padres and the Mariners share the use of the stadium for games, including playing each other, each team has their own separate administrative offices, training facilities, practice fields, and clubhouses at the Peoria Sports Complex. In fact, they even have their own separate parking lots for the public to use.
In addition to the Padres and the Mariners, there are other tenants of the Peoria Sports Complex. They include the Peoria Javelinas of the Arizona Fall League. Previous tenants have included the Peoria Saguaros (Note: The Peoria Saguaros are now known as the Surprise Saguaros.), the Sun City Solar Fox (Note: The Sun City Solar Fox are now known as the Mesa Solar Fox), and professional soccer team Phoenix Rising FC in the USL Championship. When the Phoenix Rising were playing at the Peoria Sports Complex, they were known as Arizona United SC.
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| Peoria Javelinas Team Logo |
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| Surprise Saguaros Team Logo |
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| Arizona United SC Team Logo |
Curiously, the Hokkaido Nippon Ham Fighters of Japanese Professional Baseball used the Peoria Sports Complex for Spring Training during the 2016 and 2017 seasons, while Shohei Ohtani was still with the team.
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| Nippon-Ham Fighters Team Logo |
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| Nippon-Ham Fighters participating in a practice game at Peoria Sports Complex. |
With Cactus League baseball games typically ending in late March, the City of Peoria does hold other events throughout the year at the Peoria Sports Complex in addition to sporting events. For additional information, I would recommend visiting the website for the Peoria Sports Complex itself.
Architecture firm Populous Holdings, Inc. designed the Peoria Sports Complex. The facility was formally opened on February 26, 1994. The complex cost a total of $32 million to build. The construction cost of the stadium itself was $7.7 million. The stadium at the Peoria Sports Complex seats a total of 11,333 spectators.
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| Map of the Baseball Stadium at the Peoria Sports Complex. |
The Peoria Sports Complex seats a total 12,518 spectators. I am not too sure if that number refers to the total number of seats available as spectators are allowed to sit on the grass along the outfield fence. According to the Peoria Sports Complex website, sitting on the grass is considered its own seating area separate from the main seating area. Just be aware of this distinction should you decide to order tickets for a game online at either the website for the Peoria Sports Complex or the website for Major League Baseball. Once you order your ticket(s) online, you will have to download the MLS app onto your cellphone to access your ticket(s) on game day.
Here is a further breakdown for seating at the Peoria Sports Complex:
- Infield box seats: 1,420
- Outfield box seats: 1,454
- Upper box seats: 2,803
- Club seats: 252
- Bleachers: 1,728
- Accessible seating: 176
- Lawn seating: 3,000
- Standing Room Only: 500
- Practice fields: 100-seat and 250-seat bleachers
The Peoria Sports Complex is located at 16101 N 83rd Ave, Peoria, AZ 85382. The stadium is close to boundary line Peoria shares with nearby Glendale, AZ. The Peoria Sports Complex is located in what is known as P83, which stands for Peoria and 83rd Ave. P83 is designed to be an entertainment area. P83 consists of numerous national chain restaurants, a 14-screen movie theatre, and several mid-budget hotels. The P83 area bleeds over to the Arrowhead Towne Center shopping area in Glendale. The boundaries for Peoria and Glendale in the P83 are definitely murky. It really is one of those situations where you could be standing in, say, Glendale, cross the street, and then you would be in Peoria without even realizing it.
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| Map of the Peoria Sports Complex Area and the P83 Entertainment District. |
For parking your car at the stadium, the main parking lot is right along North 83rd Ave. The parking lot is located south of the intersection between Bell Road and North 83rd Ave. The alternate lot for parking is located east of the stadium along West Paradise Lane. It's located just east of the intersection for North 83rd Ave and West Paradise Lane. The alternate parking lot is located right next to the practice fields used by the San Diego Padres.
For food and drink during Cactus League baseball games, the Peoria Sports Complex mostly serves your typical American baseball food. That is, you can get hot dogs, hamburgers, popcorn, ice cream, and various kinds of candy. However, the food isn't all bland. The Padres Dog is what is known locally as a Sonoran Hot Dog. The Mariner Dog isn't exact chopped liver either. I have eaten both hot dogs. Of the two, I prefer the Padres Dog. Hands down. If you aren't in a hot dog mood, the City of Peoria also invites in local food vendors to sell a variety of food not sold at the three big concession stands. These food vendors are located near the third base area, the left field area, and the right field area. If that wasn't enough, there is even a sit-down restaurant along the third base side with a nice view of the field.
For beer connoisseurs like me, the City of Peoria has obviously put in a lot of thought and effort to appeal to you. There is a Samuel Adams beer garden located on the upper deck along the third base side. The beer garden primarily serves the Samuel Adams Cold Snap beer that is sold during the spring. Then, there are two additional beer gardens in the left and right field areas in the outfield. During the Cactus League games for 2025, there was a small beer garden for Pizza Port Brewing from San Diego, CA. The beer selection consists of a mixture of the large, national breweries and beer brewed here in Arizona. The beer selection is actually pretty good.
A Quick Word about Populous
Haven't heard of the architecture firm Populous? Until I started writing this post, neither have I. It turns out that Populous have designed quite a few famous buildings in their corporate history. The architecture firm seems to have made a specialty of designing sports stadiums and concert arenas. As a former Baltimore area resident for six years, I did not know that Populous designed BOTH Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M and T Bank Stadium for the Baltimore Ravens. Due to the critical acclaim received from designing Oriole Park at Camden Yards, Populous also designed the new Yankee Stadium in New York City, Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.,, PETCO Park in San Diego, CA, and Oracle Park in San Francisco, CA, among various other completed sports stadiums. Recent projects of note designed by Populous include the ultra-modern Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London and the iconic Sphere performance venue in Las Vegas, NV.
Incidentally, Populous has designed other Cactus League stadiums in Maricopa County.
UPDATE #1: For whatever reason, I seem to have hit a bad case of writer's block for this post. I will have to re-read and decide on how to repair this post.
UPDATE #2: I am not happy with how this post is turning out. Too much stream-of-thought and not enough planning. There should be a bulleted list in the post. The section about the Populous architecture firm should include a table. Oh, well. It's back to the drawing board.
UPDATE #3: This morning, I sat down at my desk and brainstormed some ideas on how to redesign and restructure this post. I think I have found a way forward. Let's see how I can save this post.
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| Brainstorming on how to rewrite this post. |
