Gov. Doug Ducey: Arizona ‘open-minded’ to hosting baseball when safe

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday he has spoken with Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred in the wake of proposals to put MLB franchises in his state.

One plan reported earlier this month called for all 30 teams to convene in Arizona in isolation so that the season can resume without fans.

Another proposal would eliminate the National and American Leagues for this season and instead divide teams into the Cactus League and Grapefruit League, splitting franchises between Arizona and Florida.

“I have had discussions with the commissioner of Major League Baseball and while I want to hold the content of those discussions in confidence, I just want everyone to know that Arizona, at the right time, is very open-minded to hosting whatever Major League Baseball would like from the state at the time that it would be appropriate for public health if Arizona were to be in a position to reopen,” Ducey said in a press conference.

“We have the facilities that are here, we have the hotel space that is here. We’re going to want to make certain that the metrics and the data are proper before we were able to go forward. But I think two words that would allow the country and the state of Arizona to know that things were headed back to normal would be ‘play ball.'”

As reported by ESPN’s Jeff Passan, putting all the teams in Arizona could require players and staff to be isolated from their families for extended periods of time in order to gather together and play games.

“There is going to be a time some time in the future — we don’t know when — when somebody is going to say, ‘Play ball,'” Ducey told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos and Chad Tuesday. “If that were to be where they wanted to do it in one spot, with players quarantined and parks available — Arizona is built for that.”

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