Padres To Remain in Yuma, Mayor Says

The Padres, according to Bob Tippett, mayor of Yuma, Ariz., will announce today they have signed a two-year contract extension with Yuma that will keep the major league team’s spring-training home here through 1993. The current contract expires at the end of this year.

“We’re very, very happy,” Tippett said. “This is a big boost to the community. And I think once the new ownership is here, and Joe McIlvaine (Padre general manager) is here, they’ll see just what kind of facilities we have, and will want to stay here.”

The Padres also have been negotiating with the city of Glendale, Ariz., a Phoenix suburb, for the past three months. Yet, Yuma agreed to the Padres’ request for improvements, and the Padres agreed to the extension Friday.

Dick Freeman, Padre president, and McIlvaine were unavailable for comment.

The Padres, according to a Yuma task force, generates $8 million to their economy each year. The Padres have conducted spring training in Yuma since 1969, the franchise’s first season.

There’s still a concern that the Cactus League could soon fold, but Tippett, along with five other mayors of Arizona cities, met a week ago with Commissioner Fay Vincent, who assured them that the Cactus League would remain intact.

“I was really concerned until our meeting with the commissioner,” Tippett said. “He wants to keep the Cactus League. We’ll be all right. And I think once the Padres’ owners see this place, there’s even less concern that they’ll be staying here.”