Could the LAMP Have a Team In Tucson, Arizona Next Year?

Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium in Tucson, Ariz. has hosted spring training, Triple-A baseball in the Pacific Coast League, and more recently, a team in the independent Pecos League.

Come October, it may have the unique distinction of being the first ballpark in the United States to host a team in the Liga ARCO Mexicana del Pacifico.

According to a report from Noro, a media outlet in Sonora, Mexico, the Mayos de Navojoa are looking at relocating to Tucson after they finished last in the LAMP in attendance in 2024-25. Playing in the 11,500-seat Estadio Manuel ”Ciclon” Echeverria, the Mayos drew an average of 3,961 fans over 34 home games in 2024-25. It was at least the second time in three years that the Mayos finished last in the 10-team league in attendance after averaging 3,243 in 2022-23. Historical attendance information for the LAMP is not readily available via the league’s website or media guide.

The story from Noro, published in late January, indicated that work is well underway to move the team to Tucson for next winter. However, no agreement has yet been reached, according to a spokesman for Pima County, Ariz. Pima County is the owner and operator of the Kino Sports Complex in which the stadium is located.

“We are often in discussions with potential clients seeking to rent or lease fields and facilities at Kino Sports Complex, but we don’t release details until there is an agreement,” said Mark B. Evans, the director of the Pima County communications office.  “We also don’t comment on any speculative discussions or negotiations.”

An email to the Mayos front office requesting comment has yet to be answered.

The Mayos have called Navojoa home since 1959, winning LAMP championships in 1979 under manager Chuck Goggin and in 2000 under Lorenzo Bundy. They finished the 2024-25 season with a 25-43 record, finishing ninth overall, and missing the playoffs. The club finished in the bottom three each of the last three seasons, with their last winning season coming in 2021-22, when they Mayos finished with a 40-28 record, the best in the league, but were swept 4-0 by the Tomateros de Culiacan in the first round of the playoffs. Navojoa last won a playoff series in 2017-18, when they finished third in the league at 38-30 and won two playoff series before losing to the Tomateros de Culiacan in the LAMP championship series four games to three.

With a population of approximately 165,000, Navojoa is the smallest city in the LAMP, with a population of 90,000 fewer people than the next smallest city in the league, Los Mochis.

And while the international border would be a logistical hurdle the other nine LAMP teams would have to jump over to play road games, Tucson is still relatively accessible, with two cities, Mexicali and Hermosillo, less than five hours away via highway. Foru other cities with LAMP teams — Guadalajara, Culiacan, Hermosillo, and  Monterrey — can be reached by air from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, which is about 110 miles from Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium.

If the Mayos did head to Tucson, it wouldn’t be the first time that LAMP regular season games were played at Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium. The Yaquis de Obregon hosted the Aguilas de Mexicali for two games on Nov. 1-2 last season, and a third game was scheduled for November 3, but postponed due to weather. The series was put together by Mexican Baseball Fiesta,  which has used Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium as a recurring  host stadium for an annual preseason series featuring LAMP teams. In 2024, the Mexican Baseball Fiesta brought eight games to the ballpark in Tucson in October 2024, with six of the LAMP’s 10 teams playing in Tucson, along with a game between the LAMP’s Naranjeros de Hermosillo and the University of Arizona Wildcats.

Tucson has been without a high-level professional baseball team since the end of the 2013, when the Triple-A Tucson Padres of the Pacific Coast League relocated to El Paso, Texas. The Padres, who were the affiliate of Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres, were the second Triple-A team to call Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium home. The Tucson Sidewinders, a Pacific Coast League franchise, moved to the city in 1970, playing at Hi Corbett Field from 1970-97 before moving to Reno, Nev. for the 1998 season.

Kino Veterans Memorial Stadium and the Kino Sports Complex also served as the spring training home of Major League Baseball’s Chicago White Sox from 1998 to 2008 and the Arizona Diamondbacks from 1998 to 2010.

WBN LAMP: /news/category/mexico