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It appears that Tom Ricketts and the Chicago Cubs have scared the shit out of the Mayor of Mesa, AZ. Mesa Mayor Scott Smith came to Chicago this week to meet with Ricketts and his new sidekick Crane Kenney. Smith left the meeting convinced that Mesa had better pony up and build the Cubs a new Spring Training Stadium and Practice Facility or the Cubs will head east to Florida.

Mesa Mayor Scott Smith considers Naples, Fla., a “serious threat” to lure away the Chicago Cubs, but not everyone in Naples even wants the team.

Smith and a delegation from Mesa met Monday and Tuesday in Chicago with Cubs officials, including new owner Tom Ricketts, and concluded the city needs to match Naples’ bid by building a new stadium and training complex.

“This is the marketplace. Our competition is very serious. I think it’s a serious threat,” Smith said after the meetings. “We need to match the competition.”

Here is Smith’s plan to keep the Cubs in Mesa:

Mesa would like to build a new stadium and training complex near the former General Motors Proving Grounds but would need a private-public partnership to finance a $70 million to $80 million facility. The Cubs want Mesa to match the Cleveland Indians’ new training complex in Goodyear, and they consider Mesa’s Fitch Park antiquated.

Why does any of this matter? Well the Chicago Cubs are the stars of the Cactus League:

The stakes are high for Mesa and the Valley. A study states that Cubs fans contribute $31.1 million in direct Cactus League spending and $52.2 million to the state economy.

That’s a nice chunk of change to the Valley’s tourism in March of each year. When you realize the complex Smith is discussing is $80 million it seems to make sense. Still, these are incredible economic times. Asking a community to pony up this kind of dough in these times is not easy.

We’ll keep our eyes on this one…