Cubs Receive Approval for $16M to Fund Sloan Park Complex Upgrades

The Cubs recently received approval in a Mesa city council meeting for $16 million of funding to add several new features to their Sloan Park facilities. That money is expected to cover most of the cost to add a new hitting and pitching lab, a women’s locker room, and motion-capture technology. Okay, am I the only one who’s shocked the Chicago-by-god-Cubs don’t have the same stuff as Driveline, let alone other MLB teams?

There’s no reason for them not to have mocap tech already, unless this is simply upgrading what’s already there. The biggest cost comes from new construction, which is set to begin just a few days after the Cubs wrap up their spring training schedule. Everything will be done in time for 2026 camp.

“Our relationship here — Mayor (Mark) Freeman, before him Mayor (John) Giles, before him Mayor (Scott) Smith, city council — they know what this place does for Mesa, and they’ve been incredibly good partners,” Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney told the Tribune.

I’m sorry, but I just can’t get over the fact that the Cubs seem to have fallen way behind much of the rest of the league on this front. Sloan Park doesn’t have the ability to use the ABS challenge system and games played there don’t provide Statcast data, which I suppose could be a matter of maintaining secrecy. Still, the sense that the Cubs are not keeping up with the Joneses is something that’s come up recently.

Have they grown complacent because Sloan is otherwise world-class, especially among spring training venues? Or maybe they’re actually setting the curve and other teams will need to respond in kind. Either way, it’s good that they’re adding these features even if it probably should have happened prior to this.