Tucson Sidewinders leaving the southside for the bright lights of…. Reno?

Why should we care that the Tucson Sidewinders are leaving may you ask?

Well, Tucson is losing a franchise that has won the city 3 league titles, 1 conference title and 4 division titles. In 2006, The Sidewinders won the Pacific Coast league Championship, defeating the Toledo Mud Hens 5-2.

The Tucson Sidewinders are leaving Tucson Electric Park after calling it home for 10 years. The Sidewinders will remain the Triple-A farm system franchise of the Arizona Diamondbacks as they prepare to move to Reno.[Photo]

So what has made this franchise with a recent history of winning move from the desert to… well, the desert?

Money of course.

The Sidewinders just weren’t attracting enough people to remain a profitable franchise. There could be a variety of reasons why the Sidewinders just weren’t able to find a consistent following. Tucson is a college town, it is extremely hot in the Summer, Tucson Electric Park's location can be a long drive. But the bottom line is the original owner, Jay Zucker decided to sell the franchise in June of 2007 for $15 million dollars.

But not all hope is lost.

Zucker soon announced he is planning on bringing a new franchise to Tucson. This new team will be called the Tucson Toros, and will play in Hi Corbett Field. Hi Corbett Field is closer to the University of Arizona so it may mean the minor league team could become more relevant to the University and its student body.

The team will need this new found relevance and fan base to survive as the old Tucson Toros, who would later rename themselves the Sidewinders , played to only to 285,817 in a season of over 140 games in 1997.

Hard to imagine a professional sports team could survive with little over 2,000 fans attending a game.

Let’s hope Jay Zucker has something up his sleeve so we can keep as much sports action as possible along the border.