BUSINESSES EXPECT BOOM\Restaurants, hotels hope to rebound from '95.

Byline: Paul Davenport Associated Press 

Baseball still lacks a labor contract but businesses which cater to fans during spring training see only a bright side - especially compared with last year when the strike kept many away.

"We're just glad they'll be back this year," said Phil Bedel, a manager of Don and Charlie's, a Scottsdale, Ariz., rib and chop house where out-of-towners account for 60 to 70 percent of the customers in March. "We expect it will be a spectacular six to eight weeks."

In Tucson, the manager of the hotel that serves as the Colorado Rockies' spring-training home expects business to rebound from last year's troubles.

"We weren't hurt that bad, but we lost a lot of revenue because it was just a short period to fill our rooms," the Vicount Suite Hotel's Larry Cesare said, referring to the abbreviated spring training held on short notice when the regulars ended their strike in April.

Attendance at Arizona spring-training ballparks plummeted last year. Excluding March games played by replacement players in front of even smaller crowds, only an average of 3,591 turned out for 39 games in April - less than half of the 1994 average of 7,222 fans at 117 games.

For businesses involved in what state economic-development officials estimate is a $300 million annual boost to Arizona's economy, it was frustrating.

Even before the regular players' abbreviated schedule of exhibition games began, snowbirds began their season migration northward. Meanwhile, many fans from Arizona and the teams' home areas stayed away, some because of disgust with the labor situation, others because it was too late to make travel arrangements.

The impact wasn't limited to business. Booster groups provide volunteers to the ballparks in return for money they then give to youth groups and other programs. With the lower attendance, some groups barely covered expenses, said Ron Pies, chairman of the Arizona Baseball Commission.

Pies estimated that various groups raised only one-tenth of the usual $1 million.

The Mesa Hohokams were able to raise the usual $60,000, but only because of the extra games played at HoHoKam Park by the Chicago Cubs when the regulars returned, treasurer Phil Kellis said.

"Instead of putting in 15 games, we put in 20," Kellis said. "It stretched us because we're all volunteers."

That was last year, and team officials, business executives and booster group leaders are hopeful about this year.

Bob Quinn Jr., the San Francisco Giants' director of Arizona operations, said season tickets for the Giants' home games at Scottsdale Stadium are at 85 percent of 1994 levels.

"I don't think we're going to fix it in one year, but I am optimistic that we're going to get close," Quinn said. "Fans are excited. I just wish we had a signed agreement, but I don't think that's turning off people."

With no talk of a work stoppage this year, Quinn said, "We're just moving ahead as if everything is going to be normal."

The Cubs, always one of Arizona's top draws, still have tickets available for every game but have retained their fan base, box office manager Rhonda Myers said. Fans, she said, "are saying that they follow the Cubs and that they're excited to see Ryne Sandberg come back. I think they missed it last year."

Sue Ann McClaren, Rockies vice president for ticket operations, said the team had sold 800 season tickets by mid-week, an increase of 50 over last year, and that 53 percent of available seats had been sold, compared with about 46 percent and 28 percent at the same time in 1994 and 1995, respectively.

Sales for Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres season tickets at the shared Peoria Sports Complex totaled 1,100 by mid-February, compared with 1,000 in 1994 and 900 last year.