By Andrews Edwards
A news release revealed the new name by announcing a media conference is scheduled to take place at the downtown San Bernardino stadium on Thursday.
The tribe has also made sports a focal point of its casino advertisements and non-gaming enterprises, such as the Sportswatch Bar & Grill in Highland. The tribe also advertises at Dodger Stadium and Staples Center, home to the Lakers, Clippers and Kings.
Below: "The Inland Empire 66ers' home stadium in San Bernardino on Monday, March 19, 2012. Arrowhead Credit Union Ballpark will be renamed to San Manuel Stadium." (Rachel Luna/Staff Photographer)
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http://www.pe.com/sports/baseball/california-league-headlines/20120329-patton-66ers-san-manuel-perfect-combo.ece
PATTON: 66ers, San Manuel perfect combo
Twenty-five years ago, someone had the kooky idea that if you put a minor league baseball team, with no major league affiliation, in outdated Fiscalini Field, people would actually come out and watch.
Oddly enough, they did. The San Bernardino Spirit were so successful that that after five years, Rancho Cucamonga built a stadium and swiped the California League team away.
Without missing a beat—or a season—the Salinas Spurs moved into Fiscalini as the new Spirit, with new owners Dave Elmore and Donna Tuttle banking on San Bernardino’s passion for baseball. That was 1992.
Meanwhile, in the mid-1980s, another revival was under way. The San Manuel Band of Mission Indians had opened a popular bingo center near Highland, to be followed by a casino in 1994, sparking a regional economic phenomenon. Today the tribe employs 3,000 people. It has become a political and philanthropic force, a symbol of local power.
In a way, minor league baseball and the tribe regenerated themselves side-by-side, emerging at a time when other local iconic institutions—say, a military base and a railroad—were shrinking away.
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