GOODYEAR, Ariz. -- City leaders have approved a financing deal that will give the Cleveland Indians a new $75.5 million spring training facility in this west Phoenix suburb.

The Goodyear City Council Wednesday unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority that will pay for half of the complex. The rest will come from the city and developers.

The Indians trained in Tucson, Ariz., until 1993. Their current spring home is in Winter Haven, Fla.

City staff and developers said the stadium should be ready for the first pitch by March 2009.

"This is a great, great day for the Cleveland Indians and the Dolan family,'' Paul Dolan, team president, said after presenting the City Council with a stack of Indian's T-shirts. "We very much look forward to a 20-year-plus relationship with the city of Goodyear.''

The Cleveland Indians agreed last September to start spring training in Goodyear, about 20 miles west of Phoenix, but the deal hinged on getting the sports authority to help finance the stadium.

The 10,000-seat stadium and spring training fields will be part of a mixed-use development called Ballpark Village.