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The Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Dodgers will have their first formal meeting with the Arizona Sports and Tourism Authority today in their bid to build a spring training facility in Glendale.

The public meeting, which will be held at 8 a.m. at the ASTA offices inside University of Phoenix Stadium, will be the first time the Glendale group — which includes both teams — has met with the authority since submitting its proposal Dec. 1.

"We'll have initial questions, I'm sure," said ASTA spokesman Brad Parker. "There's already been some initial analysis by our staff."

The White Sox currently train at Tucson Electric Park. To leave before their contract with Pima County expires in 2013, the White Sox would have to find a replacement team.

The White Sox have said repeatedly they are confident they can find a replacement.

The White Sox and Dodgers would like to begin play in Glendale in 2009, at the earliest.

Neither White Sox chairman Jerry Reinsdorf nor Dodgers owner Frank McCourt will be at the meeting, White Sox spokesman Scott Reifert said. The White Sox will send attorney John Kaites.

"My understanding is that it's just going to be a business conversation," Reifert said. "The meeting is intended to get everybody comfortable with the project and answer any questions. When we started this, we said there were going to be many steps in the process. This is just one of those steps."

The proposed complex would cost $76.8 million. If the ASTA approves the application, it can pay for up to two-thirds of that sum. The site for the facility actually is in Phoenix — on 107th Avenue near Camelback Road — but Glendale owns the land.

The Glendale project is going through the same process as a bid by the city of Goodyear, which has partnered with the Cleveland Indians and wants to build a facility there.

The Indians, who train in Winter Haven, Fla., would like to find a team to partner with in a possible dual-team complex.

Tucson officials had worried about a month ago that the Glendale bid would be fast-tracked and passed before the opening of the Arizona legislative session in January. Senate president-elect Tim Bee, a Tucsonan, has vowed to propose legislation to block the ASTA from giving funds to teams currently based in another Arizona city.

Parker said he could not pinpoint a timetable for a decision on the Glendale bid.

"I think it will all shake out in terms of how the board members want to see it move forward," he said. "I would suspect there would be additional meetings as due diligence is completed."

The White Sox are not concerned about the pace of the meetings, either.

"The earliest this is feasible is spring training '09, so there's no time crunch," Reifert said.