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The Arizona Diamondbacks are looking at several potential spring training sites in the Phoenix area and could leave Tucson by 2011.

The Diamondbacks are looking to move because Tucson will have only two teams holding spring training here. The team plans to make a decision about a new site by January, according to a Wednesday report in The Arizona Republic.

Colorado Rockies spokesman Jay Alves said his team also is looking at a number of other options "not necessarily with the Diamondbacks."

Diamondbacks President Derrick Hall was in New York and could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but team spokesman Shaun Rachau confirmed the team is looking to move and has several sites under consideration, including one owned by the Gila River Indian Community.

The news comes the day after the Pima County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to accept a $5 million buyout offer from the Chicago White Sox, who will share a new stadium in Glendale with the Los Angeles Dodgers next year.

That leaves just the Diamondbacks and Rockies in Tucson. The loss of a third team allows the Rockies to void their contract with the city.

Hall told the Republic that the Diamondbacks' contract also contains an escape clause, but County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said that is not his interpretation.

County officials said they were surprised to hear the Diamondbacks might break their lease at Tucson Electric Park.

"It comes as a complete shock," said Supervisor Ramón Valadez. "They themselves have told both Chuck (Huckelberry) and I they wanted to stay. They obviously have concerns, but they were very explicit about their desire to stay here."

Huckelberry said the county was aware the Diamondbacks were looking at moving to the Phoenix area, but he thought they would stay through the end of their lease in 2012.

"They never communicated that to us," he said of the Diamondbacks acting on an escape clause in their lease. "We're actually out there now making improvements to their facility at their request. We're working in good faith assuming they were going to stay."

Tom Tracy, chairman of the Pima County Sports and Tourism Authority, which is leading the effort to find a replacement team, said the authority has known since March the Diamondbacks were considering moving to the Phoenix area.

But he said nothing obligates the team to make a decision so soon.

When he supported accepting the White Sox offer Tuesday, Valadez suggested the county give the authority 180 days to make progress on finding another team. But the end of the year is just six weeks away.

Tracy said authority members are working hard on finding an alternative to the White Sox, who share TEP with the Diamondbacks.

"We know we are under serious time constraints," he said. "We have to show some tangible options to the Diamondbacks. We hope to do that this fall."

Alves said the Rockies are "still very hopeful we can work something out, but with just two teams, it will be very difficult moving forward."

The Rockies have asked for significant improvements the city says it cannot afford at Hi Corbett Field.

If the county sports authority had been successful in securing a funding source, one of its goals would have been to improve Hi Corbett to retain the Rockies while looking for additional teams. But the authority's efforts to secure some sort of taxing authority from the Legislature fell short this year. The authority plans to try again next year, but any new tax would have to go to the voters for approval.

Tracy said Tuesday that maintaining two teams here is key to recruiting additional teams and preserving spring training.

Valadez said the county is putting its hopes in the sports authority. "We'll see what sort of alternatives they can come up with and if it's acceptable to Major League Baseball," he said.