Tickets to a Chicago Cubs-Chicago White Sox Cactus League matchup were snatched up just minutes after they went on Internet sale last week, a week before they were available at the box office.

“And several other games are selling rapidly,” said Robert Brinton, executive director of the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Things are looking very good.”

Brinton, along with Valley hoteliers and other tourism leaders, met Tuesday at the Phoenician Resort to hear from White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf, a day before he and fellow major league baseball owners meet in Scottsdale.

The White Sox are scheduled to leap from Tucson to the Valley for spring training in 2009, the same year the Los Angeles Dodgers jump cross country to join the Cactus League.

Despite Reinsdorf’s humorous take on baseball as a business — “The employees make more than the owners, yet people love them and hate us,” Reinsdorf said — spring training is big business for local tourism leaders.

Cactus League games fill local stadiums, hotels, shops and restaurants with big-spending out-of-towners for the entire month of March, when room rates and golf greens fees are the highest.

Last year, Cactus League fans contributed $310 million to Arizona’s economy, more than two-thirds of that spent in the Valley, according to an impact study by the Arizona Office of Tourism.

It’s too soon to say how this season will stack up, said J.P. de la Montaigne, Cactus League president.

“But we’re optimistic,” he said. “Tickets just went on sale, and the number of season-ticket holders is just as strong as in past years.”

In fact, Richard Bibee, general manager of the Renaissance Scottsdale Resort, said this could be a banner year for Cactus League tourism despite a souring economy and sinking consumer confidence, factors that generally lead to cutbacks in nonessential spending such as travel and entertainment.

“We’ve got more great teams than we ever had,” Bibee said. “I think the fans will come.”

Harve Rosenthal, general manager of the Hilton Scottsdale Resort and Villas, agreed that the baseball lovers won’t be deterred by higher gas prices or even higher ticket prices.

“Baseball people are different than anybody else,” Rosenthal said. “Win, lose or draw, they are there. They are diehards.”

Brinton agreed. In fact, despite the shriveling economy, the Cubs, who play spring ball in Mesa, tacked a small surcharge onto premium seats for weekend games.

It’s something the San Francisco Giants, who play in Scottsdale, have done for years, Brinton said. The Cubs and the Giants typically draw the highest attendance of all Cactus League teams.