David Brandt discusses the hardship a continued Major League Baseball lockout will cause for business that thrive during spring training:

“It’s a big deal for Arizona on so many levels,” Cactus League executive director Bridget Binsbacher said. “We’re obviously not part of (MLB’s) discussions, so we’re just focusing on what we can control. But after the last three years with all the circumstances we’ve been dealing with, the Cactus League, our stakeholders and partners and everyone is ready to have a regular season again.

“We worry about the impact.”

Chron.com

Unfortunately, these business have little leverage with the two sides. Players only get paid during the regular season, but owners make some money from games and players make some money from merchandise sales. That’s at least some incentive to get spring training started on time.

Again, since their is no hard and fast deadline date for a deal, it’s tough to gauge when the sides will reach a deal. Sometime during the first week of February seems right to me if they want to bring in the spring training revenue.