VERO BEACH, Fla. (AP) -Not a single baseball tourist is expected this spring in Dodgertown. Businesses are bracing for losses up the road in Winter Haven, too, as the Cleveland Indians have left. In Sarasota, officials have one more year before the Cincinnati Reds depart and their ballpark neighborhood also dries up.
Towns across Florida have been doing everything they can to protect one of their best sources of revenue: spring training.
The fight to be a spring training home – and reap the millions of dollars that come with it – has been particularly cold-blooded in the midst of this recession, leading to clashes between towns and teams that affect everyone from politicians to peanut vendors.
All over an annual rite, beginning again this weekend, that’s traditionally one of the most laid-back moments in the sporting year.
get a team and keep a team has become very competitive during these tough economic times.”
At least five major league teams moved to, or negotiated for, a spring training site in the past year. Besides intrastate competition, there’s also the pull of Arizona, which next year will have as many teams as Florida.
The Dodgers and Indians are among the teams that have bolted Florida for more lucrative deals in Arizona. The Boston Red Sox came close to relocating to several sites before ultimately deciding to stay in Fort Myers, getting an improved deal in the process.
The Baltimore Orioles, who seemed close to relocating their Fort Lauderdale spring training headquarters 150 miles north to Dodgertown in Vero Beach, are closing in on a deal to move to the Fort Myers area after also speaking with Sarasota, where the Reds are departing after this season.
The wheeling and dealing would put a Wall Street trader to shame, with local officials under heavy pressure to keep Major League Baseball in town.
When it appeared the Red Sox were about to head to Sarasota, officials from Fort Myers and Lee County swooped in to make sure they stayed put. The county commission voted to give Boston a new stadium that could cost around $60 million.
“People kind of say the Red Sox played Sarasota County against Lee County,” said Jeff Mielke, executive director of the Lee County Sports Authority.
chief operating officer Mike Dee said his franchise never used leverage, it simply wanted to look at the marketplace. “I think when Lee County realized the ball was rolling down the hill, its efforts were stepped up because the discussions we were having elsewhere had traction,” Dee said.
In Vero Beach, Dodgertown will be vacant this spring for the first time in 61 years. Los Angeles is opening an $80 million complex in Glendale, Ariz., that it will share with the Chicago White Sox.
Officials from Vero Beach and Indian River County acted quickly to try to fill the facility with the Orioles, who have struggled to get a new stadium deal as their lease in Fort Lauderdale is about to expire. Baltimore rejected what Indian River County commissioners called their “best offer.”
When the Orioles couldn’t get a better deal in Sarasota, they tried to restart negotiations for Dodgertown. The Indian River County Commission was so insulted it unanimously voted to rescind its offer.
“That was just to me, more than I could bear,” said Wesley Davis, chairman of the Indian River County Commission. “They were just trying to drive the price up.”
Added Pat Calhoun, president of the Sarasota Area Sports Authority: “They’re shopping one community against another.”
Clubs reject that notion.
les spokesman Greg Bader said.
The towns teams leave behind are suffering mightily.
Sloan’s Place and Rip’s The Place For Ribs are among a growing number of restaurants in Vero Beach that have closed. Hotels from the local Holiday Inn to bed and breakfasts like JD’s Southern Oaks in Winter Haven say they are expecting fewer guests. And workers around Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota are fearing this may be their last spring with a job.
The face of these cities, which get as much as $40 million annually from spring training, are being reshaped. As local governments are learning, money generated by spring training helps businesses well into summer and fall.
“Most of our businesses depend on baseball to survive,” Indian River County administrator Joe Baird said.
After Sarasota failed to bring the Red Sox to town, public outcry ensued.
Politicians were flooded with e-mails. Petitions to lure a team garnered long lists of signatures. Newspaper columnists lashed out bitterly. Yet the city failed to lure a replacement.
Leisure International. Instead, a stadium without a major league club will only result in about 70 jobs.
t all up, you’re talking about losing a lot of money,” Sarasota County Commissioner Shannon Staub said. “You’re talking about a major shift in the local economy.”
Visitors Bureau.
“There are so many people in Sarasota that are from Cincinnati and bought homes here simply because of the Reds,” Puckett said.
Adding to the losses, towns also may be forced to repay the state millions of dollars.
Five spring training sites received $15 million in grants in 2007 as part of a campaign to keep MLB in Florida. Sites that are abandoned – or will be – may have to forfeit money they received.
Once the Orioles decide on their long-term spring training future, there’s not another team that has a lease set to expire for years. Towns are depending in large part on hosting college and high school tournaments, and some are exploring offers from international teams to train at their facilities as an alternative.
“But it’s not as sexy as Major League Baseball,” Indian River County Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said.
The fear of never seeing another spring training game in cities that have spent decades hosting them is too much for some.
t spring may never come again.”
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