FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -The Baltimore Orioles might leave their South Florida spring training home because the federal government wants to increase its rent for the stadium’s land more than tenfold.
The Federal Aviation Administration wants to increase the team’s annual payments for the use of Fort Lauderdale Stadium’s land to $1.3 million. The payment – which would fund upkeep of the neighboring Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport – is up from the $70,000 to $120,000 the team currently pays, Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle said.
“If this decision stands, they will have effectively stolen all the bases,” Naugle told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. “Unless the FAA changes their mind, I would imagine (the Orioles) would move.”
FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said federal law required the fee.
“Anytime an airport wants to use any of its property for non-aeronautical uses, federal law requires us and requires the airport to get fair market value for that lease,” she said.
The decision did not come as a surprise to the Orioles, who could move as soon as 2009.
“Although not unexpected, the Orioles are obviously very disappointed, especially considering how diligently the city of Fort Lauderdale has worked to seek approval and how patient the Orioles have been during the process,” Alan Rifkin, counsel for the team, said Monday night.
The stadium has been the Orioles’ spring training home since 1996. If the Orioles leave Fort Lauderdale they could move their spring training operations into the historic Dodgertown facility in Vero Beach. Los Angeles is moving its training site to Glendale, Ariz., after 60 years at the camp.
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