The group would like to buy the Tampa Bay Rays franchise and move the business to Orlando.
The people who want to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to the Orlando and central Florida region claim they have $1.5 billion in the bank to buy the Tampa Bay Rays franchise. But there doesn’t seem to be a name attached to fund the billions of dollars needed to land a Major League Baseball franchise or how a baseball stadium construction would be paid off. The group does have a name for the team, the Orlando Dreamers.
Earlier this year, Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, who is the MLB Ambassador for the Dreamers, claimed the money for a franchise and ballpark is there. “We are thrilled with the commitment made by our investor partner, which accomplishes a key remaining step in our initiative to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to the Orlando area. Our process all along has been to identify and bring on board ‘best of class’ partners in every aspect of our process.” Jim Schnorf, who is the Co-Founder of the Orlando Dreamers, has a ballpark financial plan in mind. “We now have a letter of intent towards financing our state-of-the-art, 45,000 capacity domed stadium right in the middle of the tourist corridor, where we will welcome approximately 80 million tourists this year. Financing structure will provide a minimum of approximately $1 billion towards stadium construction costs, under an arrangement that is highly attractive to Orange County government and citizens, team ownership, and Major League Baseball.” But, the Dreamers’ group does not seem to have put its plan in front of Orlando, central Florida and state politicians. There may be another problem, tariffs on stadium construction material and a possible dip in tourism in Central Florida. It is uncertain how serious the Orlando bid really is or if MLB is interested in the Orlando market.
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