Free land for the ballpark may not be free.
It seems that the people who want to bring Major League Baseball to central Florida are trying to fast track building a Major League Baseball state-of-the-art facility somewhere in the Orlando market. But that fast tracking may have hit a speed bump. Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings isn’t too impressed with the Orlando Dreamers syndicate of owners who want public land in his county and expect not to pay for it “I don’t think we should donate land to billionaires or to wealthy people. They, if anything, have to compensate the people for the land.”
The Dreamers’ group does not seem to have put its plan in front of Orlando, central Florida and state politicians yet. The Dreamers’ group wants to build the ballpark on a 35.5-acre site owned by Orange County, located next to SeaWorld’s Aquatica water park. Schnorf said that his group has looked at other locations both within and outside Orange County but the group thinks that area would be best for the proposed stadium. The Dreamers group backers claim they have $1.5 billion in financial commitments to buy a franchise and that might not be enough to get a team. The group has another $1 billion set aside for stadium construction and that means someone needs to come up with another billion. Dr. Rick Workman, founder of Heartland Dental, is the Dreamers’ group lead investor. Morgan and Morgan law firm founder John Morgan is willing to spend as much as $250 million to help the venture. The Dreamers’ group is after the Tampa Bay Rays franchise if owner Stu Sternberg puts the business on the market after failing to get a stadium built in the Tampa Bay market. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred wants to stay in the market. There is no indication MLB is interested in central Florida.
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Mayor Jerry Demings
