The Baltimore Orioles officially declined Sarasota’s offer of $30 million to renovate Ed Smith Stadium as the future spring home of the Birds, but left open the possibility to a counteroffer from the county.
The Baltimore Orioles officially declined Sarasota’s offer of $30 million to renovate Ed Smith Stadium as the future spring home of the Birds, but left open the possibility to a counteroffer from the county.
In a letter sent to county officials by team attorney Alan Rifkin, the team laid out its reasons for rejecting the offer. Basically, the team is looking for a new ballpark and wants to see the same financial commitment offered several months ago to the Boston Red Sox for a new ballpark at Payne Park and a separate minor-league facility. In addition, the team wanted to see land for a Ripken Baseball Academy, an action dismissed by the county.
Sarasota County, meanwhile, was offering $30 million for a renovation of Ed Smith Stadium and the renovation of the adjoining Cincinnati Reds training camp.
In the letter, Rifkin noted Sarasota County offered less to the Orioles than was offered to the Red Sox, arguably a much better financial spring draw than Baltimore. In addition, the county is offering the Orioles less than was offered the Reds, who rejected the offer and decided to move spring-training operations to Goodyear, Az., in 2010.
Still, the letter raises some concerns about how realistic the Orioles are in their expectations of a spring-training facility in Sarasotsa. We must note that Rifkin is quite incorrect when he assert this in his letter: "It is also noteworthy that the Reds found a spring training home elsewhere … at approximately the same project costs as presented by the Orioles." The project costs cited by Rifkin covered only the training facility. If you factor in the cost of the new ballpark to be shared by the Reds and the Cleveland Indians, the financial offer from Goodyear far exceeded anything offered to the Reds.
Also, Rifkin lays out a $57 million budget that includes $7.2 million from a state fund designed to keep MLB teams training in Florida. That $7.2 probably will not be available to Sarasota; it specifically prohibits the use of the money for teams poached from other Florida sites, and earlier in December state officials warned that it would probably not be applicable in this situation.
So where does that leave the Orioles? Indian River County officials say they’re not interested in leasing a renovated Dodgertown to Baltimore, and we’re not sure the former Los Angeles training site makes a whole lot of sense for the Orioles: the $13 million in renovation funds probably won’t be enough to add suites and the other amenities sought by MLB teams.
The dark horse in all this is Fort Myers’ City of Palms Park. While there are many in baseball who don’t think the Port Charlotte/Fort Myers area is capable of financially supporting four MLB teams — Boston, Minnesota and Tampa Bay already train there — the fact that a perfectly fine venue with plenty of financial opportunities will sit open once the Red Sox move to a proposed Lee County camp. And we know Fort Myers officials have chatted with Orioles officials We suspect the future availability of City of Palms Park is giving the Orioles a little courage in demanding more from Sarasota County officials than what it on the table.
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