Fort Lauderdale Stadium, former spring training home of the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, is joining our Endangered Ballparks list amidst talks of redeveloping the site.
Originally opening in 1962, Fort Lauderdale Stadium served as the spring training home of the Yankees through 1995, and the ballpark also hosted a High-A Florida State League franchise over much of that period. The Orioles arrived in 1996 and played spring training games there through 2009, the final year before the club shifted its full operations to Sarasota.
Fort Lauderdale Stadium has sat largely idle in recent years and its condition, along with that of adjacent Lockhart Stadium, has deteriorated. City officials are considering redevelopment proposals for the 64-acre site, including one from Inter Miami CF–an upcoming MLS expansion club backed by a group that includes David Beckham. Inter Miami CF would demolish Lockhart Stadium and replace it with a new facility, while redeveloping the surrounding land to include a training academy and other amenities (the club’s plans for the site are depicted in the rendering above). Meanwhile, a competing bid from FXE Futbol would renovate Lockhart Stadium and redevelop the surrounding land–with a Topgolf and park space among the features proposed–and tear down Fort Lauderdale Stadium in the process.
You can read more about those proposals at sister site Soccer Stadium Digest.
City officials still have to make a decision on whether to move forward with either redevelopment plan, so nothing is finalized at this point. However, Fort Lauderdale Stadium would not be saved under either concept, potentially making its days numbered and putting it on our Endangered Ballparks list. The full Endangered Ballparks list can be found here.
Rendering courtesy Inter Miami CF.