O's Select NEW Spring Training Home

[SteveA]

To get the credit right, Andy MacPhail had nothing to do with this. This was all the Angelos family and their lawyers.

To get the blame right, we were a pathetic joke as being one of the few teams that didn't have its major and minor league teams colocated for the vast majority of the Angelos ownership. How that could have been allowed to go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, year after year, never ceases to amaze me. Glad they finally got right what 25+ other teams have managed to do routinely forever.

[DrShorebird]

Sarasota County Communications scgov.net | 941.861.5000 | TV

July 21, 2009

Media contact: Crystal L. Pruitt 941-861-5900; cell 941-650-0695 cpruitt@scgov.net

Project contact: Dave Bullock, 941-861-5111 dbullock@scgov.net

Sarasota County reaches tentative agreement with Baltimore Orioles

Sarasota County officials announced today that they are prepared to take a tentative memorandum of understanding to the Sarasota County Commission with the Baltimore Orioles. If accepted by the commission, the agreement would bring the team to Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota for spring training in 2010.

“We’ve held many productive discussions with the Orioles representatives over the past several weeks,” said Deputy County Administrator Dave Bullock, the county’s principal negotiator with the team. “We’re pleased that we’ve reached an understanding with the team that will bring them to Sarasota and preserve the long history that Sarasota has had with major league baseball.”

The County and Orioles deal is contingent upon the City of Sarasota approving an environmental indemnity clause in its interlocal agreement which will transfer Ed Smith Stadium to the county. City officials will meet at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, July 22 at Sarasota City Hall to discuss the agreement.

Attorneys for the city and county are meeting Tuesday, July 21 to finalize details of the environmental indemnity.

Terms of the deal include the following:

30 year agreement for Baltimore Orioles to conduct spring training in Sarasota

Renovation/expansion of Ed Smith Stadium and major league baseball areas at Twin Lakes Park

Continuation of many historic uses at Ed Smith Stadium

Promotion of Sarasota County in the Baltimore Washington metro area

A proposed Orioles and Cal Ripken Baseball youth academy at Twin Lakes Park

Major elements of funding:

Cost to renovate and expand stadium and other facilities - $31.2 million

Orioles pay all operating and maintenance costs for the term of the lease

County and Orioles contribute equally to a capital maintenance and repairs fund

One of the keys to reaching the agreement was the assistance of Gov. Charlie Crist, whose office worked hard over the past week to ensure that state grant money authorized to the city to retain spring training baseball in Sarasota would be available for the Orioles’ deal Bullock said.

“This agreement aligns with our economic development strategy in terms of maintaining Sarasota County as a destination that folks will want to visit, preserve jobs in the service industry and create new ones through the renovation of Ed Smith Stadium as well as gain exposure to new markets through the Orioles television network,” Bullock said.

In addition, the creation of a youth baseball academy as part of the agreement with the team will bring visitors to Sarasota County.

-end-

[Roll Tide]

Congrats to the Orioles for finally getting this done!

[GulfBird]

Sarasota TV tonight showed conceptional drawings planned for the renovation plans for Ed Smith which they claimed would be similar to those used by the Rays at Port Charlotte...

[JTrea81]

You may be right. But if I recall correctly this fiasco with Ft. Lauderdale has been going on since 1991. MacPhail has been here 2 years. And I don't believe in coincidences.

MLB pressured the Orioles to getting this resolved after the numerous complaints about both major and minor league facilities this past spring...

[DrShorebird]

www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-springtraining721,0,6177982.story

baltimoresun.com

O's, Sarasota reach tentative spring training deal

If approved by city and county bodies Wednesday, 30-year agreement would move major, minor league facilities within close proximity

By Dan Connolly

dan.connolly@baltsun.com

10:00 PM EDT, July 21, 2009

SARASOTA, Fla.

&lta href="http://ad.doubleclick.net/click%3Bh=v8/3872/3/0/%2a/c%3B216479946%3B0-0%3B0%3B12925031%3B4307-300/250%3B32643395/32661272/1%3Bu%3Dhttp%3A//www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-springtraining721%2C0%2C113202%2Cprint.story%3B%7Eokv%3D%3Brs%3D10017%3Bptype%3Dps%3Bslug%3Dbal-springtraining721%3Brg%3Dur%3Bref%3Dbaltimoresuncom%3Bpos%3D1%3Bdcopt%3Dist%3Bsz%3D300x250%3Btile%3D1%3Bat%3DMajor+League+Baseball%3Bat%3DBaltimore+Orioles%3Bat%3DSpring+Training%3Bat%3DBaseball%3Bat%3DSports%3Bu%3Dhttp%3A//www.baltimoresun.com/sports/orioles/bal-springtraining721%2C0%2C113202%2Cprint.story%3B%7Eaopt%3D2/0/ff/1%3B%7Esscs%3D%3fhttp://clk.atdmt.com/M0N/go/163206907/direct;wi.300;hi.250/01/5499417" target="_blank">&ltimg src="http://view.atdmt.com/M0N/view/163206907/direct;wi.300;hi.250/01/5499417"/></a>

The Orioles are awaiting three governmental approvals in Florida on Wednesday afternoon that would secure them a new spring training home for the next 30 years.

The Orioles and Sarasota County officials have reached a tentative agreement that would relocate the club's spring training headquarters from Fort Lauderdale, in the southeastern part of Florida, to Sarasota on the state's western coast, starting February 2010.

As part of the potential deal, $31.2 million in state grant money and a county tourism tax would be used to fully renovate 22-year-old Ed Smith Stadium, which hosted the Cincinnati Reds from 1998 to 2009, and dilapidated Twin Lakes Park, the Orioles' current minor league complex.

Most important, for the first time in 15 years, the Orioles' minor league and major league spring facilities would be within a 15-minute drive instead of on opposite coasts. No other organization has minor and major league camps more than a few miles apart.

"We definitely need a place where our minor leaguers are within closer than three hours," Orioles right fielder Nick Markakis said. "I think this will definitely help."

The Orioles won't officially discuss the proposal, though they are sending Orioles president of baseball operations Andy MacPhail and attorney Alan Rifkin to Sarasota Wednesday.

"The club is refraining from comment at this time," said Greg Bader, the Orioles' director of communications. "Perhaps we'll have more to say following [Wednesday's] votes."

... more

[Fairfax Bird]

MLB pressured the Orioles to getting this resolved after the numerous complaints about both major and minor league facilities this past spring...

Do you have a link for this?

[cindyluvsbrady]

How hard is this to get too?

[RShack]

MLB pressured the Orioles to getting this resolved after the numerous complaints about both major and minor league facilities this past spring...

Do you have a link for this?

Of course not. There is no link, he's just making it up.

Why? Because he needs a conspiracy theory of Outside Forces to explain how wrong he was.

Back in May, he was insisting we were doomed because the O's were not folding like a tent and taking Sarasota's $28M offer.

According to him, the O's had waited too long, Sarasota didn't need them, and the offer was only going down from $28M to a lower number.

The O's ignored Sarasota's fake deadline and blew off their absurd demand for exclusive negotiating rights.

JTrea was sure that was the end of the world, and the O's would be stuck in Lauderdale before becoming vagabonds with no home.

But here we are months later, and the O's are getting Sarasota to spend $31.2M, not $28M.

All of which means there are 2 possibilities: either JTrea was dead wrong with his hysteria about how the O's just *had* to take the $28M, or else there had to be somebody else shooting from the Grassy Knoll...

Selected quotes below...

The Orioles appear to jerking around Sarasota... :cussing:

STOP ****ING AROUND WITH LEE COUNTY AND GET THE DEAL DONE WITH SARASOTA!!!

This Friday [EDIT: this was back in May] is the deadline for the Orioles to enter exclusive negotiations with Sarasota County and stop farting around with Lee County. Let's hope the Orioles make the right choice.

The Orioles needed an upgraded facility years ago, there is no more time to wait. And Sarasota and Lee County are quite willing to let the Orioles go IMO, don't fool yourselves there.

As expected, the Orioles are going to screw this up... :cussing:

Sounds like no baseball in Sarasota and the Orioles will play in a dump for two more years...

Way to go Orioles! :angryfire:

Sarasota has the Orioles right where they want them, and they know it which is why the offers kept going down. The Orioles won't get a better offer from anybody else. They were stupid to keep dragging this out as they kept losing leverage. Now they should be lucky the County is willing to offer $28 million in a recession.

And more bad news...

So now they've even got their main supporter in Sarasota waning... Nice job.

it's clear the County will not budge. Stop messing around and just take the $28 million refurb from Sarasota and get this situation resolved.

Get it done! :cussing:

[JTrea81]

Do you have a link for this?

It was in a Sun article that is no longer accessible...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.osspringsites03apr03,0,1025945.story?track=rss

That was the link...

[RShack]

It was in a Sun article that is no longer accessible...

http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/baseball/bal-sp.osspringsites03apr03,0,1025945.story?track=rss

That was the link...

Oh, bull. There were complaints about the quality of the *field* at the other place, but MLB did not "pressure" the O's about what kind of long term arrangement they did or didn't have about permanent ST facilities. You're just inventing things again to try to make the O's look bad when, in actual fact, you were dead wrong about it. You went on one of your little crusades about how it was urgent and necessary that the O's give in to Sarasota's absurd demands. Face it, the O's did the opposite of what you said was necessary, and they came out $3.2M better for it.

[JTrea81]

Of course not. There is no link, he's just making it up.

Why? Because he needs a conspiracy theory of Outside Forces to explain how wrong he was.

Back in May, he was insisting we were doomed because the O's were not folding like a tent and taking Sarasota's $28M offer.

According to him, the O's had waited to long, Sarasota didn't need them, and the offer was only going down from $28M to a lower number.

The O's ignored Sarasota's fake deadline and blew off their absurd demand for exclusive negotiating rights.

JTrea was sure that was the end of the world, and the O's would be stuck in Lauderdale before becoming vagabonds with no home.

But here we are 4 months later, and the O's are getting Sarasota to spend $31.2M, not $28M.

All of which means there are 2 possibilities: either JTrea was dead wrong with his hysteria about how the O's just *had* to take the $28M, or else there had to be somebody else shooting from the Grassy Knoll...

[/qUOTE]

"There is still a significant funding delta between the anticipated project costs of approximately $42 million and the presently available funds," wrote Orioles' lawyer Alan Rifkin.

The Orioles need to come down from $42 million. That number is unrealistic and it's clear the County will not budge.

The Orioles blinked on this one as they should have. They came down from $42 million to $31 million, which is only $3 million more than that $28 million and that is why this looks like it will get done.

[JTrea81]

Oh, bull. There were complaints about the quality of the *field* at the other place, but MLB did not "pressure" the O's about what kind of long term arrangement they did or didn't have about ST facilities. You're just inventing things again to try to make the O's look bad when, in actual fact, you were dead wrong about it. You went on one of your little crusades about how it was urgent and necessary that the O's give in to Sarasota's absurd demands. Face it, the O's did the opposite of what you said was necessary, and they came out $3.2M better for it.

It's in the article, but you can't read it. So I can't prove it.

Believe what you want as it seems you've made your conclusion. The Orioles had to come down from $42 million and they did. Sarasota County didn't really give a whole lot in the end.

Remember, the O's voted down a $56 million and then a $33 million dollar proposal before this one. They gained nothing by holding out.

[The Rick]

BTW, a huge kudo's is in order to DrShorebird who has kept us abreast of this situation for a few months now. He, like many others like him is what makes this the best fan site on the net.

Also, that's some epic smack down by RShack.

[JTrea81]

BTW, a huge kudo's is in order to DrShorebird who has kept us abreast of this situation for a few months now. He, like many others like him is what makes this the best fan site on the net.

Also, that's some epic smack down by RShack.

Your welcome...

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