Baltimore Orioles Secure Spring Training in Fort Lauderdale (Ft. Lauderdale) with 30 Year Deal with Broward County and the City

MLN Newswire - Ft. Lauderdale, FL - Despite a contentious debate by Broward County, Florida officials, with an 8-1 vote  by the county commissioners, the Baltimore Orioles have secured their overhaul and expansion of the Fort Lauderdale Stadium for Spring Training. The county will contribute at least $24 million over 30 years to the estimated $38 million budget for the remodel and expansion of the stadium. That's six million shy of the $30 million that the O's had wanted, but  Orioles executive vice president John Angelos said that he was not disappointed by the final number.

Still on the table is the $15 million that the Orioles would like to see the State of Florida put into the project. The City of Fort Lauderdale will need to apply for the money from the state before a Monday deadline to grab part of the $500,000 a year each for 30 years for five communities approved by the State for the propping-up of Spring Training and Florida State League (FSL) venues.

Fort Lauderdale is one of the older stadiums in the system, with inadequate and aging player facilities. It was a sore spot for Orioles coaching and management because of its size as well. Without room for a minor league facility, the Os had to maintain two Spring facilities, one in Fort Lauderdale and a minor league camp in Sarasota, separated by several hours driving time. 

The new deal will include the demolition of Lockhart Stadium, the college and high school football and soccer facility across the street to make way for the minor league camp.  It was one of the more contentious points of the plan for local officials who believe that Lockhart serves a valuable purpose for community sports that will be harder, with the difficulty in cost and availability of larger tracts of real estate, to replace.  Florida Atlantic University (FAU) plays there, but is building its own field at the campus in Boca Raton, Florida. The Orioles have agreed to host high school football and soccer games with no cost to the Broward School Board. FAU will have to find another place to play if the stadium at the college campus is not ready prior to Lockhart's demolition.

No word was available from the Orioles organization as to whether they will use the new facility to rejoin the Florida State League (FSL). 

The deal includes more than $1.2 million in free advertising of the Ft. Lauderdale area on Angelos' Mid-Atlantic Sports Network (MASN) that will broadcast Orioles, Nationals, and selected minor league games to more than 6 million homes throughout a region that extends from Pennsylvania to North Carolina.

It was hardly a done deal, as the Broward officials argued and discussed into the early hours of Wednesday morning.  With Commissioner Jim Scott dissenting, the commissioners voted 8-1 to keep the Orioles in Broward. Funding for the county component of the deal will come from excess hotel bed tax dollars generated by the 2% room tax charged to help pay for the BankAtlantic Center. 

The move may signal bad news for the Florida Marlins aspirations of a new ballpark in South Florida. Broward, in the range of Bank Atlantic Center, had been touted as a geographically prime area to bring in patrons with the kind of werewithal to afford and use season tickets. Assignment of the funds to the Orioles ballpark means that there will be even less county money available for a move by the Marlins, who have to vacate Dolphin Stadium by 2010.  Other projects slated to use the hotel tax funds include beach revitalization, and  a convention center expansion project that includes a new hotel.

In addition, the City of Fort Lauderdale will contribute $240,000 in maintenance and equipment annually for 30 years and $350,000.  The Os will be in effect getting a discount on the rent, as the money will be coming from the facilities use fee that the Orioles will be paying annually for 30 years.

The team would put in a projected $750,000 a year for 30 years.  Modernization of the facility will also mean new, more modern television facilities for MASN, whose coverage of Orioles spring games is hoped to drive both increased television revenue for the club and increased tourism dollars from travelers from the North coming to spend Spring with the Os. 

The agreement needs to be finalized with paperwork due by the end of the year. Cost overruns will be covered by the club as part of their 30-year lease agreement.  The Orioles will also take care of servicing a chunk of the debt, and find another ball club to be a tenant should they vacate before the 30 year lease ends.