As we know, the Boston Red Sox have been busy negotiating with Lee County on a proposal to keep the Red Sox spring training home there. The Red Sox currently hold their spring training at City of Palms Park in Ft. Myers, FL.
As the years have gone by, the Red Sox have outgrown City of Palms and had decided to potentially move. After talks with Sarasota County broke down, the Red Sox spent the last month talking to Lee County and last night came up with a 50 page agreement to keep the Red Sox in Lee County and to build a new spring training complex.
I will preface this by saying, the way I originally saw this was that the Red Sox had already agreed to this. But after watching Mike Dee from the Red Sox talk today at the hearing, the Red Sox have NOT signed off on this as of yet.
The first hurdle has been cleared though as the Lee County commissioners voted today 3-1 to pass the agreement and put the ball into the Red Sox court. Dee did say that due to the time constraints, the Red Sox would most likely have a decision in the next two weeks.
From what I can understand, the only money the Red Sox would be putting into this is towards paying the lease agreement. The new lease would run for 30 years and initially start out at $500,000 per year with an increase of 3% every 5 years. There would also be two 10-year options that could keep the Red Sox there for the next 50 years.
To me this is a win-win for the Red Sox and Lee County. For the Red Sox, it’s simple. A new spring training complex along with minimal investment. For Lee County, while the initial costs may be high, the revenue that will come in with a bigger stadium and the fact the Red Sox would use the facility more than they use City of Palms now will also bring in more revenue for the area.
And if Lee County can bring in another team to make use of City of Palms Park, the potential for even more revenue is there.
Here’s a look at some of the details:
• Where: Will be located somewhere south of Daniels Parkway, north of Bonita Beach Road, east of U.S. 41 and west of the proposed County Road 951.
• Capacity: 9,999 fixed seats with capacity of 12,000 when berm and standing room only are included.
• Design: Similar to Fenway Park and with a hand-operated scoreboard in left field.
• Practice fields: Six practice fields
• Timeline: By Dec. 31, preliminary cost budget; by Jan. 15, 2009 preliminary financing plan; by Feb. 1, 2009 select architects and construction firm; by June 1, 2009 select a site; stadium ready no later than Dec. 1, 2012.
