Red Sox and Spring Training at the WWS Complex?

[daguru]

Red Sox official makes ‘exploratory’ visit to Disney sports complex
By DAVID DORSEY • ddorsey@news-press.com • July 30, 2008

A Boston Red Sox official made an exploratory visit to Disney’s Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista.

Red Sox chief operating officer Mike Dee toured the complex earlier this month with Ken Potrock, senior vice president of Disney Sports Enterprises.

“He went out there on a family vacation,” John Blake, Red Sox vice president of media relations, said of Dee’s visit. “It was really more exploratory more than anything else. He said it’s not that big of a deal.”

Dee has grown tired of commenting on Boston’s possible search for a new spring training home, Blake said.

“You could call it exploratory,” Blake said. “But really, that was all he had to say. Their eyes are open to exploring different options.”

Sarasota County has been trying to work a deal to lure Boston to replace the Cincinnati Reds, who have one more year in that city’s Ed Smith Stadium before they move into a new, $109 million complex in Goodyear, Ariz.

Lee County deputy manager Bill Hammond said Dee’s visit did not trouble him.

“We have a great relationship,” Hammond said. “It’s a gorgeous facility.

“He’s thinking about all of these different facilities. I would have toured the facility, too, if I were up there.”

Potrock said through a Disney spokesman that he would not comment on any specific teams but that Disney was always looking to add business.



The Red Sox have trained in Fort Myers since 1993 and have a lease with Lee County that runs through 2019. The Red Sox have an escape clause that will kick in after 2009 spring training. They can get out of their lease by paying a $1 million fee next year. That fee then drops $100,000 per year for the remainder of the contract.

The Atlanta Braves have held spring training at Champion Stadium — a 9,500-seat venue with room for at least 2,000 more fans on the grassy berms — at Disney since 1998.

The Wide World of Sports Complex encompasses 220 acres and will be rebranding in the fall due to its affiliation with ESPN.

The Braves have exclusive rights to the stadium and would have to consent to sharing it.

Disney is open to adding another baseball team, said Jeff Sturgeon, the complex’s director of business development.

“The spring training business we have with the Braves is great,” Sturgeon said. “We’re looking to add more business here.”

Sturgeon said he was not aware that a Red Sox official had visited the complex. But as a Maine native, he said he was a Red Sox fan.

The Cleveland Indians flirted with leaving Winter Haven for Disney’s complex two years ago, when they also considered Lee County and Charlotte County as spring homes.

Instead, the Indians decided to move to Arizona, where they will share a stadium in Goodyear with the Reds.

“We did have discussions with Disney to try and either partner with the Atlanta Braves or see if there was any other property in Kissimmee that might have our spring training complex,” said Bob DiBiasio, Indians vice president of public relations. “It just never truly transpired.

“The reality of the discussion was the funding aspect. I think there was a funding issue with the county and the funding mechanisms.”

DiBiasio said he wasn’t sure why Boston was exploring other spring training options.

“Why don’t they just stay in Fort Myers?” DiBiasio said. “It’s a beautiful spot.”

Source: News-Press.com; http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080730/SPORTS/80730081/1075

Of course Disney would be interested in bringing another team... I would allow them to help pay for the complex expansion and bring more people. Especially if it is the Red Sox, those fans are rapid and will go anywhere to see their team.
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