“More than one” investor group is trying to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando, but none of them are ready to make it happen, Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings says.
Demings, speaking after his annual State of the County address Friday, confirmed he’s been approached by interested parties, but any discussion is premature.
His comments come amid a very public push by a group called the Orlando Dreamers to lure an existing team, such as the Tampa Bay Rays, or gain an expansion franchise.
However, Demings said, “To get down to any seriousness, there has to be some very specific plans, financial plans.”
And he hasn’t seen any.
“Those who are talking about bringing Major League Baseball to our community at this point, they are not prepared,” the mayor said. “They don't have details. We haven't sat and had any specific conversations.”
That might be news to Dreamers’ co-founder and chief operations officer Jim Schnorf, who said his group has letters of intent from investors totaling $2.5 billion, plus another $1 billion from a “major institutional partner” to build a stadium.
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In addition, Orange County Commissioner Mike Scott shared his endorsement for bringing a team to Orlando in a video last month.
While Demings isn’t against the idea, he pushed back on the groundswell brought by the Dreamers’ public approach or the Rays’ tenuous stadium situation in the Tampa area.
“Our Board of County Commission has not really had a broad conversation about it because it’s premature at this time,” Demings continued. “It’s just a vision. It’s just a dream.”
Any firm plan would require much more conversation and negotiations on how the county would tangibly benefit, Demings said.
“We don't want to just create opportunity for billionaires and wealthy people to come in and make money, but [for] our community [to] not make money and thrive as a result of that investment,” Demings said. “Those are conversations, quite frankly, that have not been had at this point.”
The Dreamers’ funding plans went public March 14, the day after the Rays’ agreement with St. Petersburg and Pinellas County to build a $1.3 million stadium fell through. That’s when Schnorf announced the group’s “anchor investor” is Rick Workman, founder of Heartland Dental.
Although Schnorf has said his group would not interfere with teams in other markets, another investor, attorney John Morgan, has said it would not be impossible to get the Rays to relocate.
Before team owner Stuart Sternberg pulled out of the St. Petersburg deal, Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field, where the Rays have played since 1998.
While the city repairs the damage, the team is playing this year at Tampa’s Steinbrenner Field. Its contract with Tropicana Field ends after the 2028 season.
Meanwhile, the Rays are free to look at other cities for their next permanent home.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has said he prefers the Rays stay in the Tampa area, the nation’s 11th-largest television market and a population of more than 4 million. Gov. Ron DeSantis just wants them to remain in Florida, although he would not commit state money to any stadium project.
At least two groups in Tampa are reportedly interested in purchasing the team to keep them in the region, but Sternberg has said the Rays are not for sale.
Information from Central Florida Public Media was used in this report.
