The Major League Baseball (MLB) expansion franchise Orlando Dreamers are asking for $975 million of tourist development tax (TDT) dollars from the Orange County (Florida, US) to build a mixed-used development that includes an MLB stadium and expansion team.
‘wusf.org’ stated that the Orlando Dreamers made the pitch on August 5th to the Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax Citizen Advisory Task Force which provides input to the County on where the tax collected from the hotel stays and the other short-term rentals should be spent.
New York (US)-based the Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league in North America composed of 30 teams divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) with 29 in the United States and one in Canada. The MLB is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada and is considered the premier professional baseball league in the world.
Economic Analysis
An economic analysis by the Orlando Dreamers estimated the impact of the stadium and the expansion team playing on the International Drive will be more than $72 billion over 30 years and it will bring in an additional annual average of $31.7 million of TDT revenues.
Tourism Factor
Andrew Herdliska, the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) with the Orlando Dreamers, said the project would use tourism to improve the lives of the residents – “We view the task as somewhat a function of a Return on Investment (ROI) and this is the type of project that we feel the TDT funds were designed for. This is going to be something that brings major attention to Orlando, brings tourists to Orlando, extends stays in Orlando, creates jobs, and drives economic impact. We feel it’s going to be a catalyst for transportation and it’s going to have oversized or outsized economic impact.”
‘wusf.org’ further stated that the company (read the Orlando Dreamers) plans to employ over 38,000 people for construction and create over 52,000 permanent jobs. The Dreamers have already secured $2 billion in private capital for the baseball side of things like team acquisition and the stadium.
New Renderings
The Dreamers have released new renderings showing what a future MLB stadium could look like along Orlando’s (Florida, US) tourism corridor.
Designed by the stadium architecture firm Populous the concept features a fully domed, roughly 45,000-seat ballpark surrounded by three hotel towers, restaurants, shops, offices, and the event space.
Populous is a global architectural and design practice with regional headquarters in Kansas City (US), London (UK) and Brisbane (Australia) specializing in the sports facilities, the arenas and the convention centers as well as in the planning and design of the major special events.
The Dreamers are proposing the stadium for a 35.5-acre site near the International Drive and State Road 528, just North of Aquatica and near the Orange County Convention Center.
The Orange County Convention Center is a convention center located in Orlando, Florida (US). Opened in 1983 as the Orange County Convention and Civic Center it is the primary public convention center for the Central Florida region and the second-largest convention center in the United States after the 18,000-seat McCormick Place in Chicago.
Private Financing
The Dreamers say private financing would cover a substantial portion of the stadium and that more than $2 billion has been lined up for the combined costs of acquiring a team and building the ballpark.
Future Expansion
Orlando has not been awarded a Major League Baseball franchise. The group is positioning the region for a future expansion or relocation opportunity and the new renderings are the latest part of that pitch.
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