September 21, 200619 yr Orange County Commissioner Pushing For Marlins POSTED: 6:15 pm EDT September 20, 2006 UPDATED: 6:15 pm EDT September 20, 2006 ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- An Orange County commissioner is calling for an exploratory committee to look into luring the Florida Marlins to Orlando. There has even been talk that a new baseball stadium would be a better idea than renovating the Citrus Bowl. Even with the new renovations to the Citrus Bowl, the stadium may never even house an n-f-l team. If the Marlins played in Orlando it could attract millions of people every year. Shopping around for a new home hasn't been easy for the Florida Marlins, who share Dolphin Stadium in Miami. They want a $450 million retractable stadium to keep fans dry and keep the games going. Could this be something Orange County could provide? "This is something we can explore," said Mildred Fernandez, an Orange County Commissioner. Especially when the Marlins have said they would chip in $192 million towards the cost. County commissioner Mildred Fernandez proposed the idea to look into luring the team here. "If we're talking 2.4 million, that's a lot of people coming per season for the games," she said. For that reason, government watchdogs want commissioners to push for luring the Marlins to Orlando rather than paying $252 million to renovate the Citrus Bowl. In fact, the price to build the stadium would be almost the same as the renovations. "For a $6 million difference you're gonna have 110,000 people attend downtown football games each year versus 2.4 million people a year," added Fernandez. Walzack's County Watch group did a 14-week long study and found only ten-percent of people surveyed supported renovating the Citrus Bowl. So, he said, why not scrap that idea and start with this one. The county is already set to vote on the renovations, but Fernandez said it's not too late to think about a new stadium for the Marlins. "We should not lose the vision of having a baseball team," Fernandez added. Mayor Crotty has said that he doesn't have plans to form an exploratory committee to lure the Marlins here just yet because he is focused on the future of the arena and the downtown arts center. As for the Marlins, they said they had no comment on a move to Orlando. Copyright 2006 by wftv.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. http://www.wftv.com/news/9896635/detail.html :plain I bet if they tried to get the $60 million rebate, they'd get it. They sure are pipedreamers in Orlando.
September 21, 200619 yr if it keeps the team in Florida...sure I don't want baseball in Miami to disappear, but 4 hour drive > 4 hour plane ride!
September 21, 200619 yr I saw ths on the news yesterday. Seeing how i lived in orlando, i will, once i get out of the air force, i would love this.
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa would never play nice, and it's as bad an idea as Las Vegas. There are exponentially more attractions of disposable income in Orlando.
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area.
September 21, 200619 yr better to move tampa to Orlando since they are so close (less then an hour's drive if you are a quick driver on I4). Tampa needs a new stadium anyways too.
September 21, 200619 yr better to move tampa to Orlando since they are so close (less then an hour's drive if you are a quick driver on I4). Tampa needs a new stadium anyways too. Not really... economically.
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. Not the way Selig thinks. They'd get rewarded handsomely.
September 21, 200619 yr I'd be fine with this. Like everybody says, as long as they are in Florida, I will be fine. But one thing I won't stand for is the ORLANDO Marlins. Miami Marlins I can take...
September 21, 200619 yr Author Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt..
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt.. *Ding*
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt.. didnt Baltimore 'own' the DC area? Tampa doesnt 'own' the Orlando area. *ding*
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt.. didnt Baltimore 'own' the DC area? Tampa doesnt 'own' the Orlando area. *ding* Well, they certainly have television priority in the area. Conflicting games on FSN and it's DRays DRays DRays...and you don't get the sun-sports Marlins feed up there. *ding*
September 21, 200619 yr I have to say this is frightening, much more frightening than Loria inviting San Antonio politicians to their opening game. Orlando is a big enough market (especially with tourists) that it could actually happen, and like Quadruple Play said, they would probably get the $60 million, which is absolutely enraging. I am not at all in the camp that is saying this is fine. It's awful, it'll turn South Florida into a no sports region for the entire summer. I used to live in Orlando (embarassingly), and as far as I'm concerned, it's on another planet.
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt.. didnt Baltimore 'own' the DC area? Tampa doesnt 'own' the Orlando area. *ding* No one really knows. Angelos had the right to broadcast in the region by default as there was no other team. Angelos' claim was that he had a permanent exclusive right to broadcast in the market. Regardless, as Angelos' placement on the Executive Council, which were intensively involved in narrowing down the cities to host the Expos / the leveraging of DC, and his consolation prize suggests Selig was more than willing to accomodate him.
September 21, 200619 yr Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt.. didnt Baltimore 'own' the DC area? Tampa doesnt 'own' the Orlando area. *ding* Well, they certainly have television priority in the area. Conflicting games on FSN and it's DRays DRays DRays...and you don't get the sun-sports Marlins feed up there. *ding* Well, FSN isn't carried anywhere in the Orlando area or other surrounding areas such as Melbourne by the cable companies. For those with Directv or other satellite providers, we're able to see many more Marlins games than D-Rays games.
September 21, 200619 yr Author Tampa has no say on what the Marlins do as long as they stay out of the Tampa/ St Pete area. See: Expos to Washington, Peter Angelos This is why you don't see MLB trying to put another team in the New York/New Jersey/Brooklyn or even Connecticutt.. didnt Baltimore 'own' the DC area? Tampa doesnt 'own' the Orlando area. *ding* The Marlins and the Devil Rays share the territory. It's a given the D-Rays would want some compensation for losing out on the ability to broadcast their games to the third largest market in the state, now and in the future. *Ding*
September 22, 200619 yr if it keeps the team in Florida...sure I don't want baseball in Miami to disappear, but 4 hour drive > 4 hour plane ride! :thumbup
September 22, 200619 yr Orlando is just as bad as anywhere else. If they move them from south florida you can move them to Alaska for all i care. They wouldnt be my team anymore.
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