Charlotte County Stadium

[Mr.Ed]

I have seen that Charlotte County is planning improvements to the stadium.
Is that good for our Redfish or is Charlotte County looking for bigger fish ?
What kind of deal does the SCL have as far as stadium use goes in these towns ?
I think I read something about a two year deal in Albany.
I don't want to see too many teams have to relocate after 1 or 2 years.

[JoesFan]

I haven't seen any details on the stadium contract for Charlotte County, but last year they were trying to get the Tampa Bay Devil Rays there for Spring training. They were going to have to make $25-$30 Million in improvements.
See this link:
http://www.charlottecountybaseball.com/news/?id=34

JoesFan

[LKLDHAWG]

Hello,

Here is the answer. In 2009 the Devil Rays are moving their spring training home from Al Lang Field in St Petersburg to Pt Charlotte and have already signed a 20 year agreement. Pt Charlotte applied for and received a $15 million grant from the state to help out with the renovation. In addition, the Devil Rays high "A" team which moved in a swap with the Dodgers farm team from Visalia in the high "A" California League and the team currently is playing at the Dodgers spring traning home at Holman Stadium in Vero Beach. The Vero Beach Devil Rays will also move in 2009 from Vero Beach and play their Florida State League games at the Pt Charlotte Stadium.
I am not sure what quandry this will put on the Redfish as I have never seen this issue addressed by the Redfish. I find it hard to imagine that two teams will play out of the same stadium as it would be hard to support two teams and in addition I doubt the Devil Rays would have agreed to move both their spring training and their Florida State League team with the another tennant at the same stadium during the same time.

[kekemortson]

First off, welcome LKLDHAWG! You go to any Redfish games?

Second, that is great for Charlotte County, but probably not so good for the Redfish and the SCL.

I hope the SCL can keep a couple of teams in Florida, but if they do, it will be two new cities......Orlando anyone?

[beetm]

Yeah, that sounds as if we're going to lose The Redfish too doesn't it? I think Orlando has already been dismissed as a potential site, my vote goes to Tallahasee.

[BaseballKid3]

The GBL in Charlotte County will most likely end after the 2008 season. Is that a bad thing? I don't think so, obviously it is good for the community that Major League and affiliated ball is coming back to Charlotte County. As far as the Redfish obviously if the Vero Beach team moves to Charlotte County the Redfish are out.

The Charlotte County situation is similar to Reno in the GBL, they put a team in Reno and the City is trying to get AAA baseball in Reno. Once that happens the Silver Sox go by the wayside.

Independent ball will always have it's troubles however this league has done a lot of great things in year one and it can only get better! Losing Bradenton I am sure was a financial hit for sure but I think if the league fixes a few things it needs to they will be one of the top 3 Indy leagues by year 3!

[beetm]

Yeah Kid, I don't see this as a big threat to the league either. I just hope they make a decision on new teams soon so they can get set up in those communities, like they did ours.

I think it's a recipe for success.