The wheels are continuing to turn toward a new Spring home for the Braves at North Port, but not without some tough negotiations.
The news this morning from both the AJC and the Sarasota Herald Tribune are that the Atlanta Braves have cleared yet another important hurdle in their quest to start building a new Spring Training facility on Florida’s Southwest coast.
It took some public debate yesterday, though in the end city officials from the Florida town of North Port may have been more concerned about getting city name recognition more than the having serious issues with the agreement itself.
Still, there’s a bit of territory marking that remains before the final approvals are signed off.
Drawing Lines
North Port is the city directly involved. West Villages is the actual home of the proposed development, and they have a defined ‘Improved District’, which confers semi-governmental authorties, including taxing.
While North Port is concerned about being overshadowed by Sarasota County, West Villages is being quick to point out that they are contributing even more to the project, and that they will have naming rights to the new stadium for their own marketing purposes.
Ladies and Gentlemen? Name the thing “The West Villages Ballpark at North Port” and make sure everybody comes out happy, okay? We need to get some dirt turned over before you both screw this deal up.
Some of the North Port officials – Commissioner Chris Hanks in particular – have figured that out:
"“If we mess this up because we nuance this to death, we’ll never come out of that red-headed stepchild feeling,” Hanks said, arguing that the growth spurred by the stadium’s presence will likely generate enough tax income to offset city costs."
Shell Games
In the meantime, the WTSP News team (Channel 10 serving Tampa/St. Petersburg) got copies of the agreements and have effectively forced some changes, though just how many isn’t entirely clear:
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- There was language that made Sarasota County responsible for cost overruns
- There was language allowing the Braves to “opt out” of their lease after 20 years of the 30 year deal. Ironic, given that the team does not support such things for free agent player contracts.
- The county would technically own the stadium while the Braves are there, then give it back to the developer later. The result? No property taxes.
- There is a request to be exempted from sales taxes for the price of materials purchased to build the stadium.
- One of the changes made gives the county 10 non-profit event uses of the facility annually.
All of this is clearly intended to lower the costs of the project – currently estimated at $75.4 million – most directly helping the developers and the Braves in the process.
One could argue that this also comes at the expense of taxpayers, though the counter to this point would be the economic impact that the facility should have over a 20 or 30 year active lifespan in an area currently otherwise limited in economic activity.
Again, Commissioner Hanks ‘gets it’:
"“We haven’t even signed the letter of intent and the synergy has been crazy,” he said, then added that the stadium growth will bring additional restaurants and hotels that citizens have sought."
In the end, North Port voted 4-0 to approve the letter of intent. They yielded on the naming rights issue, though added a provision to be named in all marketing/promotion items.
Sign-offs are needed from Sarasota County, North Port, and the West Villages Improvement District. Once all of the ‘letter of intent’ votes are approved, one more round of voting must take place to approve the final documents.