Red Sox Choose Design For Sarasota Spring Training Park

Red Sox Looking To Build 9,999-Seat Replica Of Fenway Park In Sarasota

Red Sox officials Wednesday chose an architect's rendering for a prospective Spring Training ballpark and practice fields in Sarasota County (FL) that could be completed by 2011, but county officials a few hours later "got the cold shoulder when they pitched a plan to move the county fair to another site to make way" for the proposed facilities, according to Drouin & Sword of the Sarasota HERALD-TRIBUNE. The Red Sox chose a plan with a 9,999-seat stadium modeled after Fenway Park, complete with "500 suite seats, lawn seating and a towering 'Green Monster' wall in left field." The facility, chosen from six proposals, also would include "six practice fields and separate areas for pitching and batting practice." Sarasota County Administrator Jim Ley said that the selection meant that the county "could probably come up with a cost estimate for the spring training facility in as little as two weeks." However, a report issued Wednesday "outlining possible plans for the fair" concluded that the Sarasota County Fair Board (SCFB) wants 90 acres at Twin Lakes to move the fair, more than the 40 the county is offering (Sarasota HERALD-TRIBUNE, 7/10). Sarasota, "anxious to make a proposal to the Sox by the end" of the MLB season, "wants the fair's support by the end of the month." But SCFB President Rory Martin said, "I can see that as potentially very difficult to do. A lot of details need to be flushed out" (ABC-7.com, 7/9). 

PLAN B? Sarasota City Manager Robert Bartolotta said the Cemex property along Central Avenue also is one of "multiple sites being pitched" for a new ballpark. The HERALD-TRIBUNE's Drouin & Sword in a separate piece note it is "unclear whether the property is big enough to accommodate a ballpark without additional land being bought," but Red Sox officials are "apparently intrigued by the site and the neighborhood." As for other potential locations, the Reds' Spring Training facility Ed Smith Stadium is the "only one that has been explored" (SARASOTA HERALD-TRIBUNE, 7/11).

CAUSE FOR CONCERN? The Red Sox currently hold their Spring Training in Ft. Myers, Florida, and Lee County (FL) Deputy County Manager Bill Hammond said that he "doesn't see the move as a signal to start worrying." Hammond: "I still believe it doesn't put a great deal of pressure on us." Under the proposed Sarasota plan, Ed Smith Stadium, which will host the Reds for Spring Training for the last time in '09, would "be turned into a community park" (Ft. Myers NEWS-PRESS, 7/10).