The Braves, former MLBer Gary Sheffield and a local developer "want to build a stadium, arena, practice fields and hotel rooms on the former Toytown landfill" in Pinellas County (Fla.), "transforming the 240-acre property into the county's third MLB spring training complex," according to a front-page piece by Frago & McManus of the TAMPA BAY TIMES. The county "appears interested," as an evaluation committee "recently ranked the Braves plan first out of three competing bids from developers" responding to the county's RFPs. The Braves "would partner with Sheffield and St. Petersburg developer Darryl LeClair to pay the county $500,000 per year for 40 years for the land" for a $20M purchase price. In exchange, they promise a $662M investment "to create an 'international destination' for amateur and professional sports, catering to elite youth athletes after the big-leaguers break camp." The new ballpark "could be open" by the '18 season. The Pinellas County Commission "will take up the matter in late October or early November." The Braves' plan "triggers a host of questions for the Rays," including how the possible purchase of one of the remaining large parcels of land in Pinellas County will "affect the Rays search for a new stadium." It also begs the question of whether the project would "compete for public dollars that the Rays would need" for a new ballpark. The proposed complex "would be much like the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at the Disney resort near Orlando, where the Braves are under contract for one more year." It would be designed by Populous and include a "10,000-seat baseball stadium with berm seating for an additional 1,000 fans, a 15,000-seat fieldhouse for basketball or other indoor events, a track and field facility with 20,000 seats, an aquatic center with a pool and hockey rink and a 200,000-square-foot dormitory that could house 800 people." The plan's amateur aspects bear "some resemblance" to IMG Academy in Bradenton, a private high school for elite athletes (TAMPA BAY TIMES, 9/23).
