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Tigers Unveil First Glimpse At Planned $40M-Plus Renovation To Spring Training Home

The Tigers on Thursday unveiled the "first public glimpse at renderings and details" for a $40M-plus renovation to its Spring Training facility in Lakeland that "should make Tigertown and its Merchant Stadium epicenter the finest overall baseball facility in Florida," according to Lynn Henning of the DETROIT NEWS. The upgraded facility will feature "shaded armchair seats down the left-field line in place of a cement grandstand," in addition to a "360 degree walkway around the ballpark and left-field berm that is something of a parallel to Comerica Park's concourse circuit." There will also be a "year-round restaurant and patio in the right-field corner." The renovations are designed to keep the team in Lakeland, where the Tigers "have been training for 80 years as part of the longest-standing relationship between a town and team in big league baseball." The project, which "has been evolving the past four years," also includes a 17,000-square-foot clubhouse, air-conditioned indoor batting cages and practice pitching mounds. A new 7,068-square-foot weight room that "will offer big league and minor league players the most space of any spring weight facility apart from the Rockies site in Arizona" (DETROIT NEWS, 2/26).

BLUE JAYS WANT RENOVATIONS: In Toronto, Ken Fidlin notes the Blue Jays' deal with the city of Dunedin, Fla., for the team's "out-of-date spring training facilities runs out" in '17, and President & CEO Mark Shapiro "wants a resolution." Shapiro met with city officials on Wednesday, pledging that the team "is going to try to find a solution to stay in Dunedin." However, that pledge "is not open-ended." Shapiro said, "There are so many good things in the tradition and in the pride of having been here, yet we need to balance that with what's best for the Toronto Blue Jays and we need a 365-day home for rehabilitation and training that is state of the art, that is a potential competitive advantage and that is truly something that allows us to establish a culture." Fidlin notes Florida Auto Exchange Stadium is the team's Spring Training home, but due to a "lack of space for practice fields, the team must bus across town to a minor-league complex that has four fields and a minor-league clubhouse." The entire operation ideally "would be on one site with a modern clubhouse and training facility" (TORONTO SUN, 2/26). Shapiro: "We need to be in a situation where we modernize our facility and have the ability to ingrain a culture that's player focused and player-centered. They understand that." In Toronto, Richard Griffin notes Shapiro did not offer a "timeline for any agreement" with Dunedin. However, Shapiro "admitted that he has spoken" with Braves President John Schuerholz "about sharing a facility ... in a very preliminary manner." The Blue Jays have held Spring Training in Dunedin "since the birth of the franchise" in '77 (TORONTO STAR, 2/26). 

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