Greg Stanley

greg.stanley@naplesnews.com; 239-263-4738

Collier County could build the Atlanta Braves a spring training stadium here by the end of 2018, a new study from the county shows.

The question is: Does it want to?



Commissioners will decide Tuesday whether to push forward negotiations with the Braves, who have been threatening to leave their site in Orlando for more than a year and are flirting with at least two other Florida counties for a new stadium.

It could cost the county $101 million to build a stadium, buy the land and set up a parking lot, according the county’s feasibility study.

To pay for it, the county would have to borrow the money and raise its tourist tax, from 4 percent to 5 percent, to help pay down that debt.

The county estimated the stadium would pump about $25 million a year into the economy, through hotel stays, restaurants, sales tax and short-term rentals from fans who would travel here for spring training, County Manager Leo Ochs said.

That number comes from reviewing economic impact studies in Lee County, which hosts the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, and Palm Beach County, home to the St. Louis Cardinals, Miami Marlins and, next year, the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals.

“We visited with the Lee County team, and we talked to Palm Beach County, along with our bond council and financial advisers, to look at these studies,” Ochs said. “They all seem to fall in around that $25 million per stadium in annual spending.”

The county estimated it would cost about $2.5 million a year to pay for upkeep and capital needs for the complex after it's built.

That would be in addition to the $7.5 million a year the county would spend paying down the debt to build the stadium.

The tourist tax would raise an estimated $5.2 million a year.

The Braves would kick in $1.5 million to $2.5 million in rent and marketing fees.

The state could pay up to $1 million under an incentive program created to keep spring training teams in Florida, according to the study.

The rest of the annual cost — $1 million to $2 million — would be paid for from the county’s general fund.

The stadium would stay open year-round, ideally hosting events almost every day of the year like Hammond Stadium in Lee County, Ochs said.

It would provide space for much-needed sports fields that could be converted easily to Little League ball diamonds, football, soccer or lacrosse fields.

Commissioners shot down a proposal from the Braves in the spring to build a stadium on 160 acres off Collier Boulevard, near the Forest Glen Golf & Country Club and several other gated communities, saying the site was too close to neighborhoods.

They continued talks with the team to see whether another site would be suitable.

There is really only one possible location in Collier County, according to the study.

The new proposal is to build on more than 70 acres just north of Interstate 75 and east of Collier Boulevard.

The site would solve the neighbor problem by putting an interstate highway and a landfill between it and the nearest gated community.

The County Commission makeup has turned over mostly since the stadium was first voted down in the spring. Just two members — Donna Fiala and Penny Taylor — who voted then remain on the commission. Both voted against the stadium.

Fiala said at the time she wanted the Braves in Collier County but not near a neighborhood. She suggested they look at the site now proposed.

Taylor said she was skeptical that counties and cities across the country ever see returns on their investments when they subsidize sports franchises that are worth billions.

Three new commissioners will be sworn in an hour before they are asked to vote on whether to pursue a deal with the Braves.

The decision has to be made soon because the Braves will need a stadium by spring 2019, Ochs said.

“It’s unfortunate that this has to come to a new board so early, but we’re really working off the Braves’ schedule,” he said.

It would take a simple majority, three of the five commissioners to move negotiations forward. But the project eventually would need the support of a super-majority, four of the five, to change the zoning of the site and raise the tourist tax.

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