John Morgan on professional baseball coming to Orlando

Local attorney John Morgan says he’s not just investing in a bid for a major league baseball team. He says he’s investing in the region’s future, adding, “The reason I would do it now is to make money and to make a positive difference in our community.” Morgan talked with WESH 2 News at our studios in Winter Park. He says he’s committing at least $250-million to help the “Orlando Dreamers” bring a Major League Baseball team to central Florida.It claims to have $1.5-billion to buy a team, and an institutional investor willing to spend a billion on a stadium. The primary private investor is Heartland Dental founder Dr. Rick Workman. Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin is the ambassador for the dreamers and a lead contact to the league’s front office. The Tampa Bay Rays are a target to acquire. With a roof damaged by Hurricane Milton, Tropicana Field in St. Pete is out of commission, with no guaranteed plan to replace it, while the Rays play at a spring training facility, with the owner, Stuart Sternberg, said to be willing to sell the team. Morgan said, “Timing is everything, but timing is also of the essence now. The guy (Sternberg) is going to sell it, I mean, there’s no question he’s going to sell it. This window is open but this window is going to close in the next 12 months.” Despite Babe Ruth playing on Tinker Field a century ago, and the region’s rich baseball history, the Atlanta Braves 2019 exit from Spring Training at Disney has left Greater Orlando without major league ball for the last six years. 30 years ago, “Team Orlando’s” effort to finance a stadium and land an expansion team fell flat when, in March 1995, one of the two new teams was awarded to Greater Tampa Bay and became the Rays. The Dreamers like a 35-acre, county-owned parcel next to SeaWorld’s Aquatica waterpark on International Drive. That would need approval from Mayor Jerry Demings and the Commissioners.Morgan says the Mayor told him this week he would need to see how a new baseball stadium would help the community, through tax generation to help provide affordable housing and other benefits for residents, adding, “What is this going to do for this community. He wants to see that in a granular form. Those are his words. He wants to know what the people with the least are going to get out of this. Not what the people with the most are going to get out of this. How many jobs is this going to bring? What will this do for the community?” Morgan says a full community benefit plan is ready right now to hand to the Mayor. What’s unknown is whether Orlando can either buy a team or get one from major league baseball expansion, with MLB so far making no comment. Orange County has no baseball discussion listed or expected during summer Commission meetings, and Mayor Demings was out of town and unavailable for comment on efforts to bring an MLB team to Orange County.

ORLANDO, Fla. —

Local attorney John Morgan says he’s not just investing in a bid for a major league baseball team. He says he’s investing in the region’s future, adding, “The reason I would do it now is to make money and to make a positive difference in our community.”

Morgan talked with WESH 2 News at our studios in Winter Park. He says he’s committing at least $250-million to help the “Orlando Dreamers” bring a Major League Baseball team to central Florida.

It claims to have $1.5-billion to buy a team, and an institutional investor willing to spend a billion on a stadium. The primary private investor is Heartland Dental founder Dr. Rick Workman. Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Barry Larkin is the ambassador for the dreamers and a lead contact to the league’s front office.

The Tampa Bay Rays are a target to acquire. With a roof damaged by Hurricane Milton, Tropicana Field in St. Pete is out of commission, with no guaranteed plan to replace it, while the Rays play at a spring training facility, with the owner, Stuart Sternberg, said to be willing to sell the team.

Morgan said, “Timing is everything, but timing is also of the essence now. The guy (Sternberg) is going to sell it, I mean, there’s no question he’s going to sell it. This window is open but this window is going to close in the next 12 months.”

Despite Babe Ruth playing on Tinker Field a century ago, and the region’s rich baseball history, the Atlanta Braves 2019 exit from Spring Training at Disney has left Greater Orlando without major league ball for the last six years.

30 years ago, “Team Orlando’s” effort to finance a stadium and land an expansion team fell flat when, in March 1995, one of the two new teams was awarded to Greater Tampa Bay and became the Rays.

The Dreamers like a 35-acre, county-owned parcel next to SeaWorld’s Aquatica waterpark on International Drive.

That would need approval from Mayor Jerry Demings and the Commissioners.

Morgan says the Mayor told him this week he would need to see how a new baseball stadium would help the community, through tax generation to help provide affordable housing and other benefits for residents, adding, “What is this going to do for this community. He wants to see that in a granular form. Those are his words. He wants to know what the people with the least are going to get out of this. Not what the people with the most are going to get out of this. How many jobs is this going to bring? What will this do for the community?”

Morgan says a full community benefit plan is ready right now to hand to the Mayor.
What’s unknown is whether Orlando can either buy a team or get one from major league baseball expansion, with MLB so far making no comment.

Orange County has no baseball discussion listed or expected during summer Commission meetings, and Mayor Demings was out of town and unavailable for comment on efforts to bring an MLB team to Orange County.