The new CEO of the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport is giving the green light for New College of Florida to build its baseball field partially on airport land, despite a 2025 letter from federal aviation authorities that said any new construction would first require an updated lease and a new airport master plan.
Aided by a $1 million donation from Carlos Beruff, a prominent developer who also sits on the Sarasota-Manatee Airport Authority Board, the “Beruff Family Field of Dreams” was announced in December 2024 as the future home of NCF’s new baseball team, but has faced a series of delays.
Last month, the FAA issued a no-objection letter, known as a Form 7460-1, which said the height of foul poles planned for the field would not interfere with planes flying in and out.
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But the FAA also pointed out that the 7460-1 clearance was not explicit approval to build the ballfield, and referred back to a February 2025 letter it sent that said any change or modification of land use or new construction would require a new lease, brought up to current market rate, and a new airport master plan that would show the land is not needed by the airport.
The century-long lease between New College and the airport gives about 30 acres to NCF for its east campus at a rate of $108,000 per year, far below current market value.
Part of the ballfield is on a three-and-a-half-acre rectangle that New College owns on the corner of Tamiami Trail and University Parkway. Since the ballfield’s total dimensions are larger than that, much of the outfield and bullpen spill onto airport land that New College leases.
In an interview with WUSF, airport president and CEO Paul Hoback, who took over earlier this year when his predecessor, Rick Piccolo, retired, said he sees no problem with the project going ahead.
“I can't speak on behalf of the FAA, but my belief and my interpretation would be that they are just making sure that if there's any other facilities that are being built on that property that we would be following the advisory circulars that exist for airports to follow,” Hoback said.
“But this is an existing land use. It's a baseball field. There's an existing softball field on our land that they lease, so this is no change in that. And thus the project is approved,” he said.
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“We've been working closely with our partners at the FAA. It's one of the first meetings that I had here as a new CEO, was going out and meeting with the airport district's office management team and executives in Orlando,” he added.
The FAA’s letter in February 2025 came from the Southern District in Atlanta, a step higher than the Orlando office.
It said, in part, that if the airport sought to “expand/change the leasehold area… allow the lessee to make improvements/expansions,” or “enter into a new agreement with the same lessee for the same or similar purposes,” the airport would first have to submit a request to the Orlando FAA office to make sure the plans align with the airport master plan.
The current SRQ airport master plan is several years old, and must be redone to reflect the growth the airport has seen in recent years, including a tripling of air traffic. Hoback said a new airport master plan process will begin this summer and should be completed by 2028.
In the meantime, “we're sticking with the agreement that exists today,” he said. Referring to the 99-year lease that New College has on the land, "that's not our property until 2056. The only thing that they have brought to us from a construction perspective right now is that ballfield, and that ballfield is approved to proceed," Hoback said.
Aviation lawyer Peter Kirsch, who is not involved with the issue but is knowledgeable about these processes, pointed out that the FAA’s “February letter was advice, not a ruling or a directive.”
Part of that letter referenced requirements on how airports collect and use revenue. “That actually is a requirement of federal law, that is, airports, to the extent they have any non-aeronautical uses, must lease the property at fair market value,” Kirsch said.
“The FAA will generally be sympathetic if there's an old lease that has no provision in it for re-adjustment of the rent, and basically the airport would have to violate the lease in order to increase the rent,” Kirsch said.
“The FAA is generally pretty generous, and that's the reason why that letter made reference to the fact that if there are changes in the lease, that's the point at which the airport is obligated to obtain fair market value,” he added.
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Anyone who pays rent to the airport or pays fees to the airport could complain to the FAA if they believe that the airport is not obtaining fair market value, according to Kirsch.
Typically, airports follow FAA advice.
“It's just a prudent thing to do. If the airport hasn't followed that advice, then they are proceeding on at their own risk,” Kirsch said. The FAA “can suspend and ultimately terminate their eligibility for federal grants.”
The FAA is in the process of changing its control over airport land, in a move that predates the Trump administration, he added.
“The FAA is exercising greater control over non-aeronautical land in certain instances and less control in others, and the result is that there is some uncertainty and ambiguity because of all of these changes,” said Kirsch.
As a result, airports are navigating that uncertainty by confirming with their airport district office, which is the local FAA office, to make sure that land uses are permissible.
“If the airport director has informally obtained the approval of the airport district office, then he should be okay,” added Kirsch. “As a lawyer, I'd certainly advise my client to get that in writing.”
Retired airport properties director John Schussler has also reviewed the FAA documents and said he believes it is a mistake for the airport to allow the ballfield to proceed, because nearly half of it would be constructed on airport-owned land, and half on New College-owned land.
“One would think it is in the airport’s best interest to say you can’t build something that would encumber the airport from getting their land back,” said Schussler. In his view, the airport should negotiate a shorter lease, and raise the rent to meet the FAA’s guidance.
“If the SMAA chooses to allow New College to construct the baseball field, it will be clear that they chose to give in to New College instead of negotiating with New College,” Schussler said.
Asked if allowing a ballfield be built could pose problems down the line for the airport, when the lease ends in 2056, Hoback said “that does not complicate it at all.”
“Actually, building just a ballfield rather than large facilities would make it easier to take it back,” he said.
New College President Richard Corcoran has said the ballfield could be completed this summer.
