The Orlando Dreamers are gaining traction in a bid to bring a professional baseball team to Central Florida – and that might impact the future of the Tampa Bay Rays.
Initially led by the late Pat Williams, who brought the NBA’s Orlando Magic to the area in the late 1980s, the Dreamers have been vying for support since 2019.
Now, the group has around $1.5 billion committed to getting a team and another billion dollars for a stadium.
ALSO READ: Orlando Dreamers secure 'significant' funding to lure MLB team
The Dreamers proposed a 45,000-seat stadium on a 35.5-acre site by SeaWorld and announced “significant funding” on March 14 – the day after the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium deal with St. Petersburg and Pinellas County fell through.
Their “anchor investor” is Rick Workman, the founder of Heartland Dental, America’s largest dental management company.
Among other funders is John Morgan, the founder of the Morgan & Morgan law firm, who has committed a $250 million investment.
Morgan told the Tampa Bay Business Journal it would be hard, but not impossible, to get the Rays to leave the Tampa Bay area.
“A city doesn’t just give up a team easily,” said Morgan. “One thing we do know is the team can’t go back to St. Pete.”
The rest of the investors have not been named.
ALSO READ: Orlando Dreamers' 'anchor investor' in MLB quest is dental chain founder Dr. Rick Workman
After years of back and forth, the Rays pulled out of a deal to redevelop the Historic Gas Plant District anchored by a $1.3 billion stadium. This came after Hurricane Milton tore the roof off Tropicana Field, where the Rays have played since 1998.
The Rays are free to look at other cities for their next home. Their contract to play in Tropicana Field ends after the 2028 season.
If there's not a solution over in Tampa-St. Pete for the Rays, we would certainly welcome the opportunity to relocate that franchise to Orlando.Jim Schnorf, Orlando Dreamers co-founder
Adding to the growing support, Orange County Commissioner Mike Scott shared his endorsement for bringing a team to Orlando in a video last week.
“I like baseball,” he said. “I think you might, too. 'Cause Orange County, guess what? Baseball is coming soon.”
Dreamers’ co-founder and chief operations officer Jim Schnorf was a trusted friend of Williams when he joined the group in its early days.
Now, a year after Williams’ death, Schnorf is rallying support for the Dreamers’ mission.
WUSF’s Lily Belcher spoke with Schnorf about the plans – and what role the Rays might play.
Schnorf: Baseball announced about six years ago that they were going to add two teams for the first time in 20 or 25 years, and that really initiated the process. Orlando is an absolute compelling market.
At this stage, we're absolutely prepared to have a team. We think we have the capital structures in place and we want to make sure that Major League Baseball as well as the Central Florida community are aware we are at the point where we’re ready for a team.
What does team acquisition look like?
So there are multiple paths of getting a team.
When we started this process, it was entirely focused on one of the two expansion slots. Now, subsequent to that, multiple MLB teams have experienced challenges with getting new stadiums financed or getting stadium renovations financed.
There have been multiple teams put up for sale in recent times. I mean, the [Minnesota] Twins are currently for sale. So the path could be either an expansion slot or the acquisition and relocation of an existing franchise.
We here in Orlando are prepared to host a Major League Baseball franchise. We have the capital in place. We're not focusing on those things that we can't control, which is what is happening with teams in other cities.
And I know that you said that the focus isn't on other cities, but do some of the challenges that the Rays are having kind of encourage the Dreamers to make this push for some acquisition of a team?
We don't wish the Rays, or Rays ownership or the fans in Tampa-St. Pete bad things. We've purposely taken a high road not interfering in that process over there, letting that play out.
Having said that, if there's not a solution over in Tampa-St. Pete for the Rays, we would certainly welcome the opportunity to relocate that franchise to Orlando or any other team that might be available and have similar challenges.
Tell me about that area that you selected for the stadium. Why did you pick there? What makes it so attractive?
Well, it's next to the Aquatica water park, adjacent to the second largest convention center in the country, a long stone's throw to the new $8 billion Universal Studios theme park, a very short distance to Disney, 10 minutes to the airport, at the intersection of two major expressways with a rail site that's 100 yards from our stadium location. So you couldn't script a more ideal spot than that.
You've also mentioned that tourism is going to play a huge role in getting fans in the seats. Is there a concern that those might not be Orlando Dreamers’ fans, but they might be fans coming to root for the visiting team instead?
We welcome that. It's all about the spirit of competition, so we, frankly, will not have a lot of heartburn if the Orlando Dreamers are playing the New York Yankees and we see 10,000 Yankee jerseys sitting in a sold-out stadium.
We think that's what baseball and sports and competition is all about. So we absolutely hope to see fans coming to Orlando in droves to see their hometown team play in our stadium.
