Winter Park steps up to bat for minor league team

The Winter Park City Commission had baseball on the brain during Monday’s City Commission meeting as they voted to move forward in pursuit of establishing a minor league baseball team in the city, eyeing several new locations for a potential stadium.

Commissioners unanimously voted to begin a 45-day discussion period looking at the feasibility of a team in Winter Park. Input gathered from city staff and the city advisory boards will help the City Commission decide how a stadium would be paid for, where the stadium would be, and whether it would benefit Winter Park residents.

Excitement was contagious among City Commissioners at the thought of a minor league baseball team in the city.

“This is a generational opportunity for our community,” Mayor Ken Bradley said. “To discuss it is thrilling.”

“I think we’re the envy of many communities to even be having the opportunity to discuss something.”

Discussions held over the past year had originally put Rollins College’s Harper Shepard Field at the forefront of potential locations for a new baseball stadium. The college expressed interest over the past few months in the concept, but the Rollins College executive board voted last month to discontinue their efforts in exploring a minor league baseball stadium because of fundraising concerns, City Manager Randy Knight said.

But the city hasn’t stopped looking for a future stadium site just yet. Knight presented four frontrunners for a potential location to the City Commission on Monday: Martin Luther King Jr. Park, the incoming Rauvadage development along U.S. Highway 17-92, the UP development also along 17-92, and a former tree farm site.

“What I really don’t want to see is something shoehorned into somewhere,” Commissioner Tom McMacken said. “If we were to consider this and talk to somebody, then it ought to be a first class facility.”

The city is considering a stadium in the range of 2,500 to 3,500 seats, qualifying for a Single A level baseball team. Winter Park has been communicating with teams, but nothing has been made concrete, Bradley said.

There would be an estimated economic impact of $6 million a year with the establishment of a minor league baseball team, Knight said.

Commissioner Carolyn Cooper warned that the minor league baseball decision needs to be made not on an impulse, but with a desire for what’s best for the city.

“I don’t want this to be an emotional decision,” Cooper said. “I don’t want anyone making recommendations to me based on the fact that they enjoy watching baseball.”

Winter Park and baseball couldn’t be a more perfect pair, Bradley said.

“I can think of nothing more Americana than Winter Park,” Bradley said, “and I can think of nothing more Americana than baseball.”