The latest:
Osceola County Commissioner Fred Hawkins Jr. described the Washington Nationals architectural plans and renderings for a $98 million state-of-the-art spring training facility in Kissimmee as "beautiful."
On Wednesday, Osceola County's Tourist Development Council will get its chance to see the proposal for the 6,500-seat facility. The Nationals are proposing to build the sprawling two-team facility, complete with extra fields for games and workouts, on vacant land across the street from the Osceola County Stadium in Kissimmee.
Hawkins Jr. says the crown jewel is the clubhouse, which in renderings he looked at appeared "simply beautiful" to him.
The clubhouse??? Who the freak cares about the clubhouse? Sure I'm fine with a nice clubhouse but I'm not planning my vacation around Jayson Werth being comfy.
Note that the Nats proposal is still based on building a two team facility, but there are zero other teams that have given any public indication whatsoever that they intend to team up with the Nats. (Which is not too surprising, word gets around about the joys of going into a partnership with the Lerners.)
On Tuesday, top brass from Major League Baseball's Washington Nationals presented their proposal for a brand new dual stadium to each of Osceola County's five commissioners. The Nationals recently told officials in Brevard County, where they currently play in Viera, the team does not intend to renew it's lease at Space Coast Stadium.
But because the massive new spring training stadium would require a substantial financial commitment from the county, it could face an uphill battle for approval from the commission. "I'm anxious to see the tourist community's reaction to this proposal first," Hawkins said. "If they are not positive, it would be a hard sell."
Oh man, is this getting good! The Nats have severed ties with their old ballpark deal before financing is in place to build the new park. I hope they know what they are doing but they've broken the cardinal rule about finding a new girl before cutting the old one loose. With their insulting offer to Viera to break the lease it would certainly be fun to be in the meeting where they have to beg their way back in.
Also concerning to the commissioner was the absence of plans for a private developer to build a hotel on the stadium's property. As it stands, the team would have to drive 45 minutes to the nearest hotel.
"There wasn't a real commitment to build a hotel," said Hawkins Jr.
What kind of half-baked crap are the Nats pulling? No hotel in the area? Why would Kissimmee even consider a plan that didn't include hotels to keep the tourist money in town? How does it benefit the team to have less of a drive to the opposing ballparks if the players have to then drive 45 minutes to get home every night? My confidence level in this FO pulling this off is plummeting.
(Although the 45 number isn't right, all of the Disney hotels are a good bit closer.)
The Washington Nationals vice president also promised he would pump "a lot of money" into the community, but he wouldn't commit to a specific amount, says Hawkins Jr.
Hahahahahahahaaaa!!!!! Hey Hawkins, you big dummy, you're dealing with an old miser who questioned team expenditures on sun flower seeds. Let me give you a little heads up, any Lerner plan starts and ends with them pulling out one hell of a lot more money than they put in.
http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/22799193/washington-nationals-98m-state-of-the-art-stadium-hard-sell-for-one-osceola-county-commissioner