Too Much Green For A Little Green Monster

It seems like the Boston Red Sox have Lee County Florida squirming quite a bit.  Granted, this is the business of professional sports.  The Red Sox have the bargaining power to ask for the world if they want it.  They’ve earned it.  They have fans and those fans sell out their current Spring Training games every year and right now Charlotte County is trying to woo the Sox away.  The Red Sox bring a lot of money to Lee County and it looks like Lee County doesn’t want to loose it.

The current facility is old.  Parking is awful.  But it’s still baseball and it’s fun.  The Red Soxs want Lee County to build a Little Green Monster by 2012 so they will stay.

The problem I have is that with the current economy in Lee County it seems a little heartless to ask for so much.  Lee County Florida is ranked as one of the top foreclosure counties in the entire country.  The housing market has crashed and the building industry is half of what it was a couple years ago.  The loss in revenue from taxes and impact fees has caused the county and the cities to cut funding to social services and schools while also putting some much needed road construction and repair on hold. I understand that Professional Sports bring in a lot of money and the Sox are surely pay dirt when it comes to that.  However, that is seasonal money.  Does it really create year round jobs?  How many visiting fans are going to decide to relocate to Lee County because of coming down for a game?

I love baseball.  I enjoy going to games.  I actually have two fantasy teams.  This is nothing against the Sox.  This one just has me stumped on what to think of the county’s possible direction to spend a lot of money by 2012 that it doesn’t really have.  Money that will take away from some very needed bandages to get the residents of the county through to the other side of their apparent economic downturn.  Kudos for thinking outside of the box trying to tie it into the University but we’re still talking about a lot of dough.  Sound off…I’d love to hear your take on too much green for a little green monster. 

 

Green Monster headed for Lee County?

Last updated on: 7/8/2008 6:41:40 PM by Grant Lodes

From NBC-2.com Fort Myers, FL 

http://www.nbc-2.com/articles/readleearticle.asp?articleid=20263&z=14

FORT MYERS: Fenway Park could be getting a smaller, younger sibling.

Today Lee County Parks and Recreation Director John Yarbrough said the Red Sox have made it clear they want their Spring Training Home to look a lot more like their regular season home by 2012.

With Sarasota looking to lure the World Champs out of Lee County, Yarbrough said he’s recommending the County begin a formal RFP process. The request for proposal means developers will submit formal proposals for the new spring training facility.

Boston brass has already indicated they’ve outgrown City of Palms Park. Red Sox leaders have also said they’d like their practice/minor league facility and their main stadium to be in one location.

Currently, City of Palms Park and their other practice fields are about two miles apart on Edison Avenue. The next big question is where would Fenway Jr. be built?

Lee County Deputy County Manager Bill Hammond told NBC2 yesterday that a new park or renovation of City of Palms Park on that Edison Avenue site would mean buying up residential lots to make room for the new structures.

Another option that seems to have teeth is to partner with FGCU to build a multi-purpose facility in south Lee County. FGCU President Wilson Bradshaw told NBC2 recently that the Eagles would love to have football in a decade.

Bradshaw and Hammond have seemed open to the idea of a joint facility that could accommodate a football stadium and a new Red Sox home.

The Sox would need between 90 - 100 acres for their facilities.

Tags: baseball, Boston, Charlotte County, Economy, Fenway, Fort Myers, Green Monster, Lee County, Red Sox, Spring Training