CHARLOTTE COUNTY — Sean Doherty, director of tourism for the Punta Gorda Englewood Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau, remembers when the area’s notoriety grew after the Tampa Bay Rays moved their spring headquarters to Charlotte Sports Park.
“I was on the road promoting recreational trips and when I talked about it being from the Port Charlotte area, before the Rays arrived, I had constant looks because other people didn’t know where we were,” said Doherty, who started with the workplace in 2005 as director of sports marketing.
At the time, the sports park, then known as Charlotte County Stadium, had been a spring educational club since 2002, when the Texas Rangers left for Arizona, after spending 15 years there.
Once the Rays arrived, who began education in Port Charlotte after their first American League championship in 2008, Doherty said other people would recognize that this is the team that organizes spring education.
“It helped us put ourselves a little bit more on the map with tourists,” he added.
In recent years, the Rays have moved from St. Petersburg to Tampa, and team officials have touted a “sister city” concept that would allow the Rays to split the season between new stadiums in Tampa and Montreal.
The Rays are locked into a lease at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg through 2027, while the lease for spring education in Port Charlotte runs through 2028.
It can be problematic, though not uncommon, for Major League Baseball groups to have spring education at more than one site. Minor league camp at Twin Lakes Parks in Sarasota, which originally evolved through the Kansas City Royals in 1970 as a baseball academy.
Locally, the Pittsburgh Pirates celebrated spring at LECOM Park at 1611 9th Street W. , Bradenton, but minor leaguers trained a few miles east in Pirate City.
More recently, published reports, most commonly in the Tampa Bay Times, have highlighted part of this effort that would allow the Rays to play their spring educational games in a stadium that would be built as a component of Gas Worx’s 50-acre progression. between Ybor City and the Channelside area, with a progression of the spring education player northward, in Pasco County.
The latter came from state Sen. William Simpson, R-Trilby, the current Senate president.
A spokeswoman for Simpson showed that he and other Pasco County state lawmakers would seek state aid for a proposed educational site, “depending on the details. “
The Rays declined in an email from a spokesperson to comment further.
A spokeswoman for Tampa Mayor Jane Castor also declined to comment, saying the city would be concerned about the concept.
Charlotte County spokesman Brian Gleason said in an email that “Charlotte County has appreciated your membership in the Tampa Bay Rays as a component of their spring camp and player progression program since 2009.
“We are aware of media reports of possible relocation discussions, however Rays control has told us that they have no plans to move their spring location immediately,” he continued. “The Rays’ existing contract with Charlotte County runs through spring camp 2028. “
The Tampa Bay Rays still endured the Devil Rays’ call in August 2006, when they signed a 20-year spring lease with Charlotte County for Charlotte Sports Park, which first hosted the Rays in 2009, after a $28 million renewal.
In 2014, the new stadium, which included a dining area on the waterfront, the garden fence, and a lawned seating area, was named the number one spring educational destination through USA Today and 10Best readers.
From 1998 to 2008, the Devil Rays played their spring games at St. Petersburg’s Al Lang Stadium, a few blocks from Tropicana Field.
Beginning with the move to Charlotte, the Rays moved their Class A team from Vero Beach to Charlotte County.
The Charlotte Stone Crabs had an 11-year career in Charlotte County and the 2020 season was canceled due to considerations similar to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2021, in the wake of a global reorganization of minor league baseball, the Rays moved their Class A partner complex to South Carolina.
Doherty noted that while the Stone Crabs presented entertainment for the whole family, the county had controlled attracting youth tournaments to recoup tourism dollars.
The Rays’ proximity to Port Charlotte, as well as the Orioles and Pirates to the north and the Red Sox and Twins south of Fort Myers, was one of many points where the Atlanta Braves moved their spring-grade neighborhoods to North Port. There weren’t that many groups near the team’s former spring education home, Lake Buena Vista.
The Rays and Braves played the first game at CoolToday Park to close out the spring 2019 schedule.
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If the Rays were to play their spring educational games, plus a component of the normal 162-game season, in Ybor City, the Rays would most likely play in the same groups as they do today.
In Charlotte, we’ll miss the team, Doherty said, but he admitted the loss of the Stone Crabs turned out to be a practice session to dress up for that possibility.
“We would be very happy to see them leave. I think we have compatibility for them, I think they feel the same way about the conversations I’ve had with some of their workers over the years,” Doherty said.
“We’ll see,” he added. The Montreal thing has come up several times in recent years, we’ll have to play the waiting game to see where it goes and we know their deal here goes until 2028, so we hope to have them at least until then. however, we would like to renew this agreement.
Earle Kimel primarily covers southern Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle. kimel@heraldtribune. com Support Journalism with a virtual subscription to the Herald-Tribune.