Bucks in Baseball

Sue slaughter can sometimes pick the baseball players out of

the spring crowds that swell Potts Sports Café in south Fort Myers. It’s tough,

though. She doesn’t follow the sport that closely, and in this day of free

agency and immense player movement, there are always new faces to remember.

Still, Slaughter, the restaurant’s manager, recognizes a few

of the Minnesota Twins who frequent the establishment adjacent to their spring

training complex. Former Twins star and coach Paul Molitor has been a regular

in the past; and Baseball Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, who spent most of his

22-year career with the Twins, has visited the restaurant on occasion. “Spring

training is great because the crowds are here and players sometimes come in,”

Slaughter says. “We’re a ‘Cheers’-type place. Everybody knows each other and we

have a steady business year-round. Spring training just adds to that. It makes

it more exciting. The people who come in here know there’s always a chance to

see a Twins player.”

Yes, spring training is good for business. Tables are packed

with fans for as long as three hours after a game, and good luck trying to find

a seat at the bar. The heavy crowds mean more tips for servers and bartenders,

many of whom work there specifically for the revenue they can earn during the

six weeks from mid-February to the end of March when the Twins are in town.

So when Slaughter and her staff first heard in November that

Major League Baseball might fold the Twins franchise, there was more than just

a little concern. Losing the team would take money out of their pockets. “That

news didn’t go over well here,” Slaughter says. “The people who work here rely

on that spring business. Some of the same people have worked here for seven or

eight years. They stay because of the Twins.”

That’s why Slaughter and her employees, like thousands of

other folks throughout Lee County, were relieved when the Minnesota Supreme

Court in early February refused to consider an appeal of an injunction that

requires the Twins to fulfill their lease at the Minneapolis Metrodome this

season. That apparently prompted Major League Baseball to shelve contraction plans,

at least for one year, granting a reprieve to the Twins and the Montreal Expos,

two small-market teams that have lagged in attendance over the past decade.

Contraction is baseball’s plan to eliminate teams that it feels are

non-competitive.

That means 7,500-seat Bill Hammond Stadium, where the Twins

have played their spring training games since moving from Orlando in 1991,

won’t sit empty in March. “For us, things feel a whole a lot better (now) than

when contraction plans were first announced,” says Janet Watermeier, the

county’s executive director for economic development. “Lee County has a

fondness for the Minnesota Twins.”

And also for the Boston Red Sox, who moved to Lee County in

1993 and play their games downtown at the 7,000-seat City of Palms Park. No one

really knows the direct economic impact of spring training in Southwest

Florida. Lee County hasn’t commissioned a study since 1994. But, according to a

study completed in 2000 by the Florida Sports Foundation, a team can generate

as much as $18 million each spring. And that’s not counting the investment that

players and their friends and families make in the community, which includes

buying property, homes and condos.

“The Twins and the Red Sox add to the community, to the

quality of life of vendors and other business that provide goods and services.

If there wasn’t a spring training, those are the people who would feel it the

most,” says Gary Ewen, sports development director of the Lee Island Coast

Visitor and Convention Bureau.

Although studies show that only 3 to 5 percent of Lee

County’s visitors come specifically for spring training, that number may

possibly change this spring, Ewen says. Many folks have told him they plan to

travel to Lee County to support the Twins this spring, and the evidence at the

box office is supporting that.

Through early February, Twins ticket sales were about 25

percent ahead of where they were at the same time last year. “Fans are coming

down specifically for the Twins this year,” Ewen says. “A lot of things have to

do with that. They’ve had their feet to the fire. They were nearly contracted.

They had a good year last year [an 85-77 record]. Their fans want to prove it’s

a mistake for baseball to contract the team.”

Whether or not the Twins remain, Lee County plans to have a

baseball team in town. The county has been courting the Cleveland Indians, who

are committed to Winter Haven (the Red Sox’s former home) through 2003 and have

been actively searching for a new spring training site.

Last fall, John Yarborough, Lee County’s director of parks

and recreation, led a contingent of Indians’ officials on a tour of old Terry

Park, the former home of the Kansas City Royals, who left Lee County for

Baseball City in 1987. However, there is no way the Indians would play in a 4,000-seat

facility, even if it were revamped. Plans have been discussed to build a

practice facility at Florida Gulf Coast University, and school officials

reportedly like the idea of a partnership with the Indians because FGCU is

building a varsity sports program. Some have speculated that an unnamed Lee

County developer is working with the Indians to make a gift of land near the

school.

The Indians have also considered moving to Port Charlotte’s

Charlotte County Stadium, which will be left empty after 2002, when the Texas

Rangers, who have trained there since 1987, leave for a new complex in

Surprise, Ariz. However, Hammond Stadium and the Lee County Sports Complex

appear to remain the Indians’ first choice.

“We’re in constant contact with people,” says Bill Hammond,

the deputy county administrator, for whom the stadium is named. “If we do it

right, we won’t be without a team. The Red Sox are here. We know that for sure.

We are talking to other clubs, but the greatest interest is from the Indians.

We are always working on those kind of relationships.”

The Twins would certainly not want to share the facilities

with Cleveland, but with contraction still looming after the 2002 season, they

may not be around to have a say in the matter. If the Twins are forced to shut

down, they would have to break their lease with the county and, as a result,

reimburse the county all scheduled payments of principal and interest due on

bonds.

The stadium, which opened in 1991, and the surrounding

facilities were built for Minnesota. The organization pays Lee County $300,000

in rent annually on a lease expiring in 2010; and the Twins “would still be

obligated to pay rent until there was another team in there,” Watermeier says.

For now, businesses like Potts Sports Café and Sun Harvest

Citrus, which is about one mile from Hammond Stadium, will benefit from having

the Twins around for at least one more spring. Tina Giufre, marketing director

for Sun Harvest Citrus, says that February and March are the company’s busiest

months and additional salespeople are added to the retail store. Of course,

that also coincides with the peak of citrus season.

“We have a sign on the outfield wall at the stadium that has

an arrow pointing to our store,” Giufre says. “Before and after the games we see

a surge in store traffic, people coming in for our juice or ice cream.

Contraction is something everyone here followed closely. You could certainly

say that we are relieved. We’re extremely happy they’re back.”