ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – Officials hoping to bring a Major League Baseball team to Orlando unveiled the design of a proposed stadium at a press conference on Tuesday.
The proposed MLB stadium calls for $700 million in private funds, the largest private investment ever for a publicly owned Major League Baseball stadium, according to a news release.
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Officials have said that the tourist district on International Drive is their preferred location for the stadium which is expected to hold about 45,000 fans.
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Speaking at the press conference, Pat Williams – the man credited with bringing an NBA franchise to Orlando – listed four things Orlando must have in order to get a ballpark for a MLB team.
“So first of all, you got to have the marketplace. Second, you got to have the ballpark. Third, you’ve got to have a front office staff that knows what they’re doing. Running a professional sports team is not for amateurs, Williams said. “And fourth, you’re gotta have an owner.”
The proposed stadium would be a $1.7 billion project, Williams said.
The road to a professional baseball team in Orlando can happen in two ways: MLB can expand its current roster of teams, or an existing team would move to Central Florida.
“Orlando is the largest media market in the United States without a Major League Baseball team, recently surpassing Miami in terms of media market size. Orlando is also the most visited destination in the world,” the Orlando Dreamers website read in part.
In 2019, Williams, held a news conference outlining plans to bring the team – to be called the Orlando Dreamers – to Central Florida.
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