Part II in a four-part series on the prospects for and potential impact of professional baseball in Bay County
It isn’t easy to move a professional franchise and possibly more difficult finding a place for it to call home.
Those factors aren’t lost on local attorney William Harrison and the six-member Doré Energy Group. The potential move of a Single-A or Double-A professional baseball team to Bay County won’t happen overnight. The group has researched the prospects for more than 18 months and any incentive to bring a team here would take even longer to be realized.
The vision of minor league baseball resurfaced when the Bay County Tourism Development Council (TDC) asked Harrison for a presentation about the feasibility of pro baseball in the Panhandle. He said the TDC was anxious to talk about other activities, more wholesome in nature, aside from Spring Break. The annual invasion of college students has come under increased scrutiny since a national media expose earlier this year.
(Click here to find out how a stadium could impact Gulf Coast State College)
The group pitched ideas for a combined amateur sports/pro baseball facility. The TDC decided to prioritize the amateur aspect with the aim of attempting to have something available for 2015. Harrison expected as much, and said the Doré Energy Group remains committed to the prospect of bringing pro baseball back to Bay County for the first time since 1961.
Harrison said the process would take two years or more. He’s on item No. 1 on a long checklist.
The steps
Finding a location for the estimated $30 million stadium and how to pay for it are the first hurdles, but more on that later in this series. A stadium is required to entice a team to move and there will be no agreements to do so without plans to build one. Assuming a stadium is approved and ground is broken, there are a few pieces that will come together at a rapid pace.
There are two ways for a team to move here; one by way of transferred ownership and the other by purchase. The former is less expensive, of course, but Harrison said the Doré Energy Group would prefer to own the team outright. Local ownership leads to better relationships with the city, Harrison said, but it’s not necessarily a deal breaker.
Harrison said the group has been in contact with a handful of team owners who expressed interest in moving to Bay County. He wouldn’t divulge the current locations of those teams for a few reasons. Foremost, he said, it’s frowned upon by league offices to speak of movement until proper protocol is followed, and moving often results in “lame-duck seasons” where attendance dips and teams take a hit financially.
Teams looking to move must file Relocation or Control Interest Transfer (CIT) documents with their respective leagues. Owners vote to approve or deny the filings. If approved, the decision must be seconded by Minor League Baseball and Major League Baseball.
Both a CIT and the sale of a team require more steps and more money. Teams are valued between $3-$25 million, according to MILB.com.
Harrison said none of the owners the Doré Energy Group consulted with has filed Relocation or CIT documents. Three of the leagues Harrison mentioned as possibilities for a move, the South Atlantic (Single-A), Florida State (Single-A) and Southern (Double-A), confirmed no such documents had been filed, as of June 6.
Another potential target, the Double-A Eastern League, did not respond to inquiries regarding Relocation or CIT filings.
Geography plays a role in movement and approval by leagues. The Southern League is the most attractive for a move, given six of the 10 teams are located in Alabama and Florida. Teams are set for Biloxi, Miss., Mobile, Ala., Pensacola and Jacksonville to begin the 2015 season.
New ownership groups often have to work out details pertaining to the move. Some new owners incur the financial burden of the lame-duck final seasons to offset the loss to previous ownership.
Minor League Baseball ensures that its teams maintain territorial and market rights. Any new team that infringes on another could be forced to pay a fine. Pensacola paid Mobile when it became an affiliated Minor League Baseball team in 2012.
BayCounty is a few hours away from Pensacola, the closest team in the minors to this area. Harrison said the Doré Energy Group has been cleared by Minor League Baseball and that Bay County does not infringe on any other team’s territory.
Where to put the stadium
Harrison said there were myriad options for a stadium site. He spoke with Panama City Mayor Greg Brudnicki about putting the stadium at multiple spots within Bay County, but decided Panama City Beach might be better suited to host a team.
PCB offers more tourists and the “heads in beds” philosophy is primary in the TDC’s planning. The area already attracts visitors for a variety of activities and entertainment. Panama City has locations for development, including at the former airport on State 390 and Frank Nelson Park, but Brudnicki doesn’t view a pro baseball team as a viable option.
“We (Panama City) don’t have the infrastructure and the rooms and I don’t know how many people would support them,” Brudnicki said. “The TDC has a function and we do, too. Ours is a lot more broad, we have infrastructure needs within the city that could be replaced and work that needs to be done.
“I don’t know how much the commission would risk on something like that. Why would taxpayers be paying for that? What if it turned out to be a boondoggle?”
Harrison agreed the latter fear is legitimate. It’s not uncommon for teams to move, obviously, and some cities are left in the lurch when a franchise decides to relocate. Harrison said leases are important to ensure a team stays and that accomplishing a goal of local ownership would alleviate some concerns.
The key is finding a prime location for the stadium and/or the amateur facility the TDC is focusing on for next year. The original pitch was to combine them, but Harrison said they could end up in separate locales. That requires more variables, and Harrison said some have come forth to help him with options.
He was contacted by a private interest shortly after the June 10 TDC meeting to discuss a plot of land near Signal Hill Golf Course in Panama City Beach. Harrison said it includes 129 acres and is in the heart of bed-tax collection for the city. The district has the largest number of hotel and condominium rooms and would be an immediate attraction, Harrison said.
The location also soothes concerns of some business owners who would prefer a team on the East side of Panama City Beach nearer Hathaway Bridge.
“They would like to have a counterbalance to Frank Brown Park, something closer to the bridge,” Harrison said. “There are several undeveloped parcels on the East end.
“There are a number of individuals pointing to that general area (Middle Beach Road and Front Beach Road) as a great access point from the beach and (U.S.) 98 coming across the bridge.”
Next: Part III details potential tax breaks for a new team and discusses how well Bay County could support a team.