Credit Crisis May Keep Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida, for Spring Training

[marmar]

from Bloomberg:



Credit Crisis May Keep Sox at Current Training Site (Update1)

By Mason Levinson

Oct. 14 (Bloomberg) -- The credit crisis may keep the Boston Red Sox in Fort Myers, Florida, for spring training.

Officials in Sarasota, Florida, 65 miles (104.6 kilometers) away, cited the global credit freeze as they ended negotiations with the team over a stadium project. HeraldTribune.com of Sarasota reported that it would have cost $59 million.

Sarasota County and the city ended the talks because ``current economic and credit market conditions have limited the funding resources available for the development of the project,'' the county said in a news release on its Web site.

Credit-market seizures this year mean state and local governments have been forced to defer $100 billion in new infrastructure projects, according to Concord, Massachusetts- based research firm Municipal Market Advisors. Borrowers have focused on refinancing auction-rate debt since February. Since mid-September, they have struggled to sell bonds at all.

``We were making real good progress toward an agreement with the city, county and the Red Sox, but this last month has made the gap a lot wider than it had been,'' Sarasota City Manager Robert Bartolotta said in a telephone interview. ``The big issue was obviously the credit markets. We had pledged certain revenue streams to the project and interest rates, obviously, have risen drastically in the last month, so the same amount of revenue will not generate as much capital.''

Boston Red Sox Chief Operating Officer Mike Dee downplayed the effect the credit crisis had on reaching a deal with the county. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=a_bmWM9HtZiA&refer=home

[Fearless]

1. If one of the most lucrative teams in the majors cannot...

get a line of credit that does not bode well for Mr. and Mrs. Joe Sixpack.

[hughee99]

3. It sounds like the problem isn't the Sox getting credit

but the city of Sarasota, who presumably needs the up-front cash to pay for the infrastructure.

[Fearless]

4. But you'd figure that the Sox could cover them if they wanted.

[hughee99]

5. They probably could

but I don't think they're so in love with the Sarasota area that they won't shop around. Their principal owner, John Henry, is a financial guy, and is going to look around for the best deal. 59 million dollars that he doesn't have to spend on the loan is money he can either spend on the team or save for the 20+ investors that hold partial ownership of the Sox.

[nickgutierrez]

2. The Sox's Spring Training grounds really are a dump.

Especially compared to the Twins, who are also based in Ft. Myers. It's easy to make the case that the Sox need better facilities, but I hear they're going to check out as many as fourteen sites tomorrow.