For the first time in history, Arizona will host as many Major League Baseball teams as Florida this spring.
It's
a trend that concerns Florida tourism officials and lawmakers, who are
determined to keep the Grapefruit League's 15 teams, if not entice
others to join. Earlier this month, Gov. Charlie Crist met with
owners of the Chicago Cubs and promised to "do whatever it takes" to
lure them to the Naples area for spring training. Lawmakers are talking
about giving the Florida Sports Foundation more power to negotiate
deals and grant the agency a dedicated funding source for incentives.
"The
Legislature is starting to realize that we must protect our remaining
spring training industry and become more aggressive in recruiting some
of the teams back from Arizona that we have lost over the years," said Rep. Rob Schenck, R-Spring Hill. Read more here.
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Posted by: Sports Index | January 11, 2010 at 06:00 AM