Cleveland Indians' Spring Camp Move?

The Cleveland Indians are looking for greener pastures for their Spring training camp. Winter Haven, FL may not in the cards in the future. Other Florida communities hope that Winter Haven's loss could be their gain. The question is how much is there to gain?

Spending $10 million to lure the Cleveland Port Charlotte, FL for spring training could help fill some hotel rooms. It could bring a sense of pride to the Charlotte Conty after it lost the Texas Rangers last year. And it might help some Ohio residents locate Port Charlotte on a map.

But don't expect the county to reap any significant economic benefits if spring baseball returns. That is the word that experts have to say.

That's despite a 2000 study commissioned by the Florida Sports Foundation that found the average spring training team had a $24.5 million annual impact on the county that hosts it. In a county like Charlotte, which typically has less than $250 million in gross sales per month, such a large infusion of spending would have a noticeable impact.

John Zipp, a sociology professor at the University of Akron, said the economic impacts of sporting events are often overstated. Most tourists don't flock to spring training sites solely for the baseball, he said.

"You can't build economic impact on something that happens for such a short period of time," said Philip K. Porter, professor of economics at University of South Florida.

But in Winter Haven, officials have a hard time ignoring the very quantifiable costs to keep their Chain of Lakes Park up to major-league standards. Of about $1.25 million to maintain the facility in the last fiscal year, the city's taxpayers covered $944,000, said Winter Haven director of leisure services T. Michael Stavres.

My advice is for EDO's to approach these projects carefully with a clear understanding of the longer costs and benefits. It's not worth the 'image bang' sought from these deals. And we are even talk about my Cleveland Indians here.

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