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Efforts to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando have taken a significant blow. Local attorney John Morgan told WESH 2 on Tuesday that he’s out as an investor of the Orlando Dreamers, the group leading efforts to bring an MLB team to Central Florida. This comes after reports surfaced that anchor investor Dr. Rick Workman has left the organization to join the Tampa Bay Rays ownership group to keep the team in the local area. According to Morgan, Workman joined a group led by Patrick Zulpuski, which made a deal to purchase the Rays in July. “I am out. The fix is in,” Morgan told WESH 2 in an email. “What I believe will now happen is this group will seek a sweetheart deal in Tampa, while stringing the prospects of Orlando as a bargaining chip, get lots of free land and entitlements and make a real estate profit on the surrounding land at the tax payers expense. Certainly not for the people but for the rich people.” Morgan added, “I have zero interest in investing in Tampa… I just wish the commissioner had been more forthright with his intentions while I had little time in this. I did have some and would have preferred not to have wasted it.” Dreamers co-founder Jim Schnorf said, “The initiative to bring MLB to Orlando continues forward. Thanks again for the continued interest and strong support.” In April, the Dreamers identified Workman as an anchor investor of their efforts to bring MLB to Orlando. Morgan, the owner of the nation’s largest injury law firm, also joined around the same time. This all came after the Dreamers announced that qualified investors have provided preliminary letters of intent and verbal commitments of nearly $1.5 billion in equity for team acquisition. In July, Morgan told WESH 2 that he would commit at least $250 million to help the Orlando Dreamers bring MLB to Central Florida. Dreamers co-founder Jim Schnorf told WESH 2 in May that if Orlando were to get a Major League Baseball team, it would be through an expansion slot or relocation of another team.MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred hopes to select two cities for expansion teams before he retires from the job in 2029, Schnorf told WESH 2 in March.Schnorf said Major League Baseball insists on a public-private partnership to build a new ballpark.The Dreamers identified 35.5 acres of parcel adjacent to SeaWorld Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center for its planned domed stadium.According to the organization, the stadium project would yield 25,000 permanent jobs and create $40 billion in economic impact to Orange County over 30 years.What happens going forward remains unclear.
Efforts to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando have taken a significant blow.
Local attorney John Morgan told WESH 2 on Tuesday that he’s out as an investor of the Orlando Dreamers, the group leading efforts to bring an MLB team to Central Florida.
This comes after reports surfaced that anchor investor Dr. Rick Workman has left the organization to join the Tampa Bay Rays ownership group to keep the team in the local area.
According to Morgan, Workman joined a group led by Patrick Zulpuski, which made a deal to purchase the Rays in July.
“I am out. The fix is in,” Morgan told WESH 2 in an email. “What I believe will now happen is this group will seek a sweetheart deal in Tampa, while stringing the prospects of Orlando as a bargaining chip, get lots of free land and entitlements and make a real estate profit on the surrounding land at the tax payers expense. Certainly not for the people but for the rich people.”
Morgan added, “I have zero interest in investing in Tampa… I just wish the commissioner had been more forthright with his intentions while I had little time in this. I did have some and would have preferred not to have wasted it.”
Dreamers co-founder Jim Schnorf said, “The initiative to bring MLB to Orlando continues forward. Thanks again for the continued interest and strong support.”
In April, the Dreamers identified Workman as an anchor investor of their efforts to bring MLB to Orlando. Morgan, the owner of the nation’s largest injury law firm, also joined around the same time.
This all came after the Dreamers announced that qualified investors have provided preliminary letters of intent and verbal commitments of nearly $1.5 billion in equity for team acquisition.
In July, Morgan told WESH 2 that he would commit at least $250 million to help the Orlando Dreamers bring MLB to Central Florida.
Dreamers co-founder Jim Schnorf told WESH 2 in May that if Orlando were to get a Major League Baseball team, it would be through an expansion slot or relocation of another team.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred hopes to select two cities for expansion teams before he retires from the job in 2029, Schnorf told WESH 2 in March.
Schnorf said Major League Baseball insists on a public-private partnership to build a new ballpark.
The Dreamers identified 35.5 acres of parcel adjacent to SeaWorld Orlando and the Orange County Convention Center for its planned domed stadium.
According to the organization, the stadium project would yield 25,000 permanent jobs and create $40 billion in economic impact to Orange County over 30 years.
What happens going forward remains unclear.
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