There Will Be Life After the Indians …

Posted by Bob Gernert on December 22, 2006 at 9:30 am

The Cleveland Indians announcement that they will move Spring Training operations to Goodyear, AZ in 2009 should come as no surprise to anyone. The team hand-delivered letters in Winter Haven four years ago saying they could not make the 15-year commitment necessary at the time to secure state grant monies to upgrade Chain of Lakes Stadium. The ultimate failure of negotiations here stemmed from the team’s position that it would not participate in the funding of the new facility it wanted.

There is no doubt that hosting Spring Training has brought both fans and recognition to Winter Haven and Polk County. But the deal the Indians wanted didn’t materialize here in Polk County … or Lee, Charlotte, Osceola or Orange Counties either. Winter Haven isn’t the only community to expect more in way of a partnership for a $56 million expenditure.

But the Indians will have that new facility in Arizona and we wish them well. At the same time life will go on and opportunity will knock for Winter Haven. Why?

First, we are fortunate to have a successful and respected Sports Marketing machine here in Polk County that brings thousands of athletes and their families here on a year round basis. Mark Jackson and his team aggressively recruit tournaments that put “heads in bed” in significant numbers. July, a month that used to be one of the worst for our hospitality industry, is now one of the strongest. These athletes, their parents and grandparents, eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores, buy gas and visit our attractions.

Secondly, consider Cypress Gardens Adventure Park. This year-round operation employs more than 500 people and brings more than one million visitors to our area annually. We all need to do our part to help the Gardens become as successful as possible. The long-term success of the park can mean long-term health for our tourism industry within the county.
Finally there’s the Chain of Lakes property itself. The current stadium sits on one of the most prized pieces of real estate left within the city. Bounded by two major highways and overlooking beautiful Lake Lulu, the parcel — with the right planning — could be developed for mixed use including hotels, restaurants, lakeside public amenities and entertainment options. And the sale of the property would place it on the tax roll as well as fund new sports venues on less valuable property.

Regardless of our course of action, there are many options for life after the Indians. We are limited only by our imagination.

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REMARKS   12 Total remarks on this post. Add your own remarks below

  • December 29th, 2006 at 5:14 pm
    Jeff Stevens

    My first question in responce to this blog entry is who wrote it? By the wording I’m guesing a city official or someone tied too deeply to politics in the city.Someone who forgets about the little guy who works hard and supports and makes possible the paychecks of both the city officials as well as the Indians owners and management. Both sides failed miserably in this situation. As the blog entry states we had four years to make things work. What did we do? It seems that we simply sat back and whined about how the Indians wanted to leave.I agree and understand that it would be hard to keep hearing I’m leaving, I don’t like it here,it will be better anywhere else. It may be the case that we never had a chance but how would we know unless we really tried. And bringing up the four years, if we are not “surprized” at the move where are our plans to fill this void? In four years we should have had a plan in place.Instaed we only have vague ideas of what we “could” do.The idea that a new hotel or restaurant is the answer is wishful thinking. I can hear the tires sreatching now to stop to get off Rt 4 to visit our new Starbucks. What we have, sorry had, was a truly unique gem. A major league home headquarters for Spring training. With only a handful of such a commodity available why let this go? We should have fought long and hard for something this unique. I hope that we at least make an attempt to lure another team to our city as baseball has been a heritage for Winter Havens for many years. This is what first brought my family to Winter Haven and since then we have made investments and plans to retire hear. It was a unique city.

  • December 30th, 2006 at 7:24 am
    Bob Gernert

    All posts currently on the new Website were authored by Bob Gernert, Executive Director, Greater Winter Haven Chamber of Commerce. The lack of authorship was an oversight and will be corrected.

  • December 30th, 2006 at 7:48 am
    Jeff Stevens

    Oops, I should have hit the spell check icon! Here’s hope that we build something that will work for us all at the old complex. I wish us all a great and Happy New Year!!!!

  • January 1st, 2007 at 12:11 pm
    Kevin from Cleveland

    Well, I’ve come down for spring training for a few years. And I will this year. I like the closeness of walking from the hotel to the ball park and the amount of places to eat. This year, I made a reservation using a program that is supposed to save me up to 30%, which someone quoted a price and I went ahead and reserved two rooms. Then when I called to confirm my rooms with the hotel,(Howard Johnson’s across from the park) the manager said that the person that gave me the quote doesn’t have the authority and that he won’t honor it. There was no attempt at compromise. Maybe its the supply and demand or just greediness being that there is three months until spring training. Either way he lost my business. And now we are in search of another hotel. But, trying not to spend a fortune on a hotel room, do I have to sacrifice cleanliness?

  • January 2nd, 2007 at 6:38 am
    Bob Gernert

    Kevin,

    The hotel you mention is not a member of our Chamber and I regret you have encountered this situation. Please send an email to chamber1@winterhavenfl.com and we will try to get more information to you.

  • January 2nd, 2007 at 6:48 am
    Jeff Stevens

    Kevin,
    Our family has stayed at the Holiday Inn and were very impressed with the cleanliness and great attitude of the staff.You may want to give them a try.

  • January 2nd, 2007 at 7:37 am
    Robert Hebda

    I bought a house in Winter Haven in 2004, because retirement is only 7 years away and the lure of a spring training venue in a small town like Winter Haven was great. Being from New England, it was great to come down for the month of March for spring training to catch baseball fever early by seeing teams like the Yankees and the Mets come into Winter Haven and getting away from the cold New England weather. I have been watching the ongoing saga between The city and the Cleveland Indians. It is ridiculous that neither side could come to a compromise around keeping the Indians in Winter haven. As much as the Indians did not seem to want to invest in Winter Haven, I feel that the city is more interested in the property for something else. All that is ever talked about is what a prime property this is. Well, it is disappointing that this is what is driving the city to let the Indians go so easy. When all is said and done, the city will be sorry for the tourism for the hotels and restaurants that will be lost. Lets be honest, Cypress gardens is a nice local novelty, but please lets not make this out to be the main draw of tourism. Once you go once, the chance of going again is slim. Wouldn’t people just drive an hour to a real park like Disney ??? I believe that this is a case of cutting off your nose to spite your face. My plan, once the indians leave is to look to Lakeland, where they seem to appreciate the lure of baseball. Maybe, another team may be interested, but I think the city has already made up its mind about selling this property for either housing or hotels etc. Good Luck, Winter haven, because I feel that this decision will be regretted for a long time.

  • January 2nd, 2007 at 9:36 am
    Bob Gernert

    Mr. Hebda,

    Thank you for your comments. It is important to know that one of the goals the Indians wanted to accomplish with a new stadium here was to be closer to I-4 so as to make travel back to the Orlando Airport more timely. The city does have an option for a site north of town and it would have also allowed for adequate parking … a serious shortcoming of the current location.

    The real issue here was not the current property because the city’s option addressed their desire to reduce travel time. The bottom line issue here was the Indian’s position that they would not participate financially in the cost of the new complex. If, for example, the Indians had chosen to offer a $10 million partnership (as the Cincinnati Reds have done in Sarasota) the outcome might have been quite different.

  • January 3rd, 2007 at 5:30 am
    Jeff Stevens

    Hey, how about setting up a poll to get an idea of what the peoples thoughts are about this hot topic. It would also be a great way to drive some traffic to our Chambers new site (and exposure to its members) as well as show our city leaders what the tax payers want. I’m betting that baseball is an important part of our unique city.

  • January 3rd, 2007 at 9:27 am
    Bob Gernert

    Online polls are no more statistically representative of public opinion than “call in” telephone polls. Friends call friends or drive traffic to the site from other sites and it rapidly becomes a matter of who can muster the most respondents.

    This site is four days old and many aspects are being fine tuned. The blog is for such discourse. Your comments are welcome here.

  • January 13th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
    Jim

    Hope we have seen the last of Spring Training in Winter Haven. It was great for a while, but the demands were too much. Nothing but threats of leaving for years from both the Red Sox and Indians. I hope they are happy in their new homes. Winter Havens tax payer money is better spent on other things.

  • February 9th, 2007 at 10:02 am
    Tom Mezeros

    I will miss Winter haven. Those who still need their fix of the Tribe can find some in the novel SWAP by Sam Moffie.

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