ORLANDO, Fla. — In the coming months, Orange County leaders will decide what to do with the millions of dollars in Tourist Development Tax (TDT) money they’ve taken in.
The county’s Tourist Development Tax Citizen Advisory Task Force will hold its first meeting next week, on the road to ultimately making recommendations on project applications.
One of those applications that will be reviewed was submitted by the Orlando Dreamers, the group trying to bring Major League Baseball to Orlando.
Orange County Commissioners say they’re looking forward to hearing next week’s discussion of those applications.
As far as the Orlando Dreamers go, Commissioner Mayra Uribe says with all this talk about funding, she wants to make sure it goes to the right place.
“Almost a billion dollars is a lot of money, and it would literally restrict us from doing anything else in this town for probably the next decade,” Commissioner Uribe said.
Commissioner Uribe says her mindset is to think cautiously about how the county can leverage those dollars.
“You have to remember, those TDT dollars are created by the workforce that works in that industry. We just want to make sure that it’s a give and take kind of relationship,” Uribe said.
That relationship is one Andrew Herdliska, chief marketing officer for the Orlando Dreamers, wants to see through.
“Our goal, whether it’s through expansion or relocation, is to bring a Major League Baseball team to Orlando,” Herdliska said.
This week, the Orlando Dreamers announced its economic impact data from JLL, an independent consulting firm.
Their research claims that bringing Major League Baseball to Orlando would bring in excess of 38,000 jobs during the construction phase, more than 52,000 permanent jobs, an economic impact over 30 years of more than $72 billion, and an average of an additional $32 million of annual TDT revenues.
“Funding approval for the stadium would be a signal to Major League Baseball that Orlando is ready to bring a team here,” Herdliska said.
Herdliska acknowledges that the price tag is high and believes getting funding will benefit all parties involved.
“It’s a part of the process to be competitive with other expansion cities. It’s less than what the Rays are asking for in Tampa, so we’ve kind of used a comparative model looking at recent stadium requests and builds as what would be a rational number to ask for from the county,” Herdliska said.
Commissioners say they’re looking forward to next week’s discussions.
“Let’s play some baseball,” Commissioner Michael Scott said. “I’m absolutely an advocate of the Dreamers. But I also have to be able to counterbalance what they need versus the public good.”
Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax Citizen Advisory Task Force meeting is set for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 21.
The Dreamers have advanced stadium design and surrounding development plans over recent months.
The proposed location they’re looking at is a 35-and-a-half acre site north of Aquatica.
The rest of the funding for the project will come through private money, Dreamers officials say.