Baseball HOFer Barry Larkin was named the "new front man" for the Orlando Dreamers' drive to "bring a professional baseball franchise" to Orlando, according to Mike Bianchi of the ORLANDO SENTINEL. Larkin, during a news conference, said that he is "'all-in' with both feet to help attract a franchise to the city." He said that he has "reached out" to MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, who indicated to Larkin that "putting a team in Orlando is 'an interesting and realistic opportunity.'" Bianchi noted the Dreamers' goal is to either "attract a franchise that might be looking to relocate" or be "awarded a franchise during MLB’s next round of expansion." Wall Street Strategic Capital President Jim Schnorf, who co-founded the Dreamers effort with late Magic co-founder Pat Williams, said that he has "already secured verbal commitments of nearly" $500M from minority investors and that he "may have a majority owner ready to join the effort and commit half the money to build a privately funded domed stadium." Schnorf said that the Dreamers are "seeking a 50-50 public-private split" on building the stadium on a 35.5-acre plot of land. The team would "fund half" of the proposed $1.7B stadium project while the other half would be "funded by Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 1/29).
Baseball HOFer Barry Larkin to lead Orlando Dreamers' MLB bid
