First Normal Spring Training Since 2019 Will Be A Needed ‘Shot In The Arm’ For Business

For the first time in four years spring training will have a normal look and feel to it.

The Grapefruit and Cactus League schedules were cut in half due to the pandemic in 2020. Though there was a full schedule of games in Florida and Arizona in 2021, it was one that emphasized as little team travel as possible and played out in front of sparse crowds due to attendance restrictions. Last year, labor issues between players and owners were not resolved until the second week of March. The unpredictability of when games would begin led to many ruined vacation plans.

There will be no such issues this year, which should result in satisfied business owners, including on Florida’s west coast where several communities should feel the impact.

Of course, not everything is perfect. Damage to their facility in Port Charlotte from Hurricane Ian resulted in the Rays relocating to Disney’s Wide World of Sports complex in Lake Buena Vista through the end of February. In March, all but the minor league operation will shift to their regular season home of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

While the effects of the late-September storm are still being felt and will continue to be felt for a long time in the beach and island communities in and near Fort Myers, the spring training homes of the Boston Red Sox and Minnesota Twins, which are further inland, are ready for baseball after sustaining minor wind damage. Fans visiting the ballparks and otherwise spending time in the area is something the folks in that region have been very much looking forward to.

“That’s exactly what we need right now,” said Jeff Mielke, executive director of Lee County Sports Development, which is a partner of the Lee County Visitors & Convention Bureau. “We need to feel as normal as we can. Having spring training at full capacity and without a labor issue is going to be able to allow our community to feel a little more normal than we have felt in a while. That’s the key thing this spring training, a sense of normalcy that we are all trying to put back together again right now.”

The Rays’ relocation means three teams will play their Grapefruit League games in Pinellas County this spring. The Philadelphia Phillies have been in Clearwater since 1947 and the Toronto Blue Jays have been in Dunedin since their maiden season of 1977.

“Here in St. Pete/Clearwater, we are fortunate to have long hosted two teams in the Phillies and the Blue Jays,” said Steve Hayes, president and CEO of Visit St. Pete/Clearwater. “The other element this spring is the Rays will be spending time (in St. Pete), so I think we will get an additional bump. This area will be full of baseball fans. The way we look at it, there are plenty of opportunities for people to stay here in Pinellas County. They can also travel out to Bradenton (Pirates), Sarasota (Orioles), Tampa (Yankees) and Lakeland (Tigers) to catch some of the other teams.”

Spring training will not be the only attraction in Pinellas County. The St. Pete Grand Prix (March 3-5) and the Valspar Championship (March 13-19) at the Innisbrook Golf Resort in Palm Harbor will attract plenty of sports fans who will likely engage in other activities throughout the region, perhaps including taking in a spring training game or two.

“It is going to be a very busy spring,” said Hayes. “When you add those events to spring training, you are talking about it booming here.”

It should be booming in southern Sarasota County. That is where the Braves, in North Port, set up shop after spending 22 years at the Disney complex. The Braves’ played their first game in their new spring training venue at the end of their 2019 Grapefruit League schedule. Hence, this will be the Braves’ first full spring with full capacity permitted at CoolToday Park.

“The business owners near the stadium, and in the general area, have not really experienced a true spring training,” said Virginia Haley, president of Visit Sarasota. “They are very excited about it.”

While Port Charlotte, which is in Charlotte County, does not have the Rays this spring, CoolToday Park is only about 10 northwest of where the team would be playing. Hence, Charlotte County and Sarasota County should both benefit from a full spring of Braves baseball. Certainly, the latter will be going full tilt with the Braves in North Port and the Orioles in Sarasota.

“For us at Visit Sarasota, having two teams, one in the northern part of the county with the O’s and the Braves in the southern part of the county, they bring so much energy,” said Haley. “This will be the shot in the arm that everyone is going to need.”

Dunedin, in particular, will receive a shot in the arm. It was not until last October that the Canadian government removed all cross-border travel restrictions. Not surprisingly, many Canadians came down well ahead of spring training this year instead of waiting for their Blue Jays to take the field at TD Ballpark, which hosted the team’s first 21 regular season home games in 2021.

“We are already seeing a nice increase in Canadian business and I anticipate it will be very strong (when the Blue Jays’ spring season begins),” said Hayes.

According to Hayes, an indication of that increase in visitors from north of the border can be seen at St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport. There was a 266 percent increase in passengers on Swoop Airlines, a Canadian low-cost carrier owned by WestJet, arriving at the airport this January over January 2022.

“That right there is like, ‘Wow,’” said Hayes. “That is just one touchpoint. We know that we have a number of Canadians that drive down and, in talking to some of the communities anecdotally, they are seeing them returning. What I hope, is that this year we return to pre-pandemic numbers.”

Some businesses could benefit in more ways than one by the increased traffic. Delco’s Original Steaks & Hoagies has a storefront in Dunedin a couple of miles from TD Ballpark and a stand within BayCare Ballpark, home of the Phillies.

While the main store has experienced an uptick in business this winter, the ballpark location should do very well for the first time in four years. It is something co-owners Cyndi Bowers and Ed Crowley, both from the Philadelphia suburbs, are looking forward to.

“Business was down substantially from pre-Covid,” said Bowers, who along with Crowley opened the Dunedin location in 1998 and, after one season at the Phillies’ former spring home of Jack Russell Stadium, have been a fixture at BayCare Ballpark since it opened 2004. “We’re really looking forward to it and we have already seen business pick up.”

The largely Philadelphia sports-themed eatery, which also has many Tampa Bay Lightning, Bucs and Rays collectibles and quite a bobblehead collection to boot, has and will continue to get a boost from many Canadians and Blue Jays fans who spend the winter and early spring in Dunedin.

“We have a lot of Canadians who come into the store, and I have heard from people who have not been in town in a few years,” said Bowers, who proudly displays a framed Fred McGriff Blue Jays jersey that the 2023 hall of famer recently dropped off at the eatery. “It’s going to be great to once again see so many Phillies and Blue Jays fans, many of whom we have not seen in a while.”