With the same anticipation of a playoff push, the Boston Red Sox and Lee County finally sat down and talked about the team’s spring training future.

That future doesn’t include the Red Sox playing at City of Palms Park. Boston will either train at a new stadium in Lee County, which could attract a third Major League team to Southwest Florida, or in Sarasota.

Red Sox executive Mike Dee met for an hour behind closed doors with Lee County Commission chairman Ray Judah Wednesday morning.

Judah was pitching proposals to keep the Red Sox from moving their spring training to Sarasota. Dee said team officials will explore private sector option proposals Judah presented during the meeting.

“We’ll entertain some of the proposals and ideas circulating in the private sector,” said Dee. “He made it clear this is a private-driven effort behind the ideas and the creativity, but also a public-private partnership with Lee County looking for ways to participate.”

Judah said after the meeting he’s optimistic the Red Sox’s long-term future is in Lee County.

“There’s no question the Boston Red Sox would like to stay in Lee County,” he said. “We recognize they want to look at other alternatives. I have tried to emphasize the Red Sox have an opportunity to grow as Lee County grows.”

That growth could follow the county’s own growth to the south. Judah said one site up for discussion would involve a partnership with the Florida Gulf Coast University athletic department. There’s also a potential site in the city of Fort Myers.

Judah declined to pinpoint other potential sites, but said there have been five proposals with amenities ranging from a mall to a hotel to an aquatic center. It would likely take 120 acres or so.

Dee left saying he felt like Lee County wants to keep the team here for spring training and commissioners seem to understand what the team needs and what it means to the local economy. The Red Sox have been wooed in recent months by the city and county of Sarasota, where officials have proposed building the team a new stadium when the Cincinnati Reds leave after 2009.

“Spring training has been an important aspect of Florida tourism for a long time,” Dee said. “Sometimes it takes the loss of a team to recognize the significance spring training has to the community.”

Dee said the process with Sarasota is “in the later innings” and he expects a decision by the end of October.

The perception that the team already has a foot out the door headed for Sarasota is a false one, Dee said.

“We certainly have not gotten to the point to make a decision,” he said. “The metaphor of having a foot out the door is not accurate.”

Dee bemoaned the public nature of the negotiations, both with Sarasota and with Lee County.

“It’s a shame to some degree this has to be so public,” he said.

Dee said it remains possible the team will continue to train at City of Palms Park in Fort Myers, its spring training home since 1993. He said the fragmented nature of the facility, with practice fields at a different location, plus the lack of hotels and amenities nearby makes it unlikely.

Judah agreed it’s unlikely the team will stay at City of Palms for the long term, but its departure conceivably could open the park for a third major league team. He mentioned the Baltimore Orioles as one possibility.

“I don’t see how it could,” he said when asked about the team possibly staying where it is.

Judah said with constant news from Sarasota on the courting process it was time for he and Dee to talk.

“I finally eventually felt the time was now to sit down with Mr. Dee,” he said.

Judah said he knew the current situation was unacceptable to the team, and likely would have begun meeting with team officials to discuss their future anyway. The discussions in Sarasota moved that up.

Dee did note that the center of hotel development in Lee County has gone south, though he wouldn’t say if the team is looking toward that end of the county. He said he doesn’t know what developers or landowners have made proposals to Judah or where their land is located.

Judah said he has seen proposed stadium drawings.

“They really depict some extraordinary opportunities for the Red Sox,” he said. “I respect that it has to be a business decision for the Boston Red Sox. Quite frankly, it has to be a business decision for Lee County, too.”

 

Tom Hanson writes for the Naples Daily News. You can contact him by e-mail at thanson@naplesnews.com.