ORLANDO, Fla. — After the Tampa Bay Rays announced they were walking away from their stadium deal, this opened the door for the Orlando Dreamers group, now led by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin.
In a release Friday, the Dreamers announced they had identified an anchor investor for the control ownership group.
“We are thrilled with the commitment made by our investor partner, which accomplishes a key remaining step in our initiative to bring a Major League Baseball franchise to the Orlando area. Our process all along has been to identify and bring on board “best of class” partners in every aspect of our process,” said Larkin.
This latest push became possible after Hurricane Milton ripped through Tropicana Field, making it unplayable for the 2025 season. This forced the Rays to play their home games at Steinbrenner Field, the spring training home of the New York Yankees.
The next step, according to Jim Schnorf, co-founder of the Dreamers, is funding the potential baseball stadium.
“We now have a letter of intent towards financing our state-of-the-art, 45,000 capacity domed stadium right in the middle of the tourist corridor, where we will welcome approximately 80 million tourists this year. The financing structure will provide a minimum of approximately $1 billion towards stadium construction costs, under an arrangement that is highly attractive to Orange County government and citizens, team ownership, and Major League Baseball.”
This isn’t the first time Orlando has tried to bring an MLB team to the city as in the 90′s .
The “Orlando Rays” failed in their expansion bid, losing out to Miami and Tampa.
Click here to download our free news, weather and smart TV apps. And click here to stream Channel 9 Eyewitness News live.
©2025 Cox Media Group
