Pat Williams, co-founder of NBL Team the Orlando Magic, has pitched a $1.7 billion MLB Stadium that he says could be the future home for the Tampa Bay Rays. The proposal includes a ballpark with a capacity of around 45,000 seats, on a 35-acre county owned plot at International Drive.

The development also proposes retail shops, restaurants, office space, three hotel towers, as well as a separate convention center that can accommodate up to 10,000 people. The proposal is betting on luring some of the millions of tourists to a baseball game while they’re in town.

Williams told the Tampa Bay Business Journal “[The Orlando site] is right next to all the central highways, it’s a perfect spot for a ballpark. We feel good about it. It’s not in downtown Orlando but it’s a 15-minute drive depending on traffic. Six miles from Disney, six miles from Universal. We’re very bullish on these 80 million tourists that will come through here this year. And by the time we might start playing say in 2028, we're probably going to be at 100 million tourists. If we can draw 2% of those to a ballgame, that's 2 million in a season. We feel like we can get to 3 million.”

William submitted a request for public funding on April 26, stating that Orange County should contribute $975 million in tourist development taxes to pay off the debt from a 30-year municipal bond. The county would own the land, and otherwise would not have to contribute additional money for stadium operations. Construction would then start in 2025.

The Tampa Bay Rays are currently in negotiation with the City of St. Petersburg and Pinellas County to use public money for a new stadium at the Tropicana Field site. They have a lease that ends after the 2027 season. The ballpark in St. Pete is just a piece of the broader mixed-use development dubbed the gas plant district – which Mayor Ken Welch (St. Petersburg) selected the Rays & Hines development team to redevelop the 86-acres of land.

A funding plan for the $1.2 billion St. Petersburg ballpark has not yet been finalized, and Ray’s team president Brian Auld has publicly stated that the Rays have not yet committed to the city of St. Petersburg. Renderings and rumors for a waterfront Tampa ballpark circulated the internet last year, but updated plans for that site (see here) do not include a stadium.

While Williams is happy to bring the Rays to Orlando, he has said he is more focused on bringing an expansion team to Orlando – called the Orlando Dreamers. MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred has stated the league would like to expand as soon as the Tampa Bay Rays and Oakland Athletics find new homes. Williams wants Orlando to fill one of the two available expansion slots, but several other cities are hoping for the same. The Orlando Dreamers website says the team may not be called The Dreamers in the end, but have taken the name in the meantime while following the dream of expanding MLB to Orlando. The team could either be an existing MLB team moving to Orlando, or an entirely new one. Williams simply wants MLB to exist in the Orlando region.

The project could create approximately 20,000 permanent jobs and generate an estimated $1.16 billion in annual economic impact for Orange County. The Citizen Advisory Task Force will review the Orlando Dreamers’ application and they are expected to provide recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners in July.