Report: Two Teams Talking Spring Training with Pasco Co.

Expect some more headlines after Pasco Co. officials rub elbows with MLB owners tonight, with hopes of bringing spring training to Wesley Chapel.

My WTSP colleague Casey Cumley reports the developer behind the Wiregrass Ranch baseball complex has spoken to at least two MLB teams.

"The reason I say 'two' is because we've reached out to more than two, but active discussions have occurred with two," developer James Talton said.

Talton and the county are touting $78 million in economic impact from the facility, even without spring training.  Of course, it will receive public subsidies.

But if the focus of the complex really is youth teams and tournaments, there are two important questions:

1. Where did that often-repeated, yet seldom-cited $78 million number come from?
2. How much of that $78 million will be pirated from Hillsborough & Pinellas County?

Building new ballfields doesn't create new travel teams, but it does reduce the demand on neighboring counties' facilities.  Inter-county competition can sometimes be a good thing.  But encouraging cities to compete against each other to offer the biggest spring training subsidies - then pouring even more state money into the pot - is not a good thing.

As it stands, expect the Pasco Co. developers to seek more subsidies so they can try and land one of the four spring training teams courting suitors right now.  And, expect some of the teams to play Pasco much the way the Cubs played Collier Co. in 2010.