Winter Park Considers Spending Millions to Lure Brewers Single-A Team

Will someone please tell Winter Park officials to call their friends over in Ocala?

Just saw this hair-brained scheme: $30 million in public money to move the Single-A Brevard Co. Manatees (Brewers) to Winter Park.

From Central Florida 13:

The Community Redevelopment Agency in Winter Park approved the item on Monday, which would convert Alfond Stadium at Rollins College for minor league baseball use. The team that would come to town would be the Brevard County Manatees, the Single-A affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers.
...
But, the deal is more than just about the stadium. The deal would include more parking -- including a parking garage for year-round use -- along with hundreds of part-time and full-time jobs.
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"There's also the question of, 'What are we giving up?' You know, if we spend this money on this project, that means we're not spending it on something else," (UCF economist Sean) Snaith said. "So basically, what's the opportunity cost of going forward?"

Winter Park would contribute $6 million and Rollins College would supply the land for the stadium, valued at $12 million and a cash amount of $4 million.

Apparently the team will put up $2 million, but that still doesn't add up to $30 million, so not sure on the specific math of it all.  But the last time a city was considering tens of millions of dollars for a Single-A stadium in Florida without getting any spring training teams with it, I basically laughed my way all the way to the empty stadium.