Bianchi: Dreamers say they don’t want stadium handout; they want stadium partnership

By Mike Bianchi | mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com | Orlando Sentinel

PUBLISHED: July 16, 2026 at 2:09 PM EDT | UPDATED: July 16, 2026 at 2:40 PM EDT

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/07/16/orlando-dreamers-stadium-tdt-tampa-bay-rays-bianchi-commentary/

Mike Bianchi

The Orlando Dreamers deserve credit for something that has become increasingly rare in big-league stadium politics: They didn’t disappear after hearing “no.”

Three years ago, Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax Task Force essentially dismissed the Dreamers’ bid to use TDT dollars to help build a Major League Baseball stadium. Many mistakenly viewed the effort as little more than the late Pat Williams’ final passion project.

Fast forward to today, and the Dreamers have done exactly what serious civic entrepreneurs should do after rejection: They got better.

Instead of retreating, they built a coalition. The tourism industry (see Visit Orlando) has now endorsed their effort. Local billionaire entrepreneur Mike Repole and local billionaire attorney John Morgan have pledged support. Orlando mayoral frontrunner Anna Eskamani is on board. More importantly, the Dreamers claim they have lined up more than $2 billion in private financing for team acquisition and stadium construction.

That’s what persistence looks like.

Now they’ve unveiled perhaps the most intriguing element of their proposal — one that deserves careful scrutiny but also genuine applause for its creativity.

Critics such as Orlando Sentinel columnist Scott Maxwell have long argued that Orange County’s Tourist Development Tax shouldn’t be locked into an endless cycle of convention-center expansions and tourism projects while residents struggle with transportation and workplace housing. It’s a fair criticism.

After all, the county approved hundreds of millions of TDT money for Phase 1 of another Orange County Convention Center expansion just three years ago, and now we’re already talking about hundreds of millions more for Phase 2 before construction on Phase 1 has even begun.

At some point, enough expansion becomes expansion for expansion’s sake.

The problem, of course, is state law. Florida largely prohibits using TDT revenue for local needs such as housing or transportation.

Orlando Dreamers Proposed Stadium Concept Rendering

So the Dreamers have proposed a fascinating workaround.

With the TDT Task Force ready to meet again to decide on how to spend the hundreds of millions in annual tourist-generated money, the Dreamers aren’t simply asking for $975 million of TDT money to help build a stadium that will bring Major League Baseball to Orlando. They’re offering what amounts to a revenue-sharing partnership. Their proposal says that if they land an MLB team and Orange County invests TDT dollars in the stadium, the Dreamers will dedicate hundreds of millions of dollars generated by team and stadium operations over the next three decades to transportation improvements, workforce housing and other community priorities.

Think about what they’re saying.

“If the law won’t let you spend tourist taxes on local needs, invest in us, and we’ll generate the revenue that can.”

That’s unprecedented.

Sports franchises typically ask governments to subsidize stadiums while promising vague economic benefits. The Dreamers are promising actual revenue participation.

Should county leaders accept those projections at face value? Absolutely not.

This proposal deserves exactly what Maxwell has demanded: independent economic analysis, rigorous public vetting and skeptical oversight. Every projection should be challenged. Every assumption should be tested.

But if the numbers hold up, Orange County may have stumbled onto something much bigger than baseball.

The Dreamers aren’t just pitching a stadium. They’re pitching a new model for public-private partnerships — one where the public doesn’t simply write a check but shares in the long-term financial upside.

That’s a conversation worth having.

Especially as Florida leaders openly discuss eliminating property taxes, a move that could dramatically reshape local government finances. Counties will need new engines of economic growth and new revenue streams.

A Major League Baseball franchise won’t solve every problem facing Central Florida.

But unlike another convention-center expansion, it just might help pay for solving some of them. …