With Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings having been held in Central Florida this week, some massively heavy hitters stepped to the plate, went to bat and publicly endorsed Orlando’s bid to land an MLB franchise.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds, a leading contender in Florida’s upcoming governor’s race, and powerful baseball super-agent Scott Boras both went on record backing Orlando as a potential Major League Baseball city.
Donalds, a Republican endorsed by President Donald Trump, posted on social media: “Great to have @MLB in Orlando for the Winter Meetings. Florida’s economic growth shows we are ready, energized, and positioned for Orlando to be the Next Great MLB City!”
Boras offered perhaps an even more striking endorsement, pointing directly to the region’s tourism-driven economic engine.
“Orlando is the one city in America where 80 million tourists come per year,” Boras told Fox 35. “It has a monumental draw. A lot of that [tourism] is in the summer, so it has a great draw for packages for fans to visit all of the entertainment communities here and see Major League Baseball. It’s a market that would advance that thought.”
Those aren’t casual comments. They are signals.
The Winter Meetings did more than bring baseball executives to a swanky Orlando hotel; they put the city’s long-simmering MLB ambitions into the national conversation. For decades, Orlando has existed in a strange professional sports limbo: one of the largest and fastest-growing metro areas in the country without a Major League Baseball or NFL franchise, yet overflowing with corporate tourism, international visitors and year-round economic momentum.
That contradiction is now being openly challenged.
A major driver behind the push is the Orlando Dreamers, a private effort started by late Orlando Magic founder Pat Williams and now led by local investors and baseball insiders who spent this week pressing MLB owners, executives and media with hard data and hard arguments. With the Tampa Bay Rays recently being sold to new owners who apparently are trying to keep the team in the Tampa Bay region, the Dreamers are now seeking an expansion franchise. Their case is simple: Orlando isn’t a “starter market” — it’s already larger than several cities that currently host teams.
Orlando’s combined statistical area is nearing 4.7 million people, and the region welcomes roughly 80 million visitors annually, making it the most visited tourism market in the country. Advocates argue that this combination of population, tourism and global visibility gives Orlando a revenue ceiling far higher than traditional expansion candidates such as Nashville, Raleigh or Charlotte.
Critics, however, point to Florida’s complicated baseball history. The Tampa Bay Rays have struggled for decades to draw consistent crowds, and the Miami Marlins have battled fan apathy even after winning championships. Skeptics ask the obvious question: if Florida can’t support the teams it has, why add another?
Supporters counter that Orlando is not Tampa and not Miami — geographically, economically or culturally. Orlando’s economy is fueled by conventions, tourism and corporate travel, and unlike coastal markets, it functions as a true regional hub.
The Winter Meetings may not have awarded Orlando a franchise, but they did give us some momentum.
And for the first time, Major League Baseball isn’t being asked whether Orlando could work.
The real question is: How long can MLB afford to ignore us?
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my new radio show “Game On” every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com/listen
