A group seeking to bring MLB to Orlando remains undeterred in its quest following investor Rick Workman’s “shocking” September departure to join the Rays.

Orlando Dreamers COO Jim Schnorf said last week that the team is in discussions with potential control persons to replace Workman, though he would not divulge any names.

“We’re going to be very deliberate with it. There’s no shortage of interest,” Schnorf said. “But our view all along has been we want to get the right person that we believe MLB would unanimously embrace.”

There is no exact timeline for MLB expansion, though commissioner Rob Manfred has said he wants to pick cities for two new franchises before he retires in 2029.

Workman joined the Rays new ownership group that includes Managing Partner/co-Chair Patrick Zalupski, co-Chair Bill Cosgrove and CEO Ken Babby.

“It was a shock, the type of decision we wouldn’t have expected,” Schnorf said. “Having said that, for us the issue has never been arranging capital.”

The goal of Manfred and the new ownership group is to keep the Rays in the Tampa region.

“We started this process with the idea of an expansion team,” said Barry Larkin, Orlando’s MLB Ambassador. “And as we were going through this process, the opportunity in Tampa came out. I feel like some of the coverage of this situation was that we were going after the Tampa Bay Rays. That’s just not true.”

Still, if Tampa ended up circling back to Orlando, Larkin added: “We will look for any and every scenario to bring MLB to Orlando. And if that’s one of the avenues, then that’s certainly something that we will discuss.”

For now, Schnorf said, the group’s goal over the next six to 12 months is rigorous community outreach. The Dreamers are trying to build on the 15,000 locals that have already expressed interest in buying season tickets.

“We will continue pushing forward with this next phase of community engagement as we finalize bringing in a replacement control owner,” Schnorf said.

The Dreamers hope to build a 45,000-seat, domed stadium on a 35.5-acre site near SeaWorld and the Orange County Convention Center. There would also be plans for three hotel towers, with two attached to the stadium. Unlike the Rays’ next home, it would not require a full-scale adjacent mixed-use development, Schnorf said.

“Baseball will stand on its own here,” Schnorf said. “We don’t need baseball subsidized by surrounding real estate development.”

The Dreamers, in their lofty vision, believe they have an advantage in an area that drives 80 million tourists annually, which will lead to yearly attendance of 3 million or more fans. Their stadium would be significant larger than other markets. The next ballpark for the A’s in Las Vegas, for example, expected to open for 2028, will seat 33,000.

“We’re confident that we will generate more than $100 million annually in local revenue compared to other potential MLB metro areas,” Schnorf said, primarily citing increased attendance and ballpark capacity as the reason for that difference. “We’re unconditionally convinced that we’re going to fill a 45,000-seat stadium.”

They also feel they have an advantage with public financing. Orange County collected near $385M in tourist tax revenue for fiscal year 2024-25. That revenue is used to fund stadiums and other attractions.

The commissioner’s office, Schnorf said, instructed the Orlando group to put together the best financial package when its venture to bring MLB to the city started. He believes the Dreamers have done just that, even as they overcome finding a replacement control person.

“We’ve certainly had a few pivots that we’ve had to make in the road to get there, but we are there as far as the stadium financing, stadium site, and the ability to acquire a team with $2B (in expansion fees),” Schnorf said. “We did exactly what I was advised by the commissioner’s office to do.”