columnist Scott Maxwell<\/a> have long argued that Orange County\u2019s Tourist Development Tax shouldn\u2019t be locked into an endless cycle of convention-center expansions and tourism projects while residents struggle with transportation and workplace housing. It\u2019s a fair criticism.<\/p>\nAfter 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\u2019re already talking about hundreds of millions more for Phase 2 before construction on Phase 1 has even begun.<\/p>\n
At some point, enough expansion becomes expansion for expansion\u2019s sake.<\/p>\n
The problem, of course, is state law. Florida largely prohibits using TDT revenue for local needs such as housing or transportation.<\/p>\n
So the Dreamers have proposed a fascinating workaround.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t simply asking for $975 million of TDT money to help build a stadium that will bring Major League Baseball to Orlando. They\u2019re 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.<\/p>\n
Think about what they\u2019re saying.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the law won\u2019t let you spend tourist taxes on local needs, invest in us, and we\u2019ll generate the revenue that can.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s unprecedented.<\/p>\n
Sports franchises typically ask governments to subsidize stadiums while promising vague economic benefits. The Dreamers are promising actual revenue participation.<\/p>\n
Should county leaders accept those projections at face value? Absolutely not.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
But if the numbers hold up, Orange County may have stumbled onto something much bigger than baseball.<\/p>\n
The Dreamers aren\u2019t just pitching a stadium. They\u2019re pitching a new model for public-private partnerships \u2014 one where the public doesn\u2019t simply write a check but shares in the long-term financial upside.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s a conversation worth having.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
A Major League Baseball franchise won\u2019t solve every problem facing Central Florida.<\/p>\n
But unlike another convention-center expansion, it just might help pay for solving some of them. \u2026<\/p>\n
SHORT STUFF: Embattled FSU coach Mike Norvell said at ACC Media Days earlier this week that, \u201cI don\u2019t fear failure.\u201d Question: Would any of us fear failure if we got a $51 million buyout for failing? \u2026 By the way, interesting hire in college football earlier this week when FSU hired former Texas, Houston and Florida Atlantic head coach Tom Herman to its coaching staff as an assistant to Norvell. Hey, when your head coach is on the hot seat, who better to hire than someone who\u2019s been on a few hotseats of his own? \u2026 I guess we should have expected France to surrender without much of a fight at the World Cup. \u2026 Combined, there were 27 strikeouts in the American League\u2019s 4-0 victory earlier this week \u2014 the first All-Star Game shutout in 13 years. Is this ongoing trend of pitchers throwing 100 mph and dominating hitters really good for the game? It used to be baseball\u2019s mantra was \u201cChicks dig the long ball. \u201d Now, it\u2019s \u201cChicks don\u2019t really dig the fastball.\u201d \u2026<\/p>\n
New Orlando Magic coach Sean Sweeney revealed on the \u201cRyen Russillo Show\u201d a few days ago that his interview with the Orlando Magic lasted 9 \u00bd hours. The Magic didn\u2019t hire a coach, they conducted a Congressional hearing. \u2026 Did you see where NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is having to defend the league\u2019s controversial second apron? Personally, I love the league\u2019s second apron \u2014 almost as much as grandma\u2019s red-and-white checkered apron. \u2026 A man who sent a racist message to Las Vegas Aces guard Chelsea Gray on social media has been fired by his employer Hilton Grand Vacations after Gray posted a screenshot of the message on Instagram. What\u2019s worse than being a racist? Being a dumb racist! \u2026 Magic rookie Izaiyah Nelson suffered a fracture in his left ankle on Sunday. Sigh, the Magic can\u2019t even get through the Summer League without a serious injury. \u2026 With iconic\u00a0 broadcaster David Steele retiring earlier this week, here is my Mount Rushmore of the most beloved non-players in Magic history: (1) Pat Williams. (2) David Steele. (3) The Fat Guy. (4) The guy who invented the T-shirt cannon. \u2026 Did you see where UCF was picked to finish 14th in a preseason Big 12 media poll organized by the Tulsa World. In related news, UCF coach Scott Frost has cancelled his subscription to the Tulsa World and has subscribed to the Tumbleweed Times. \u2026 Will the last college athlete to sue the NCAA for an extra year of eligibility please turn out the lights?. \u2026<\/p>\n
LAST WORD: With Friday being National Tattoo Day, it got me thinking. When you consider what\u2019s going on in college football today, how ridiculous does it seem now that Ohio State\u2019s national championship-winning coach Jim Tressel was fired in 2011 because several of his star players traded game-worn memorabilia for cash and discounted tattoos at a local parlor? Amazing how trading a jersey for ink once got a Hall of Fame coach fired, but buying a roster for millions is now perfectly acceptable.<\/p>\n
Email me at mbianchi@orlandosentinel.com. Hit me up on social media @BianchiWrites and listen to my radio show \u201cGame On\u201d every weekday from 3 to 6 p.m. on FM 96.9, AM 740 and 969TheGame.com\/listen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Running off at the typewriter. \u2026 The Orlando Dreamers deserve credit for something that has become increasingly rare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[9004,139,38894,141,140,3815,11021],"class_list":["post-342488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-major-league-baseball","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-dreamers","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-tampa-bay-rays","tag-tourist-development-tax"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}