A group attempting to bring a Major League Baseball team to Orlando says it has lined up "significant capital" toward that effort.
In a release, the Orlando Dreamers said Thursday that qualified investors have provided letters of intent to contribute $1.5 billion.
The announcement comes as the future of the Tampa Bay Rays remains in limbo.
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"We are extremely pleased with the recent rapid progress in financing interest towards a prospective MLB team acquisition," Barry Larkin, former Cincinnati Reds shortstop and MLB ambassador for the Dreamers, said in the release.
The Dreamers previously announced plans to build a 45,000-seat stadium, and co-founder Jim Schnorf said in the release that the organization has received more than $1 billion from a "major institutional partner" to fund it.
"It is clear that these seasoned investors understand the compelling opportunity represented by our unsurpassed market metrics and proposed state-of-the-art domed stadium, located right in the middle of the Orange County tourist corridor that will welcome approximately 80 million tourists this year," Larkin said.
The ballpark would be located adjacent to SeaWorld and the Orange County Convention Center, near a new Universal Studios theme park scheduled to open in May.
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"We feel the heavy lifting part of team acquisition financing and stadium financing has been accomplished," Schnorf said. "Finding the right anchor investor in our control ownership group and an attractive financing structure for the team's portion of stadium construction were clearly the most challenging aspects. "
"We are completely confident in arranging any supplemental senior debt financing that might be relevant for team acquisition to supplement the equity investment already identified."
The announcement comes after the Rays said they backing out of a plan to build a $1.3 billion stadium as part of St. Petersburg redevelopment of the Historic Gas Plant District.
In the meantime, the Rays are playing the 2025 season at Steinbrenner Field in Tampa, the spring training home of the New York Yankees, after Hurricane Milton destroyed the Tropicana Field roof.
Earlier this month, the St. Petersburg City Council approved $22.5 million toward a new roof with the goal of having the stadium ready by the 2026 season.
And last month, Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred reaffirmed his hopes that the Rays remain in the Tampa Bay area, urging the team to come up with a "go-forward" plan to build a new stadium.
“I see the Tampa Bay region, Tampa-St. Pete, as a major-league market, and we're going to figure out a way to make it work in that market,” Manfred said on the "Mad Dog Unleashed" show with Chris Russo on SiriusXM.
The Dreamers' effort began in 2023 when former Orlando Magic executive Pat Williams unveiled renderings for a domed stadium to bring baseball to the Orlando area.
