SPORTS ECONOMY
36
TCBusiness.com
MARK DOLAN
From 1948 to 2008 thousands of fans were welcomed to Dodgertown. The
name was later changed to Historic Dodgertown.
Verotown (MLB) will be reimbursed
by the county for 50
percent of these costs through
contributions to a capital
reserve account at the rate of
$800,000 per year for the first
five years and $400,000 per
year for the final five years.
The $4.9 million county
maintenance improvements
and the county’s share of
the Verotown (MLB) capital
improvements will come from
already budgeted items, a
capital fund, tourist taxes and
future sales taxes.
The agreement was worked
out by O’Malley, Indian River
County Administrator Jason
Brown and MLB’s Tony Reagins,
executive vice president of
baseball and softball development.
Reagins oversees the
growth of youth and amateur
levels of the sport for MLB.
MLB under Reagins has
already conducted programs
at Historic Dodgertown,
including the Elite Development
Invitational that brings
200 high school ball players
from all over the country to
“engage and mentor” them in
the sport. A similar program
has been conducted for girls
playing softball.
Major League Baseball
requested space to park 2,000
cars at the site. The City of
Vero Beach will sell the former
nine-hole golf course property
to the county for $2.4 million.
The city had originally bought
the property from the team
in 2001 as part of the effort to
keep the Dodgers in Vero.
BEGINNINGS
In 1948, Brooklyn Dodger
President Branch Rickey, who
brought Jackie Robinson into
the major leagues, found Vero
and its deserted World War II
naval-air station, a place where
his black and white players
could live and train together in
the spring in a non-segregated
facility.
Following Rickey, Walter
O’Malley developed Dodg- >>
Rachel Robinson (seated), widow of Major League Baseball great Jackie Robinson, daughter Sharon Robinson (behind her) and son David Robinson (second from
right) gathered with MLB and local officials to announce Historic Dodgertown’s renaming on April 2, 2019. Peter O’Malley, former Dodger owner, is on the left.
/TCBusiness.com