CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. — It's a quiet but unbearably hot July afternoon from the dugout of Charlotte Sports Park.
The seats are empty, which is no surprise for July. Yet it was a jarring silence in February and March.
The Tampa Bay Rays have held spring training here since 2009 but had to move to the Orlando area this year after Hurricane Ian damaged the park to the point where it needed major repairs.
Even a walkthrough shows overhang panels, along the first base and third base concourses, needed to get replaced. Same for the signs that read "HOME PLATE" with some missing letters or the welcoming sign out front, a common sight for so many signs between Port Charlotte and Englewood.
"The county is making progress on the stadium repairs and is committed to having it ready for the 2024 spring training season," Brian Gleason, the communications manager with the Charlotte County Board of County Commissioners, wrote in an e-mail to FOX 4 last month.
As much as the fans missed having the Rays for spring training, it's hard to imagine anyone more impacted than Bert Parsley. He runs the Twisted Fork, about 600 feet from home plate in straight-away center field.
"It's definitely an impact," said Parsley. "February and March are our, historically, busiest months and that's a big reason why. We certainly miss the games and look forward to them coming back next year."
Parsley said his business has adjusted in the years since his idea and concept for the Twisted Fork turned into serving customers. The restaurant opened in 2020, the same year as the COVID-19 pandemic and also when the Charlotte Stone Crabs, a Single A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, didn't play that season and moved to South Carolina.
That means sixty lost home dates, each summer, where a business like the Twisted Fork doesn't have fans coming over for a plate or a beverage after a game.
"Music has become our thing," said Parsley, with space out back for hundreds of people to watch performances under a roof. "We have been bringing in bands from across the country and that's really done well. We found our adjacent markets have figured us out and we have visitors from Sarasota and Fort Myers often."
Even as the Twisted Fork adjusted to fewer baseball games, the Rays themselves could be at a crossroads for the long term.
The team's lease at Tropicana Field, the St. Petersburg dome that has housed the team since 1998, is up in 2027.
Now an Orlando-based group, led by longtime NBA executive Pat Williams, is looking to build a $1.7 billion dollar baseball stadium that could hold Major League Baseball.
Williams, known in Florida for bringing the NBA to Orlando in 1989 after a long run as general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls, talked with FOX 4's Chris Earl on Monday night, by phone.
Williams made it very clear that he feels the Rays have not have "any overtures" to Orlando or leaving the Tampa-St. Petersburg area.
"They have not flirted," Williams said during the call.
He stressed this stadium proposal comes to have one in place just in case.
The Tampa Bay Rays have long battled rumors of relocation, due to attendance issues, even when the franchise has been successful on the field. Even in 2021, the Rays looked into splitting their 81 home games between St. Petersburg and Montreal but Major League baseball rejected it.
We asked Parsley if the not-infrequent talk of the Rays considering leaving St. Petersburg, and the impact that could have on their spring training home, is a concern.
"I hate to hear it as I'm a Rays fan and I go up for games," said Parsley. "It's fun, they're right behind us here at our business. I would hate to see them in Canada or anywhere else."
Even with this, the Rays and Charlotte County do have an agreement for spring training at Charlotte Sports Park. The latest agreement goes through the 2031 season.
