Bill could help - and hurt

The law of unintended consequences in politics is at play with a provision of a catchall economic development bill Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed in late May.

The bill, according to a News Service of Florida report, authorizes a repeat of the popular back-to-school sales tax holiday. The bill also sets aside money for renovations or new construction of spring training stadiums for Major League Baseball teams that currently play in Florida. The subsidies, overseen by the Department of Economic Opportunity, are supposed to keep teams from leaving Florida for the Arizona-based Cactus League, the News Service says.

But several economic development officials from communities statewide say rules that govern the incentives also allow one Florida town to poach a team from another Sunshine State city. Brevard County Commission Chairman Andy Anderson, for example, says the law will create a “free-for-all,” according to the News Service story.

Other fears hit closer to the Gulf Coast, like in Dunedin, where the Toronto Blue Jays hold spring training at Florida Auto Exchange Stadium. Dunedin Chamber of Commerce President Lynn Wargo says leaders worry the bill will let other Florida communities woo the Blue Jays — especially because the team's 15-year stadium lease expires in 2017.

“I know the state wants to keep spring training teams here in the state, but when you look at it from purely a local level, we want to keep that team here in our community, they've been here for a long time,” Wargo says in the News Service story. “The Jays are only a few blocks out of our downtown. When there is a game here, the town is packed, the businesses are packed, the restaurants are packed.”

The bill, which offers communities up to $666,660 a year in sales tax revenue for stadium upgrades or construction, nonetheless addresses a significant issue for the state, despite the anxiety.

For one, state economists estimate that spring training supports 9,205 full- and part-time jobs, the News Service says. Plus, teams have already begun to flee Florida: Six teams have moved from the Grapefruit League to the Cactus League since 1998, including the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds. Those two teams both played in Sarasota for a time.