New Braves Spring Training Stadium
| Location | North Port, Florida |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 27°02′01″N 82°19′12″W / 27.033728°N 82.319887°WCoordinates: 27°02′01″N 82°19′12″W / 27.033728°N 82.319887°W |
| Owner | Sarasota County, Florida |
| Operator | Atlanta Braves |
| Capacity | 6,500 fixed seats and 1,500 berm seats |
| Field size |
Left Field – 335 ft (102 m) Left-Center – 385 ft (117 m) Center Field – 400 ft (122 m) Right-Center – 375 ft (114 m) Right Field – 325 ft (99 m) |
| Acreage | 70 |
| Construction | |
| Opened | February, 2019 (planned) |
| Construction cost | $80 million |
| Tenants | |
| Atlanta Braves (MLB) (2019) | |
The Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball are planning to move to a new Spring Training stadium in Sarasota County, Florida, for the 2019 season. Their lease at Champion Stadium expires at the end of the 2018 season. The ballpark will be located in North Port, Florida in the southern part of Sarasota County, 35 miles south of Sarasota, Florida.
Since 2015, the Atlanta Braves have been looking for a new Spring Training home. The Braves, who have held spring training at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex near Orlando, Florida since 1997, have sought a new spring home in Florida to get closer to other teams’ facilities.
In April 2016, the Braves and Sarasota County officials announced they were in formal negotiations. The Braves and Sarasota County began discussing a 100- to 150-acre site in the West Villages master-planned community in North Port.
In January 2017, the Braves and Sarasota County announced that they had entered formal negotiations. Plans for the project show a $75 million to $80 million complex on about 70 acres. Six weeks after the Braves entered exclusive negotiations with Sarasota County, Fla., about a new spring-training facility, the parties reached agreement on the key terms of a proposed deal. The term sheet describes a $75.4 million facility to be built in the city of North Port and funded by Sarasota County, the state of Florida, North Port, the Braves and a private developer.
On February 28, 2017 the planned deal for a new Atlanta Braves spring training stadium received its first approval. The initial agreement, known as a term sheet, outlines some of the basic finance, construction and operating commitments for baseball stadium. The Sarasota County Commission voted 4-1 to approve the terms, but only after commissioners raised serious questions about naming rights for the would-be stadium and public access to its numerous baseball and multi-use fields. Although other commissioners seemed to support her concerns, no amendments were made to the terms, which now still include that the team is to retain revenues from naming the stadium. Ultimately, commissioners agreed, there is more negotiating to be done and time to refine public access issues in the series of agreements due before the board in coming months.
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