The end of the "In Viera…even better" meme? Nats looking into Ft. Myers
City of Palms will be in National spotlight – The News-Press, Fort Myers, Fla.
Thanks to @cnichols14/@RoscoeNats I learned why Washington Nationals president Stan Kasten wasn’t at Nationals Park Media Day — they were scoping out the Boston Red Sox spring training City of Palms facility in Fort Myers, Fla. The facility is becoming available because the Red Sox are building a new one elsewhere in that area. The Minnesota Twins and Tampa Bay Rays also train nearby and that is one of the selling points — less travel. Currently, the Nats have to travel at least 50 miles for any spring training game.
I don’t know Florida too well and I’ve only been in Palm Beach and Broward counties, plus Walt Disney World, so I cannot add anything from personal experience about Viera or Fort Myers. Washingtonians have been critical of Viera in the past. Currently, the Nats lease there runs through 2017, but they can buy their way out. They have been there since their days as the Montreal Expos.
Oh and in case you are wondering, a Panera is located 3.9 miles from City of Palms Park. Close enough, Barry Svrluga?
It's not Viera's fault that it's remote, or mind-numbingly sterile, or that to become a cow town, it would have to ship in the cows.
That was the kind of thing I heard continually, starting (but by no means ending) with Svrluga, so much so that I thought I had to go see for myself.
I went, but I'd be none the worse off for not having gone. IMO the critics understated it.
[...] Nationals Journal, The Post that the Nats are looking to move away from Viera for spring training which is not news, but worth mentioning again. Logistically, playing on the east coast of Florida is undesirable due [...]
[...] Fort Myers, on the Gulf Coast in Lee County, can now openly court the Nats to move spring training there, but Viera wants to keep them though (Florida Today). Can Lee County afford a third team though (Fort Myers News-Press)? I have never been to spring training, so I don’t have much of an opinion. Viera has taken its knocks, but it is a straight (looooong) shot down I-95 and close to the Atlantic Ocean. Ft. Myers would have easier travel for the team. The downside — the minor league complex is separated by a few miles. I have already addressed the most important factor any move to Ft. Myers — proxmity of Panera. [...]