ORLANDO, Fla. – Addressing recent reports that Rick Workman and John Morgan had pulled their investment promises from Orlando’s Major League Baseball aspirations, the Orlando Dreamers said Wednesday that they would move ahead all the same.
“There was unanimous concurrence at the end of the call from the Dreamers’ leadership to continue the Orlando MLB initiative in full stride given all the significant progress and success over recent months,” Barry Larkin, MLB ambassador for the Orlando Dreamers, said in a statement. “Dr. Workman briefly shared his rationale for his decision and did not in any way suggest concerns about the quality or robustness of the Dreamers’ initiative.”
According to Larkin, Workman has instead chosen to become a minority investor in a group working to acquire the Tampa Bay Rays.
For Morgan’s part, Larkin said that the well-known attorney decided to “opt out for now” after learning that Workman was walking it back.
“John Morgan is a very seasoned investor focused on situations that have full clarity. Based on the news regarding Dr. Workman, John felt it best to step back, at least on an interim basis, and to remain open to a significant investment in the future if there is such an opportunity and the situation is a match for his investment practices,” Larkin said.
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Though Larkin said the Orlando Dreamers are “very confident” in finding a suitable control owner, the release claims that Workman and Morgan’s investments would have represented “less than 25% of the aggregate financing under letters of intent for team acquisition and stadium financing,” stating further that the initiative “has significant momentum and remains on track.”
Jim Schnorf, COO and co-founder of the Orlando Dreamers, called Workman’s decision a surprise “given all the progress that has been made this year,” yet he followed up by positing multiple candidates will now have an interest to be the Dreamers’ control owner.
“We have in excess of $1 billion in team acquisition capital under letters of intent beyond the planned commitment of the investor sources electing to opt out, as well as in excess of $1 billion towards the team portion of stadium financing under very favorable terms. I have already arranged a dinner meeting to take place this week with a relevant contact,” Schnorf said in a statement. “There will not be a challenge in replacing this capital, but we will be very methodical in assuring an ideal match for our group, Orange County, and MLB. No competing city can come close to matching our attributes in regards to stadium location, market size, population growth, tourism numbers, tourist development taxes (“TDT”), and strength and growth of the local economy. Orlando remains the only fully ready solution for any MLB situation in need, whether via relocation of an existing franchise, or one of the planned expansion slots.”