If the Baltimore Orioles were to decide to move their spring training to Vero Beach in 2010, might that see a rush of affluent Marylanders buying retirement or second-homes in Vero Beach 32963.

The mailing addresses of part-time residents suggest that well-to-do Marylanders currently are under represented on the Vero Beach barrier island, even though Baltimore is an easy two-day drive to Vero.

Name Tokum of the Indian River Tax Collector's office said a computer analysis of property tax bills sent out last November found that only 369 people who own homes in Indian River County list Maryland as their mailing address.

 

 

Sosso, president of the Sarasota Association of Realtors, says she has studied property tax bills and found that 498 people who own homes in Sarasota County list Cincinnati as their mailing address. The number of Boston residents owning homes here is just 60. The number for Ohio is 5,001, compared with Massachusetts' 1,980.

Her hope is that bringing the Red Sox here would help the next wave of retirees and second-home buyers from the Northeast corridor discover Sarasota.

"The Red Sox Nation has thousands of fans who go all over the world," said Sosso, noting that her office has already been contacted by two Boston residents who want to buy homes in Sarasota if the Red Sox move here.

Three years ago, George Serrano retired from his New England high-tech companies and bought a home in Lakewood Ranch. Serrano cannot understand why New York and Boston executives invariably retire to "the plastic East Coast" of Florida, but admits he never would have fallen in love with Sarasota if a relative had not kept pestering him to visit.

Boston is a hub for high-tech and biotech firms, which are the companies all communities want to attract, Serrano said. There is no reason for Northeast executives to come to Sarasota now, but the Red Sox would change that, he said. Those visits could even translate into business relocations, he said.

"As soon as the Red Sox come here, I can assure you that a huge number of these execs will come here," Serrano said. "As silly as that sounds to those who aren't familiar with the Red Sox phenomenon in the Northeast, it's true."

Louder opposition

To a degree, the effort to put a deal together with the Reds explains why support for a Sox deal is so rabid. That long, painful trek probably also explains why opposition is much more vocal, too.

As the economy soured last year, political support for the Reds deal faltered on the city and county commissions, hitting a low point when Sarasota voters turned down a ballot question to partly fund a new stadium through property taxes.

Then county commissioners blinked when a deal was resurrected by the city in January that included a $41 million project instead of the original $54 million. Facing another round of layoffs and a budget deficit, commissioners put off voting on the deal. While they later approved it, by then the Reds were negotiating with Goodyear, Ariz.

Talks with the Reds were more than a year old before opposition to the deal surfaced during City Commission elections last year. But opposition to building a stadium during a down economy sprung up almost immediately after the opportunity with the Red Sox surfaced.

Several stadium opponents are active on Internet bulletin boards in voicing their criticisms, and an online petition has attracted more than 300 signatures from people opposing a deal.

"This thing was submitted to the voters, now it's twice as big," complained Sarasotan Billy Wetherington. "Hey! The economy's taking a nosedive and we're going to give $40 million to millionaire ballplayers."

Phil Dasher is a Sarasota resident who says he cannot understand why local politicians are willing to spend upwards of $80 million on a Sox stadium, when voters turned down a city referendum to contribute $14 million to the Reds stadium.

"There is a tremendous amount of opposition," Dasher said.

But it was the failure with the Reds that is partly fueling the political support for the Sox, said County Commissioner Joe Barbetta.

"I think there was a lost opportunity and there were some regrets after that happened with the loss of the Reds," he said. "I think there's a belief among both commissions that you don't get a lot of second chances."

The Red Sox came along as local officials and the community were coming to the conclusion that mistakes may have been made with the Reds and that there is a high value to hosting a baseball team, said County Administrator Jim Ley.

At the same time, landing the Red Sox is seen as a "sort of a feel-good thing" for those fearful about the struggling local economy, he said.