The Orlando Dreamers’ top two investors appear to no longer be involved in the bid to bring big league baseball to Orange County.
Dr. Rick Workman of Windermere, the founder of Heartland Dental, instead joined the group headed by homebuilder Patrick Zalupski, which has a deal to buy the Tampa Bay Rays, The Athletic reported Monday. That group is widely reported to be looking for stadium sites in the Tampa area and the deal could close in the coming weeks, the publication said.
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Workman was to be a so-called anchor investor in the effort to bring a Major League Baseball team to Orlando, where he lives, saying in May he thought a team could be “an incredible opportunity for our city.”
But now he looks to be putting his money in Tampa Bay. And John Morgan, the Central Florida personal injury attorney who also committed hundreds of millions of dollars to the Orlando baseball effort to bring the club to Orlando, told the Orlando Sentinel he’s out as well. He said if the Rays stay in Tampa, Orlando is no longer a viable MLB option.
“I am out. The fix is in,” Morgan said in an email. “What I believe will now happen is this group will seek a sweetheart deal in Tampa, while stringing the prospects of Orlando as a bargaining chip. Get lots of free land and entitlements and make a real estate profit on the surrounding land at the taxpayers’ expense.”
In a spin on his law firm’s famous slogan, “For the people,” Morgan said the likely Tampa deal was “Certainly not for the people but for the rich people.”
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The Athletic reported that Workman was the third largest investor in the Tampa group. Workman wasn’t available for comment on Tuesday, a spokesperson said.
The apparent departure of the top two investors in the Orlando effort signals muddy waters for the Dreamers, who have also tried to position themselves as a contender for an expansion franchise or relocation of another big-league club, if the option became available.
Jim Schnorf, the Dreamers’ Chief Operating Officer, said the group would address the situation in the next 24 hours, but hinted that it intended to press forward.
“This does not change the Orlando MLB mission,” Schnorf said in a text message.
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The Dreamers bid started in 2019 as a long-shot effort by longtime sports executive Pat Williams, who co-founded the Orlando Magic.
Williams died last year, but the effort persisted and picked up steam. The Dreamers announced in April that they had $2.5 billion toward buying a team and building a stadium.
Meanwhile in Tampa, the Rays had just begun their season in a minor league stadium as Tropicana Field was under repair after major damage from Hurricane Milton. And the team’s ownership had been unable to find a permanent location for a new stadium, giving hope to fans in Orlando that the Central Florida region could fill that need.
That month, the Orlando Sentinel reported that Workman agreed to be the anchor investor in the team and that Morgan had signed onto be a key contributor.
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Schnorf and Dreamers leadership were eyeing a piece of county-owned property near SeaWorld as a potential stadium site — though the idea was never publicly backed by Orange County Jerry Demings and the bulk of the Board of County Commissioners.
Workman told the Sentinel in May he thought Orlando was ready for its own major league team.
“I think this is an incredible opportunity for our city. We’re the largest market in the country that doesn’t have a baseball team and we’re growing like crazy in every direction,” he said. “If you’re going to pick a spot for a baseball team in a town that doesn’t have one, I don’t know where in America you would pick other than Orlando. Maybe there are a couple other cities, but I don’t live in those cities. I live here.”
Morgan reiterated Tuesday that he had no interest in investing in Tampa.
“I wish them luck as they will need it in an area that has already badly failed, especially in light of the organization’s success on the field,” he said.
