Nationals Begin Negotiations To Make Spring Training Move To Fort Myers

According to the Fort Myers News-Press, city and Lee County officials have begun negotiations with the Washington Nationals that could result in the club setting up its spring training base at City of Palms Park.

"There's honest negotiations going on at this time and I high have hopes that we might be able to pull something off," [Lee County Commissioner Frank] Mann said.

Since moving to Washington in 2005, the Nationals have played their home spring training games at Space Coast Stadium in Viera. However, the club has been looking to move to a different site, largely due to Viera's lack of proximity to other clubs.

If a deal is done, the Nationals could move to Fort Myers as early as 2014. The Boston Red Sox had used City of Palms Park through 2011. They moved into Jet Blue Park for the 2012 spring training schedule.

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Lee County Votes To Pursue Nationals Spring Training Move To Fort Myers, According To Report

The meeting of the Lee County Board of Commissioners that we noted would take place earlier today has, indeed, taken place, and according to MASNSports.com's Pete Kerzel, has ended in a unanimous vote to pursue negotiations to move the Nationals to Fort Myers.

Despite the fact that both parties seem to be behind the idea of a move, it is far from a done deal. Kerzel lays out the future timetable as follows.

Representatives of Lee County will travel to Washington, D.C., in April or May to meet with the Nationals, who have trained at Space Coast Stadium in Viera, Fla., since the team relocated from Montreal prior to the 2005 season.

Lee County will spend the next 90 days determining the Nationals' needs in a spring training facility and whether they can meet them. Among the upgrades the Nationals are reportedly seeking are expanded player development facilities, improvements in equipment and upgrades at City of Palms Park, which opened in 1993.

However, despite the obstacles that remain in the way, the vote by the Board of Commissioners seems to represent another hurdle cleared in Nationals' quest to get out of Viera.

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Lee County Approves Proposal To Begin Negotiations With Nationals (UPDATED)

The thought of the Nationals leaving their spring training home in Viera, FL could be starting to gain traction according to a report by the Washington Post's Washington Nationals insider Adam Kilgore. Lee County supervisors are in a meeting to decide whether or not to approve beginning negotiations for the Nationals to move into Ft. Myers. The most likely end to this process would be for the Nationals to move into City of Palms Park, formerly the spring training home of the Boston Red Sox.

The biggest reason for this desire to move out of Viera is the amount of travel the Nationals have to do for spring training games. The closest destination on the road for the Nationals is Kissimmee, which would be a trip of an hour and 15 minutes one way. Moving to Fort Myers would put them in the same general area as the Red Sox and the Minnesota Twins.

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Washington Nationals In Negotiations To Take Over Ft. Myers Spring Training Complex, Report Says

The Nationals are reportedly in negotiations with local officials to move in to the former Boston Red Sox complex at City of Palms Park.