SARASOTA - A Suncoast lawmaker is calling foul on professional sports teams in Florida. State Senator Mike Bennett believes that teams who play at stadiums and arenas across the state should return millions for ignoring a state statute.
It says that professional sports facilities built using taxpayer dollars must also be used as a shelter for the homeless, and Bennett says it's time these teams follow the rules.
Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota, the spring training home of the Baltimore Orioles, and Bradenton’s McKechnie Field, spring training home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, are just two of those facilities. (See full list below)
Bennett says that up until now, no one has enforced the 24-year-old statute. If his legislation passes, not only will hundreds of millions of dollars be returned to the state, but it appears the homeless will have a new place to sleep at night. “None of the teams in the state of Florida have complied with that, and they received over $300 million from the state since 1988. As far as I’m concerned, they owe the money back,” says Bennett.
With new legislation, Senator Bennett is making sure that statute finally gets enforced. “To take the taxpayer’s money and you send it down to Miami and pay a guy $10 million a year to throw a baseball, they can build their own damn stadium.”
Richard Martin, who runs the Suncoast Partnership to End Homelessness, believes the stadiums would be a great asset. “Just the safety of a place that has some security...has a place to shower...some cooking facilities. We need more facilities like that.”
Mickey Williams is just one of the thousands who are homeless on the Suncoast. “Nobody wants to be out here when it’s cold. I have one blanket. I sleep on concrete.”
He says that if Ed Smith were to open its gate to the homeless population, it would be a home run. “That wouldn’t only make me happy, but a lot of people happy.”
Other teams affected by this bill include the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Bennett’s bill passed its first committee with a unanimous vote Monday.
The bill also proposes that in order to avoid television blackouts, the teams that play in stadiums funded by taxpayers would have to purchase the unsold tickets and give them to groups that deal with underprivileged kids or veterans.
