Plant City bids for Little League regional
By BOB PUTNAM, Times Staff Writer
Published March 11, 2008
The Little League Southeast Regional is leaving Gulfport, but it might stay in the Tampa Bay area.
Officials from the Tampa Bay Sports Commission confirmed Monday that they are considering a bid to hold the tournament at Plant City Stadium beginning next year.
"We heard some rumblings that the tournament was leaving, then we read about it," Tampa Bay Sports Commission executive director Rob Higgins said. "We knew we were interested in keeping it within the community and we've been working diligently to do that."
Last week, the Times reported the regional will be leaving Gulfport after 41 years.
The move was made after the Pinellas County school district agreed to buy the property for $4.17-million to use as part of the expansion of Boca Ciega High School.
The final tournament in Gulport will be Aug. 2-8.
Little League has not determined a future site for the tournament and its Southeast headquarters. It will open the bidding to the eight states - Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia - in the Southeast Region.
Lance Van Auken, Little League's senior communication executive, said he expects requests for proposals to be sent out as soon as the sale of the Gulfport property is complete, which could be in the next two weeks.
At least six cities have expressed an interest in hosting, Van Auken said.
Little League will look for a city with a stadium that can seat at least 5,000. Plant City Stadium seats about 7,000 and hosts several national softball events, including the state high school finals and the National Junior College finals.
"We're hoping to keep giving kids around here a little bit of a homefield advantage," Higgins said.
Bob Putnam can be reached at putnam@sptimes.com or 727 445-4169.