Homestead Sports Complex

Homestead Sports Complex is a baseball training facility located less than three miles from downtown Homestead, Florida. The facility, seats 6,500 and expands to 9,000, and provides parking for over 3,900 vehicles. A 200 bed dormitory facility located on the grounds of the Homestead Sports Complex complements the training facilities. The dormitories consist of 30 single rooms and 84 double rooms that are complete with restrooms, showers, dressing areas, a full service kitchen and recreational areas.HistoryIn 1991 the City of Homestead built the Sports Complex at a price tag of 22 million dollars in order to provide a Spring Training facility for the Cleveland Indians. The stadium was widely recognized as being state-of-the-art for the time period, as it included multiple practice facilities as well as dormatories for players. The Indians had previously played in the Cactus League in Arizona but had signed a deal to make Homestead their long-term Spring Training home. Cleveland was due to begin full-time play at the stadium in the 1993 season. In 1992 they had already begun moving equipment and personnel to Florida. However, on August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in Homestead as a Category 5 cyclone with winds reaching 165 mph. The stadium, directly in the path of the hurricane, was decimated. The Indians quickly began meetings with lawyers and eventually they exercised an "out clause" in the contract.The city decided to immediately re-construct the stadium hoping that they could have it built for the 1994 Spring Training season in order for the Indians, or perhaps another team to use. However, without a spring facility for the 1993 season Cleveland was forced to look quickly for another home. The Boston Red Sox had been using Winter Haven, Florida's Chain of Lakes Park as their training facility for 26 years. However, the Red Sox were moving to Fort Myers for the 1993 season, thus allowing the Indians to use Chain of Lakes as their spring facility in the meantime. However, knowing the situation that the Indians were in, the City allowed the team to use the stadium on the condition that they sign a 10-year contract. Cleveland had no other choice, so they signed the deal and left Homestead without a team.