FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WHAT: Lease Extension Signing Ceremony with Minnesota Twins

WHEN: 3 p.m. TODAY

WHERE: Lee County Sports Complex, Hammond Stadium, verandah area over fountain or in mezzanine if raining.

BACKGROUND:

Contact:  John Yarbrough, Lee County Parks & Recreation,
               (239) 461-7410

LEE COUNTY/TWINS EXTEND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL LEASE FOR UP TO 26 YEARS

FORT MYERS, Fla. (August 3, 2004) - Lee County and the Minnesota Twins are expected to agree to a new lease today that could keep the Major League Baseball team in the Fort Myers area for its annual Spring Training until 2030.

The Board of Lee County Commissioners is scheduled to approve the lease extension at its regular weekly meeting today.

There will be an official "signing ceremony" between the Twins and Lee County today at 3 p.m. at Hammond Stadium in the Lee County Sports Complex. The ceremony will include a media availability with Twins officials and Lee County Commissioners.

Here are the main points of the agreement (a copy of the agreement can be viewed at
http://www.lee-county.com/meetings/agendafiles/2004/08-03-04/Administrative/A11A.pdf):

• The Twins extended its current lease (scheduled to end in May 2009) to August 2020 (16 years from today).

• The agreement also contains two, five-year renewal options that take the lease, potentially, to 2030.

• The team will do its Spring Training, as it has for the past 14 years, at Hammond Stadium in the Lee County  Sports Complex.

• The Twins will pay annual rent of $300,000. In addition, the Twins and county each will contribute at least $20,000 annually to a capital improvements fund unless the fund reaches $250,000.

• As is now the case, the Twins, during Spring Training, will operate all concessions, parking and ticket sales.

• Lee County provides the stadium maintenance and capital improvements.

As part of the negotiations, the county also agreed to build the Twins a new weight room/meeting room complex for $900,000. The Twins also will have a message billboard built at the entrance to the Sports Complex. The improvements will be paid with surplus tourist tax revenues.

The Twins began Spring Training at the newly built Lee County Sports Complex in March 1991. The 80-acre complex's main stadium - the 7,500-seat William H. Hammond Stadium - also has been the home of the Class A Florida State League's Fort Myers Miracle since 1992.

The $18-million complex includes four tournament-caliber softball fields, two soccer fields and the stadium, which has four associated practice fields, 10 indoor hitting tunnels and training facilities. The bonds used to finance its construction are being repaid with a portion of the local 3 percent tourist tax on room charges for stays less than six months, and annual rents from the Twins organization.

It is estimated that Twins spring training in Lee County pumps more than $24 million dollars into the local economy. The Twins celebrated its one-millionth spring training fan at the stadium in 2001.