Dunedin Or Toronto: Who Are The Blue Jays' Biggest Fans?

DUNEDIN, FL -- As the Toronto Blue Jays' spring training gets underway this weekend, it's difficult to determine if the Blue Jays have more fans in Toronto or Dunedin.

After all, Dunedin is showing quite a bit of love for the Major League Baseball team in renovating the Jays' Dunedin spring training facilities.

The Blue Jays will play ball in the old Dunedin Stadium, 373 Douglas Ave., and the Bobby Mattick Training Center for the last time this spring. The Grapefruit League action kicks off Saturday, Feb. 23, when the Toronto Blue Jays host the Detroit Tigers.

Once spring training is over, work is slated to begin on an $80 million face lift on both facilities.

The City of Dunedin entered into an agreement with the Toronto Blue Jays in November 2017 to keep their spring training and minor league baseball operations in Dunedin for the next 25 years. Dunedin has been the only spring training home for the Blue Jays since the ball club was founded.

As part of the agreement, the city agreed to renovate the stadium and expand the Blue Jays Player Development Complex into the Louis A. Vanech Recreation Complex at 3051 Garrison Road. Those renovation plans were unveiled in December.

Construction will by completed by February 2020.

\Blue Jays President Mark Shapiro is excited about the plans.

"I think overall we're going to have the best all-around facility in Major League Baseball when this is done," he said.

Top-notch training facility don't come cheap, however. Last April, the Pinellas County Commission approved using $41.7 million in tourist development taxes for the upgrade. The state committed to kick in $13.6 million, the City of Dunedin will foot the bill for $5.66 million and the Blue Jays have agreed to contribute $20 million.

The renovations are being designed by Populous, a Kansas City architectural firm that designed Major League stadiums for the White Sox, Phillies, Braves, Yankees, Mets, Orioles and Reds, to name a few.

What Dunedin Residents Can Expect

Construction at the Louis A. Vanech Recreation Complex is set to begin at the end of February although field lighting demolition has already begun.

The complex was closed to the public on Feb. 10 so the contractor, Gilbane Building Co., could install perimeter safety fencing and construction trailers.

City staff will continue to salvage the existing recreational equipment at Vanech Park
for reuse.

The new training complex (the Player Development Complex) includes baseball and agility fields, a new two-story, approximately 100,000-square-foot training center and various outbuildings such as batting tunnels, maintenance structures and an irrigation pump house.

The entrance to the new PDC will be the existing entrance to the Louis A. Vanech Recreation Complex.

Construction traffic is expected to travel from Solon Avenue on the south side of the PDC to Garrison Road. Residents can expect construction traffic, occasional dust and associated noise. One or more temporary road closures may be necessary during construction. The public will receive advanced notice for any non-emergency closures.

Construction hours will be from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday. However, extended or early-morning hours may be necessary on occasion to address large concrete placements or to recover days lost to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.

Happy Tails Dog Park, which was built at Louis A. Vanech Recreation Complex in November 2003, has been permanently closed.

To replace the park, the City of Dunedin and Achieva Credit Union expanded and improved Achieva Paw Park located at 1659 Virginia Street.

Those improvements were completed in January and included:

• Expanding both the large and small dog areas
• Increasing the fence height from 4 feet to 6 feet in the large dog area
• Adding a shade structure and more than 20 new trees for additional shading
• Adding benches and picnic tables
• Adding a water fountain

Other amenities at Achieva Paw Park include dog agility poles, tunnels, waste receptacles and cleaning stations. Achieva Paw Park is open to the public, sunrise to sunset.

The City of Dunedin Parks & Recreation staff is also looking for a location for a second dog park.

The Vanech Playground equipment is being relocated to the west side of the Dunedin Community Center at 1920 Pinehurst Road.

The City of Dunedin gave the Blue Jays three softball fields to expand the footprint of their current training center. As a result, the Adult Softball League program has been discontinued but Dunedin Parks & Recreation continues to offer youth softball programs through the Dunedin Little League.

Garrison-Jones Elementary School will no longer be able to use its old student drop-off/pick-up area and is constructing a new location.

The existing maintenance building at Englebert Recreation Complex will be demolished.

Residents can monitor the progress of the renovations by clicking here.

Expansion Plans

The renovations funds will be split almost evenly between the training facility and stadium, which are located 10 minutes apart.

Plans call for the stadium, which now seats 5,500 people, to be expanded to 8,500 with fixed seating for 6,500 people.

The majority of those seats will be added down the left-field line with a small infield diamond and bullpen being removed in favor of a grandstand structure and bar area.

Other features include a tiki bar in center field, a catwalk around the outfield portion of the stadium and an "Autograph Alley" located outside the Blue Jays clubhouse down the right-field line.

Blue Jays History In Dunedin

The Toronto Blue Jays have been making the yearly sojourn to Dunedin for spring training for more than 40 years.

The Jays began training in the Pinellas County city in 1977 and Dunedin Stadium as been the Jays' home away from home since the stadium was constructed in 1990. The stadium is also home to the High-A Dunedin Blue Jays of the Florida State League.

With construction taking place during the Dunedin Blue Jays' season from April 7 to Sept. 1, the ball club has reached an agreement with the City of Clearwater to use Jack Russell Stadium this season.

When construction is completed the Major League and Minor League teams will share training facilities.

"It's a huge opportunity for us, from a cultural standpoint, to align the Major and Minor League side of our operation to put our players in a positive environment," Shapiro said. "Provide them with cutting-edge resources and tools, equipment, opportunities for coaching that don't currently exist for us. It's meant to be a competitive advantage. It's meant to lead to wins."

Spring Training 2019

Everything you need to know about the Blue Jays' spring training is available here, including rosters, stats and scores.

Click here for the spring training schedule.

Click here for single-game and season tickets.

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