ORLANDO, Fla. — Efforts to make Orlando a Major League Baseball town are moving forward.

Monday, the four key players working to make the team possible made their first public appearance at the International Drive Chamber of Commerce’s June 2025 luncheon.

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Among them are Orlando Dreamers Chief Operating Officer Jim Schnorf, Morgan & Morgan law firm founder John Morgan, Heartland Dental founder Rick Workman, and baseball Hall of Famer and the Dreamers’ “MLB Ambassador,” Barry Larkin.

The group says the perfect time to execute their plans is now, believing there is a desire from the Orlando community for a baseball team.

“I’m here for a reason, I think this is going to happen,” Larkin said.

There are multiple paths for the Dreamers, including the potential relocation of the Tampa Bay Rays or another franchise, or becoming one of the two new expansion teams MLB is working towards.

Larkin says they have been in communication with commissioner Rob Manfred’s office, but he could not disclose how those conversations went.

He also said to know the Dreamers would not be the name of the team, and that they would look for community input on that decision.

“It’s kind of like ‘did I really have any say on what’s happening here?’” Larkin said of eventually moving away from the Dreamers name. “We really want to take advantage of that opportunity and really integrate into the community by involving them.”

The proposal began six years ago when former Orlando Magic executive Pat Williams explored the idea and introduced the Orlando Dreamers’ name. Williams has since passed away.

A timeline from the Orlando Dreamers’ website shows that in the years that followed his announcement, Williams worked hard on a stadium plan. In 2020, a future stadium site was identified. The following year, a market study demonstrated that Orlando was the largest media market in the United States without an MLB team.

In 2023, Williams came back to the table with findings from an independent economic impact study, a possible location for the stadium and renderings of what it could all look like. According to the study, the facility could generate over 25,000 permanent jobs and bring more than $40 billion in economic impact to Orange County over more than 30 years.

That same year, he also filed a formal application for stadium assistance with Orange County.

But the team’s request for Tourism Development Tax (TDT) dollars to get the ball rolling has yet to be approved by the Orange County.

In April, the Orlando Dreamers named its two newest investors, Morgan and Workman.

The disclosure came shortly after the group announced that it had raised over $1.5 billion from qualified investors to move the team out of the Tampa Bay area or to purchase another MLB team.

The two joined Schnorf and Larkin to make their stadium pitch. Under their proposal, the stadium would be built on a 35.5-acre parcel of land next to Aquatica and near the Orange County Convention Center.

But the project is awaiting support from Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings, who is still working to learn more.

“Those who are talking about bringing MLB to our community, at this point, they are not prepared, they don’t have details," Demings said last month. "We haven’t sat and had any specific conversations. Our Board of County Commission has not really had a broad conversation about it because it’s premature at this time. It’s just a vision. It’s just a dream right now.”

Meanwhile, Morgan said he believes Central Florida is prime real estate for this kind of opportunity.

“They’ve already opened up the new park Epic Universe. You’ve got Universal. You’ve got I-Drive. You’ve got everything that’s coming on the back of I-Drive. It is, to me, the best location,” Morgan said.

The proposal will require a collaborative approach between county officials and the investment group to make the team more than a dream.

"The Orlando Dreamers have kept Orange County abreast of developments, but there has been no change in status and no meetings so far," a spokesperson for Orange County said in April.