Florida Spring Training Baseball: Grapefruit League Teams, Ballparks and Funding

Fifteen Major League Baseball clubs train in Florida as members of the Grapefruit League, and MLB's 2026 team records list 13 spring ballparks for them (MLB team records).

MLB's venue records place those parks in cities from Dunedin, Clearwater and Lakeland to Fort Myers, Jupiter and Port St. Lucie (MLB venue records).

Two parks hold two clubs each. The Miami Marlins and St. Louis Cardinals share Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium at 4751 Main Street in Jupiter, and the Houston Astros and Washington Nationals share CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches at 5444 Haverhill Road in West Palm Beach (MLB venue records). Fort Myers holds two separate parks: the Boston Red Sox play at JetBlue Park and the Minnesota Twins at Hammond Stadium inside the Lee County Sports Complex, which MLB lists as Lee Health Sports Complex (Lee County Parks and Recreation; MLB venue records). The other nine clubs each have a park of their own, from CoolToday Park in North Port to Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland.

MLB's posted 2027 spring schedule puts the first games at the 13 Florida spring parks on Friday, February 19, 2027, and the last on March 22, 2027 (MLB 2027 spring schedule).

A Digital Towns count of that one MLB schedule file finds 226 games scheduled at the 13 Florida spring parks, with eight of the parks hosting a game on February 19, including Clover Park, Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium, TD Ballpark and Ed Smith Stadium (MLB 2027 spring schedule). By the same count, most clubs have 15 home games at their spring park and the Yankees, Phillies and Pirates have 16. The Tampa Bay Rays have 13 home games at Charlotte Sports Park, from February 20 to March 16, and three more home games at Tropicana Field on March 20, 21 and 23, 2027 (MLB 2027 spring schedule).

The New York Mets said on September 4, 2026 that they open on February 19 at Clover Park against the Miami Marlins and play 30 spring games, 15 of them in Port St. Lucie, with game times to come later and the schedule subject to change (New York Mets 2027 schedule release).

County and city governments publish their own pages for several Grapefruit League parks, naming the club that trains there and what else the grounds are used for.

St. Lucie County states that it operates Clover Park at 31 Piazza Drive, the Mets' spring home, the summer home of the St. Lucie Mets and the hub of the club's minor league operations; when the players are not in town, the sports complex is used for events from festivals and concerts to baseball tournaments and RV shows (St. Lucie County). Charlotte County's recreation department describes Charlotte Sports Park, an 82 acre park at 2300 El Jobean Road, as the Rays' spring home and requires contractual agreements, insurance and rental fees for activities and events there (Charlotte County). Lee County's parks department presents both Fort Myers parks; it describes JetBlue Park as a $78 million ballpark with room for 11,000 fans and a 37 foot Green Monster, and says the Twins have made Hammond Stadium at the Lee County Sports Complex their spring home since 1991 (Lee County).

Two city pages give the history of their clubs. The City of Dunedin says it was chosen as the Toronto Blue Jays' spring home in 1977, that the Blue Jays are the only Major League franchise never to have changed spring training locations, and that the first Blue Jays game was played there on March 11, 1977; the original Grant Field opened in 1930 and was named for Mayor Albert J. Grant, who had donated the land (City of Dunedin). The City of Lakeland said in February 2024 that the Detroit Tigers were starting their 59th straight season at Publix Field at Joker Marchant Stadium and their 88th straight spring in TigerTown, which it called the longest standing tie between a big league club and a spring host; the park opened in 1966 and was renovated in 2003 and 2017 (City of Lakeland).

A July 31, 2020 report from the Palm Beach County Sports Commission to the county's Tourist Development Council counted four of the 15 Grapefruit League teams in Palm Beach County, at Roger Dean Chevrolet Stadium in Jupiter and at the West Palm Beach park the report calls FITTEAM Ballpark of the Palm Beaches (Palm Beach County 2020 report). MLB's venue record lists that West Palm Beach park as CACTI Park of the Palm Beaches (MLB venue records).

Section 288.11631 of the Florida Statutes lets a certified local government receive up to $20 million in state funding for a spring training park, or up to $50 million when more than one club uses it (Florida Statutes section 288.11631).

To be certified, the local government must hold title to the land or be responsible for the work, have a signed agreement with a club that runs at least as long as any bonds or, without bonds, at least 20 years, commit 50 percent or more of the construction or renovation funds, demonstrate that the park will attract paid attendance of at least 50,000 a year at spring games, and sit in a county that levies the tourist development tax (Florida Statutes section 288.11631). The agreement must make the club reimburse the state if it relocates before the agreement expires, and state money may not subsidize a facility that a club privately owns, maintains and uses exclusively.

The statute also sets the clock. The Department of Revenue could not pay out under the program before July 1, 2016; for local governments certified after July 1, 2013, spending must begin within 48 months of the first payment, and construction or renovation must finish within 24 months of starting (Florida Statutes section 288.11631). Each certified local government files a report by September 1 every year with an accounting of local and state money, a copy of the club contract and a cost benefit analysis of the team's impact on the community, and the department compiles that information and publishes it every year by November 1.

Yes: section 125.0104 of the Florida Statutes lets a county add up to 1 percent more tourist development tax, by an ordinance approved by referendum, to pay bond debt service for a retained spring training franchise facility (Florida Statutes section 125.0104).

The bonds can finance the acquisition, construction, reconstruction or renovation of the facility. The statute defines a retained spring training franchise as one that had a Florida location on or before December 31, 1998 and stayed at that location for at least the 10 years before that date (Florida Statutes section 125.0104). The facility can be publicly owned and operated, or publicly owned and operated by the owner of a professional sports franchise or another lessee with the expertise or financial capability to run it. The tax falls on rentals of living quarters in hotels, motels, condominiums, RV parks and similar accommodations for six months or less (Florida Statutes section 125.0104). The Palm Beach County Sports Commission's 2020 report to the county Tourist Development Council put spring training's share at 37,600 hotel room nights after the 2020 season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic, and said 61 percent of the 172,685 spring attendees came from outside Florida or from another Florida county (Palm Beach County 2020 report). The same report put the 2020 spring training economic impact in the county at $53,156,700, an estimate from a study the Sports Commission had Downs and St. Germain Research conduct (Palm Beach County 2020 report).

Lee County says schedules and ticket prices usually come out in mid November, group and season tickets go on sale in late December, and single game tickets follow in late December or early January (Lee County).

Other parks publish their own ticket details. The Mets said in their September 4, 2026 release that 2027 tickets would go on sale on a date to be announced later (New York Mets 2027 schedule release). At Charlotte Sports Park the ticketing box office is not open for ticket purchases; staff help with mobile ticket purchases from 90 minutes before first pitch on Rays home spring training game days, and the county lists 888.326.7297 for a Rays representative (Charlotte County).

Parking rules are local. For the 2026 Blue Jays spring season, Dunedin said its resident parking permit program around TD Ballpark would be in effect and enforced on game days only, and the city links a PSTA Park and Ride option; the box office number is 727-733-9302 (City of Dunedin). Lakeland made Tigers parking cashless in 2024 and posted that year's rates as $15 for a car, truck, SUV or motorcycle, $25 for an RV and $30 for a bus; those are 2024 prices (City of Lakeland). St. Lucie County directs Clover Park drivers off I-95 at Exit 121, St. Lucie West Boulevard, then east to Peacock Boulevard (St. Lucie County). Last verified: October 19, 2026, by recounting MLB's 2027 spring schedule file and re-reading its 2026 team and venue records, the Mets schedule release, sections 288.11631 and 125.0104 of the Florida Statutes, and the St. Lucie, Charlotte, Lee and Palm Beach county and Dunedin and Lakeland city pages.