Club Declines Tribal Offer for Spring Complex

The Dodgers on Tuesday rejected the Fort McDowell Indian Community’s best offer to build the team a new spring training complex on the Phoenix-area reservation, The Times has learned.

The organization faxed a letter declining the proposal to tribal officials late Tuesday afternoon, according to high-ranking Dodger management sources. The surprising move means that the Dodgers will remain in Vero Beach, Fla., their spring home of 51 years, for at least the 2000 season.

Moreover, it casts doubt on the organization’s long-term plans to develop a more financially beneficial spring-training arrangement. Team President Bob Graziano and other Dodger officials familiar with the situation did not return phone calls Tuesday.

At one point, several industry sources said it appeared the Dodgers were headed for Fort McDowell because of potential revenue streams that don’t currently exist at the Vero Beach complex. However, as negotiations with Fort McDowell slowed, it became increasingly clear the Dodgers would return to Florida for spring training next season.

Now, the ballclub will reexamine its options and, one source said, Las Vegas might reemerge among the sites that are considered. There is no timetable on when a decision will be made, sources said.

Officials in Florida have earmarked $12.5 million to buy Dodgertown and lease it back to the team, relieving the Dodgers of a property-tax burden. But that might not be enough to persuade the Dodgers to continue their long relationship with Vero Beach beyond next season.

According to sources, the proposed deal with Fort McDowell collapsed because the Dodgers were leery about the economics of the proposal on several levels. Fort McDowell officials said the tribe would spend $40 million to build a 12,000-seat stadium, six practice fields and offices on a 76-acre site, with the Dodgers signing a 25-year lease.

With state funding unavailable, the tribe shaved $10 million from the construction budget by eliminating housing and recreational facilities from the original blueprint. That raised eyebrows among many because the Dodgers are the only team that currently has on-site housing, and they hope to maintain that arrangement at a new site.

The Dodgers expressed concern about the revenue split on the proposed stadium and there were other unresolved financial questions. Also, the Dodgers hoped to be part of a broader development.

Instead, it appeared the Dodgers would be the centerpiece of the deal without other partners emerging in the foreseeable future. With the potential deal collapsing, the Dodgers believe that Fort McDowell likely will begin negotiating with other teams because this was supposedly their final offer.

*

Carlos Perez pitched well Tuesday in his first start for triple-A Albuquerque. The left-hander, optioned to the Dukes on Wednesday, worked six scoreless innings in a 2-1 victory over Colorado Springs that was called after six innings because of rain.

DODGERS’

KEVIN BROWN

(11-6, 3.53 ERA)

vs.

ASTROS’

CHRIS HOLT

(2-10, 4.66 ERA)

Astrodome, 5 PDT

TV--Fox Sports West 2.

Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Brown has pitched well in his last three starts. The right-hander wound up with a no-decision in his last outing Friday because closer Jeff Shaw failed to protect a four-run, eighth-inning lead in a 6-5 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Dodger Stadium.