There are 7.5 Million Reasons to Stay in Vero

In the Dodgers’ most significant spring training development, they learned Thursday that$7.5 million will be provided to persuade them to remain at Dodgertown in Vero Beach, Fla.

Gov. Jeb Bush (R-Fla.) signed a bill that allocates the money to help Indian River County and the city of Vero Beach purchase Dodgertown from the team, make improvements to the sprawling baseball and conference facility and lease it to the Dodgers.

The Dodgers also are considering a move to Las Vegas. They plan to announce a decision within the next few weeks, and Thursday’s news spurred the process.

“This is encouraging for Dodgertown,” said Dodger senior vice president Derrick Hall, among the members of a team committee overseeing the situation. “This enables us to continuenegotiating with Indian River County and the city of Vero Beach in addition to Las Vegas expeditiously.

“We’re targeting mid-June for a complete decision to be made. Obviously, that would be a flexible deadline. However, in the best-case scenario, we would like to have everything wrapped up by then.”

The Florida state legislature passed the bill May 8, and Bush’s signature completed that phase of the process intended to keep the Dodgers at their spring home of more than 50 years. The Dodgers now seek Las Vegas’ best offer to join a proposed multiteam facility.

But several baseball sources said Las Vegas would face an uphill battle if Indian River County and Vero Beach received state assistance to retain the Dodgers.

Moreover, Fox and Dodger officials are sensitive to unfavorable industry and public opinion about some of their recent moves.

The Dodgers would impress many by remaining at Dodgertown, especially considering the efforts to keep them there.

The Dodgers said in March they would return to Vero Beach for the 2001 exhibition season. Now it appears they might be there much longer.

“It’s a big boost in the sense that they [Florida officials] now know what they can do,” Hall said. “It’s no longer a mystery and there are no constraints on them.

“They know what they have to work with, and they also know what we can expect when we negotiate with Las Vegas.”

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A Dodger spokesman said pitcher Kevin Brown felt fine Thursday after getting hit on his right leg by an Edgardo Alfonzo line drive in Wednesday’s game against the New York Mets.

Brown was forced to leave at the end of the sixth inning because of a bruise on his lower leg. He did not require X-rays.

The right-hander, who had given up only three hits and one run against the Mets, plans tomake his next scheduled start Monday against the Texas Rangers, one of his former teams, at Arlington, Texas.