Since , the city of Fort Myers in Lee County, Florida

Lee County, Florida

Lee County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. Located in southwest Florida, the principal cities in the county are Fort Myers and Cape Coral...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 has been the Spring training

Spring training

In Major League Baseball, spring training is a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for roster and position spots, and gives existing team players practice time prior to competitive play...

 home of the Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox

The Boston Red Sox are a professional baseball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, and a member of Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight charter franchises, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park since . The "Red Sox"...

 when the club moved from Winter Haven

Winter Haven

Winter Haven may refer to:* Winter Haven, Florida* Winter Haven High School* Winter Haven Red Sox* Winter Haven's Gilbert Airport* Winter Haven Super Sox* Winter Haven Area Transit* Winter Haven...

 (now the spring-training home of the Cleveland Indians

Cleveland Indians

The Cleveland Indians are a professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. Since , they have played in Progressive Field. The team's spring training facility is in Goodyear, Arizona...

). Boston trains at the City of Palms Park

City of Palms Park

City of Palms Park is a stadium in Fort Myers, Florida primarily used for baseball, although the City of Fort Myers uses the venue for the occasional concert. Former Boston Red Sox left fielder Mike Greenwell is from Fort Myers, and was instrumental in bringing his team to the city for spring...

 since the ballpark opened, while the minor-league facility, featuring five full fields, is a short distance away. City of Palms Park is also used by the Gulf Coast League

Gulf Coast League

The Gulf Coast League is a minor league baseball league which operates in Florida. It is a Rookie League, with a season running from mid-June to late August. The season is 60 games long and teams in the league are divided into three divisions, East, North and South...

 Red Sox.

The park, built in a classic Florida style, with a main covered grandstand and palm trees past the outfield

Outfield

The outfield is a sporting term used in cricket and baseball to refer to the area of the field of play further from the batsman or batter than the infield...

 fence, was designed by HOK Sport + Venue + Event, the same architect

Architect

An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...

 responsible for Coors Field

Coors Field

Coors Field, located in Denver, Colorado, is the home field of Major League Baseball's Colorado Rockies. It is named for the Coors Brewing Company of Golden, Colorado, which purchased the naming rights to the park prior to its completion in 1995...

, Minute Maid Park

Minute Maid Park

Minute Maid Park is a ballpark in Downtown Houston, Texas, United States that opened in 2000 to house the Major League Baseball Houston Astros....

, and LandShark Stadium, amongst others.

The Minnesota Twins

Minnesota Twins

The Minnesota Twins are a professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the...

 play their spring training at Hammond Stadium

Hammond Stadium

Hammond Stadium is a baseball field located in the Lee County Sports Complex in South Fort Myers, Florida, United States. The stadium was built in and holds 7,500 people. It is the Spring Training home of the Minnesota Twins, and houses their Class A Advanced affiliate, the Fort Myers Miracle, in...

, which is also located in Fort Myers. Each spring the two teams will play five of their preseason games against each other in a series known as the Mayor's Cup.

New spring facility to open in 2012

The Red Sox's spring training lease with Fort Myers ran through 2019, however, the Red Sox began toying with exercising an early out in their contract that allowed them to leave following the spring season. Chief operating officer Mike Dee met with Sarasota officials on April 25, to discuss the possibility of the Red Sox moving to Sarasota's Ed Smith Stadium

Ed Smith Stadium

Ed Smith Stadium is a baseball field located in Sarasota, Florida. The stadium was built in 1989 to replace Payne Park as a Spring Training and Minor League Baseball site. In 2010, the Baltimore Orioles began playing spring games at the ballpark.-History:...

 once its current spring inhabitants, the Baltimore Orioles

Baltimore Orioles

The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland in the United States. They are a member of the Eastern Division of Major League Baseball's American League. One of the American League's eight charter franchises in 1901, it spent its first year as a major league...

, move to their new spring home in Sarasota.

On October 28, 2008, the Lee County commission voted 13-11 to approve an agreement with the Boston Red Sox to build a new spring-training facility for the team in south Lee County. Dee was present in the chambers for the vote, and took the agreement back to Boston to meet with team owner John W. Henry

John W. Henry

John William Henry II is a futures and foreign exchange trading advisor who founded John W. Henry & Company . He is the principal owner of the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool F.C., and co-owner of Roush Fenway Racing. In March 2006, Boston Magazine estimated his net worth at $1.1 billion, but noted...

 and other team officials. On November 15, 2008, the Red Sox signed an agreement with Lee County that will keep their spring training home in the Fort Myers area for 20 more years.

Wednesday, April 10, 2008, the Lee County commissioners selected the Watermen-Pinnacle site on Daniels Parkway (a little more than a mile east of Interstate 75) as the site for the new facility, and on March 29, 2011, it was announcd that the new field would be named JetBlue

JetBlue Airways

JetBlue Airways Corporation is an American low-cost airline. The company is headquartered in the Forest Hills neighborhood of the New York City borough of Queens. Its main base is John F. Kennedy International Airport, also in Queens....

 Park.

Previous Boston Red Sox Spring Training Locations

• Charlottesville, Virginia
  Charlottesville, Virginia
  Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by but separate from Albemarle County in the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.The official population estimate for...
  
   
• Augusta, Georgia
  Augusta, Georgia
  Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
  
   
• Macon, Georgia
  Macon, Georgia
  Macon is a city located in central Georgia, US. Founded at the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is part of the Macon metropolitan area, and the county seat of Bibb County. A small portion of the city extends into Jones County. Macon is the biggest city in central Georgia...
  
   (-06)
• Little Rock, Arkansas
  Little Rock, Arkansas
  Little Rock is the capital and the largest city of the U.S. state of Arkansas. The Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 699,757 people in the 2010 census...
  
   (-08)
• Hot Springs, Arkansas
  Hot Springs, Arkansas
  Hot Springs is the 10th most populous city in the U.S. state of Arkansas, the county seat of Garland County, and the principal city of the Hot Springs Metropolitan Statistical Area encompassing all of Garland County...
  
   (-10, -18, -23)
• Redondo Beach, California
  Redondo Beach, California
  Redondo Beach is one of the three Beach Cities located in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 66,748 at the 2010 census, up from 63,261 at the 2000 census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the greater Los Angeles area.Redondo Beach was originally part of...
  
   
• Tampa, Florida
  Tampa, Florida
  Tampa is a city in the U.S. state of Florida. It serves as the county seat for Hillsborough County. Tampa is located on the west coast of Florida. The population of Tampa in 2010 was 335,709....
  
   
• San Antonio, Texas
  San Antonio, Texas
  San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
  
   
• New Orleans, Louisiana
  New Orleans, Louisiana
  New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
  
   (-27)
• Highland Beach, Florida
  Highland Beach, Florida
  Highland Beach is a town in Palm Beach County, Florida, in the United States. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 3,988.-Geography:Highland Beach is located at ....
  
   (-29)
• Pensacola, Florida
  Pensacola, Florida
  Pensacola is the westernmost city in the Florida Panhandle and the county seat of Escambia County, Florida, United States of America. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 56,255 and as of 2009, the estimated population was 53,752...
  
   (-31)
• Savannah, Georgia
  Savannah, Georgia
  Savannah is the largest city and the county seat of Chatham County, in the U.S. state of Georgia. Established in 1733, the city of Savannah was the colonial capital of the Province of Georgia and later the first state capital of Georgia. Today Savannah is an industrial center and an important...
  
   
• Sarasota, Florida
  Sarasota, Florida
  Sarasota is a city located in Sarasota County on the southwestern coast of the U.S. state of Florida. It is south of the Tampa Bay Area and north of Fort Myers...
  
   (-42, -58)
• Medford, Massachusetts
  Medford, Massachusetts
  Medford is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, in the United States, on the Mystic River, five miles northwest of downtown Boston. In the 2010 U.S. Census, Medford's population was 56,173...
  
   (-44)
• Atlantic City, New Jersey
  Atlantic City, New Jersey
  Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
  
   
• Scottsdale, Arizona
  Scottsdale, Arizona
  Scottsdale is a city in the eastern part of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States, adjacent to Phoenix. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2010 the population of the city was 217,385...
  
   (-65)
• Winter Haven, Florida
  Winter Haven, Florida
  Winter Haven is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was 26,487 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 estimates, the city had a population of 32,577, making it the second most populated city in Polk County...
  
   (-92)
• Fort Myers, Florida
  Fort Myers, Florida
  Fort Myers is the county seat and commercial center of Lee County, Florida, United States. Its population was 62,298 in the 2010 census, a 29.23 percent increase over the 2000 figure....
  
  (-present)