Nationals looking to break Spring Training stadium lease

The Washington Nationals are looking to break their Spring Training stadium lease, according to a report by Dave Berman of Florida Today.

The Nats have officially asked Brevard County for their approval to break the team’s lease to hold spring training games at Space Coast Stadium, in Viera, Florida.  While the team’s current lease runs until 2017, the team may be looking to move as early as November of next year.

The Nats want to make the move so as to be closer to other major league spring training sites, so as to reduce travel time to road games.

As a condition of breaking the lease, the Nationals would give control of the practice fields, training complex, and surrounding areas back to the county; which already owns Space Coast Stadium.

According to Berman’s report, the county would then, in turn, seek to lease the stadium and surrounding complexes to the Class A Brevard County Manatees, another major league team, or something involving some sort of revenue-generating amateur sport.

The Nationals may seek to move to Osceola County, as the county commissioners have already scheduled a meeting in June to discuss the building of a new spring training facility.