Florida Tropics to look for other places to play
The Florida Tropics are planning to move on from the RP Funding Center, according to team CEO Dr. Panos Iankovidis.
Proposals from the city and arena leaders recently will make it financially unfeasible. This has already driven away the NBA G-League Lakeland Magic who played in the arena for the last six years.
Lakeland’s city manager (Shawn Sherrouse) in January said that rent prices at the arena would rise five percent, but that wasn’t the case, Dr. Iakovidis said.
“I can’t speak for other renters, but last year our rent was approximately doubled from the 2021-22 season which was tough to swallow. In recent conversations, they are proposing to approximately double that again for next year, which is completely unrealistic," Dr. Iakovidis said. "Just as obvious is the fact the arena leaders were no longer interested in retaining its two most visible and anchor tenants. What was once a huge community showpiece to be proud of is now an albatross. Ultimately, it’s the people of Lakeland who are burdened with a money pit that is now unwilling to be a good partner with locally owned organizations that worked hard to be an asset to the region.”
More: Indoor soccer: Florida Tropics advance to MASL championship series
Dr. Iakovidis said the Tropics will search for other arena options across Florida to see if moving forward for an eighth season, and beyond, is doable.
The Tropics have racked up the second most regular wins in the entire MASL over the past four years, even advancing to the league championship series last spring.
“We’re very proud of our record of seven years of great soccer and entertainment,” Dr. Iakovidis said. “We’re very sad that city and arena officials have chosen this direction to effectively force its long-standing partners to choose another path, but they have left organizations like ours or the Magic little choice.”
In the last seven years, the Tropics were “purposed to be an invested partner in the community,” with the majority of support from area businesses and fans.
“We will always be grateful for those partners and fans who have invested their time, talent and treasure to see us succeed — we know who they are and regret that their support ultimately was not important to this city," Dr. Iakovidis said.
This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Florida Tropics to look for other places to play
