Red Sox CEO Mike Dee visited Sarasota to talk with city officials about the possibility of the team moving there.

[3] Sarasota County commissioners then voted 4-0 to approve the purchase of land for a Red Sox spring training facility.

[citation needed] Another distinctive feature of the Green Monster is that, like the original one in Fenway Park, it has a manual scoreboard.

The scoreboard is the same, 1934-vintage unit that had been used for decades in Fenway Park, but before being installed in Fort Myers was in a storage facility in South Dakota.

[10] Other features from the ballpark in Boston which are present in the spring training stadium are the triangle, Pesky's Pole, and Lone Red Seat marking the longest home run ever hit in Fenway's history.

[8] One of the signature features of the ballpark is the wavy roof sitting over the seats in the stadium, providing shade for the fans in attendance.

The player development complex features six fields that can be used for drills during spring training, injury rehab assignments and many other baseball activities.

The major league locker room used during spring training has an oval shaped design, is 50,000 square feet (4,600 m2), and has lounge areas with flat screen televisions.

On March 4 the ceremonial first pitch saw eight current players catching, with the balls brought onto the field by Carl Yastrzemski, Jim Rice, Luis Tiant, and Dwight Evans.