PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. — The failure to meet a major deadline to end the professional baseball lockout has some South Florida businesses concerned about their bottom line.
Many of them depend on an influx of customers each March for spring training baseball games.
After both players and owners failed to real a deal Tuesday, the start of the MLB season is now delayed, and spring training games continue to hang in the balance.
"You know, it's a little disappointing," said Michael Timoteo, General Manager of Berry Fresh Cafe in Port St. Lucie. "We look forward to it every year. We get an influx to business, an influx of people just to this general area. I know not even just us, right? I know just the general economy around Port St. Lucie West really looks forward to it."
Timoteo said he usually staffs up for the month of March and on New York Mets game days in Port St. Lucie.
"Huge influx of business, you know, we have the calendar posted in about three different areas of our restaurant for ourselves and for other people," said Timoteo. "You can definitely see on those days of the week, we staff up a little bit more. We definitely have an influx of the orange and the blue definitely."
Other businesses like Tailgators said they pay a premium to be near Clover Park and count on spring training crowds.
"Baseball was one of the biggest reasons why we came over here," said Brian Downing, owner of Tailgators. "You're supposed to be slammed and then you have the regular single A team after that which is for months after. It's the second year in a row that baseball could have been here, and it wasn't."
Negotiations could continue back in New York as soon as Thursday, however, it's unclear if both parties will be able to reach a deal in time to save spring training.
