Viera making push to keep Nats

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Space Coast Stadium could be hosting its final Nationals camp this spring.

When the Nationals gather for spring training in four weeks, they'll do so knowing it could be their final camp in the remote outpost of Viera along Florida's Space Coast.

Ownership has never hid its desire to relocate to another base, preferably Fort Myers on the other side of the state, but possibly Kissimmee in central Florida or perhaps even all the way to Arizona. And with construction bonds for Space Coast Stadium due to be paid off in April, the Nationals will no longer be financially bound to the locale the franchise has called its spring home since 2003.

There are, however, significant road blocks still standing in the way of a new spring training venue in 2014. Fort Myers has shown an unwillingness to pay for upgrades to the City of Palms Park facility the Nationals would like to inherit, dragging out negotiations. Viera, meanwhile, is making a new push to keep the Nationals right where they are and perhaps even bring another major-league franchise to the area to share Space Coast Stadium.

"We may not be successful, but we have to try," Andy Anderson, chairman of the Brevard County Commission, told Florida Today in an article published yesterday.