Here’s what we know about the Baltimore Orioles and spring training:

The team will return to Fort Lauderdale Stadium in 2009.

After that?

It’s anybody’s guess.

Negotiations among Indian River County and Vero Beach officials and the unnamed team -- but which everyone knows is the Orioles -- continued last week and ended with the officials agreeing to allow the team more time. City and county officials believe they’ve offered a fair package to the team to occupy Dodgertown in Vero Beach.

They issued a joint statement after the meetings saying:

We think we’ve gone as far as we can and the ball is now in the Club’s hands. Our understanding is that our offer will be discussed with the Club’s ownership for consideration and we look forward to hearing from them. We understand that the Club’s ownership needs a reasonable period of time to review and consider our offer. We believe it is in everyone’s interest that the Club be given that time.

Read the Vero Beach Press Journal’s account here.

My favorite part of that story is that officials still refuse to name the team, but Indian River County Commissioner Wesley Davis is quoted as saying he’d like the issue resolved: "I would have preferred to have heard the deal was done and go out and buy my Orioles hat," Davis told the paper.

For their part, the Orioles have been keeping with their tradition of not saying a word publicly.

Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale officials still hold out hope the team will make a long-term commitment to Fort Lauderdale Stadium. In July, the FAA issued a letter saying it would not exempt the team from having to pay $1.3 million annually for use of the stadium property for the upkeep of adjacent Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. In August, Fort Lauderdale City Manager George Gretsas sent the FAA a letter reminding officials their opinion wasn’t final and asking for agency to issue its final verdict on the matter. He still hasn't heard back.

Neither the city nor Broward County will contribute to the $1.3 million payment, but city and county officials have met to discuss the team’s future in Fort Lauderdale beyond 2009. At this point, they say it’s still up to the FAA.

“We’re hoping the FAA changes their decision on allowing the land to be continued for a stadium,” Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle said. “We’re deadlocked right now.”

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Could it be the decision on whether the Baltimore Orioles will continue spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium beyond 2009 is finally near? U.S. Rep. Ron Klein and Fort Lauderdale officials believe so.

The city is hoping to convince the Federal Aviation Administration to exempt it from the fair market value requirement for use of the airport land on which the stadium sits. The FAA told the city it needs $1.3 million a year for use of the property, which is up dramatically from the $70,000 to $120,000 the Orioles typically pay.

The FAA is expected to make a decision quickly. Read more at the Broward Politics blog.

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So some politicians and tourism officials aren’t ready to give up on keeping the nearly 50-year-old tradition of spring training at Fort Lauderdale Stadium. But are you?

Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jim Naugle, Broward County Mayor Lois Wexler, and Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau President Nicki Grossman are all waxing about the lovely afternoons at the intimate 8,340-seat stadium, the tourists who visit every year and pump more than $25 million into the local economy.

It’s been home to the Baltimore Orioles for the past 13 springs and will be again in 2009. Before that, the New York Yankees spent 34 years spring training there.

But that is likely to change now that the Federal Aviation Administration has decided that in order for the team to stay, the annual payment to the airport fund must be $1.3 million. That’s up from the $70,000 to $120,000 the Orioles typically pay. That figure has been based on 5 percent of the gross revenues generated at the stadium.

Now that the Orioles are seeking a long-term lease to go with a $40 million overhaul of the venue (being financed with the help of tourist taxes from Broward county and a state sales tax rebate), the FAA says it must receive fair market value for the property, a figure it places at $1.3 million. If the Orioles were still on a year-to-year lease, this issue would never have surfaced. The stadium sits on airport land that was deeded to the city of Fort Lauderdale in the 1940s.

The Orioles, who are said to have an option agreement to move to Dodgertown in Vero Beach, which is being vacated by the Los Angeles Dodgers, aren’t saying anything publicly other than they are disappointed with the FAA’s decision.

U.S. Rep. Ron Klein, who had helped broker meetings among the FAA, Fort Lauderdale and Orioles officials, wants to make sure the FAA is reading the law governing the lease of airport property accurately and if it’s not, whether the payment can be reduced.

There was a time when spring training was rampant in these parts: the Yankees in Fort Lauderdale, the Orioles in Miami, the Texas Rangers in Pompano Beach, the Montreal Expos and Atlanta Braves in West Palm Beach. Those teams have moved on. The bus rides get longer for the Orioles, whose closest spring rivals are now in Jupiter or Fort Myers.

Would you miss it if it were to leave? Do you want to see Fort Lauderdale Stadium preserved? Take our poll here.

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