the expertise available through its purchase of other theme parks, Sea World and Cypress Gardens, the year before. HBJ spent $50 million transforming the park and adding the baseball stadium. The Class A Florida State League Royal affiliate was purchased by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich in early 1987 with the team to move here. Boardwalk and Baseball opened in April 1987 with two baseball diamonds. Ted Williams, Don Drysdale, and Mel Allen participated in the opening day festivities. In June, the three HBJ Orlando area parks offered three-day passes with one day at each park, priced below Walt Disney World combo tickets. Attendance in 1988 was 1.35 million, but dropped 24% in 1989 to 1.03 million. In August 1989, HBJ put its theme parks up for sale as a group. The first season of "Super Bowl of Sports Trivia" was filmed over five days at a studio at the theme park in January 1988. Baseball City Stadium opened for its first event, the seventh annual Pizza Hut All-Star Softball game, on February 7, 1988 and televised live on NBC. Decline and closure Harcourt Brace Jovanovich sold its theme park assets (which included SeaWorld and Cypress Gardens) to Busch Entertainment Corporation in September 1989 due to mounting debt, and they closed the park on January 17, 1990. The stadium would continue its operations, while the park and stadium were up for sale. The Kansas City Royals had a spring training contract until 2002 and the Baseball City Royals would also continue regular play at the stadium. With 876 employees at closure, the park was one of Polk County's largest employers. Most of it was demolished except for the stadium and a building that held an IMAX theatre (the very first one at Circus World). The Baseball City Royals (FSL) were sold following the 1992 season and moved to Daytona Beach, Florida, becoming the Daytona Cubs, where they remain to this day. The Gulf Coast League Royals, who had moved at the same time to Ft. Myers, returned in 2000 for their final three years in Florida before being replaced by the Arizona League Royals. The Kansas City Royals moved their spring training home and entire Florida operations department to Surprise, Arizona in 2003. The stadium and theatre were demolished soon afterward. After sitting idle for over a decade, the site was sold to developer Victor Posner in 2001. Posner Park, a large