Ballpark Nutz: it’s time to for a new baseball stadium
The Flying Squirrels announced today Ballpark Nutz, an advocacy group designed to spur action on a new baseball stadium and to facilitate an official city plan to do so.
The Richmond Flying Squirrels have announced the creation of Ballpark Nutz, a citizen advocacy group “designed to encourage regional action on a plan to fund and build a regional ballpark on the Boulevard.” The proposed $50 million ballpark would replace the existing Diamond, and serve as a potential venue for VCU sports, other college and high school games, and outdoor community events.
Confused?
The saga of replacing the Diamond is now almost three years old. If you’ve missed some of the twists and turns along the way, check out this timeline of events to get you caught up.
“Our two years in Richmond tell us that this is a terrific sports town and a great place to live,” said Todd “Parney” Parnell, vice president and COO of the Flying Squirrels, in a press release. “We also know that we are not alone in believing that the region deserves a first-class ballpark, one that reflects Richmond’s standing as the capital of the Commonwealth. Ballpark Nutz will give fans a chance to let their voices be heard.”
Last October, president and managing general partner of the Squirrels, Lou DiBella, expressed public frustration about the city’s delays to initiate a specific plan to replace the nearly thirty-year-old Diamond. Shortly after DiBella’s public statements, Mayor Jones announced that the city was taking steps to prepare a site near the Diamond, although no specific plans emerged. The Ballpark Nutz initiative is likely a way to cajole the city into adopting an official plan of action.
“We see Ballpark Nutz as an important outlet for letting our fans express their support for a new regional ballpark,” said Brian Callaghan, founder and co-CEO of Richmond-based Apex Systems and minority shareholder in the Squirrels. “We recognize that the localities are facing difficult choices when it comes to budget priorities, and we believe that, if we work together, we can find a responsible solution that will have a new ballpark in place by the 2015 season.
It is expected that a new ballpark will take 18 months to build. The original tenants of the Diamond, the Atlanta Braves AAA affiliate, left Richmond following the 2008 season due to city’s waffling on building a new stadium. In October, DiBella indicated that the Squirrels are willing to contribute a construction-cost share equal to that of contributions made by area jurisdictions.
“It is our hope,” said Brian Callaghan, “that Ballpark Nutz, together with the political and business leadership from throughout the region, can help kick-start some momentum toward building a ballpark of which the Richmond region can be rightfully proud.”
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Related
- The Diamond in the rough: recapping the soap opera that is Richmond baseball; RVANews
- Squirrels losing patience with stadium timetable; Richmond Times-Dispatch
- Richmond mayor wants new stadium; Associated Press
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Notice: Comments that are not conducive to an interesting and thoughtful conversation may be removed at the editor’s discretion.
It’s also time that the counties come to the table to talk more sincerely about regional efforts.
If all the Ballpark Nutz are about is beating up on the City government while leaving the counties to walk, then don’t expect any support from me.
What I have seen in recent months is county leadership shirking away from any regional committments as their budgets have fallen. SHOW US THE MONEY!
I am tired of City taxpayers being shaken down for the region’s entertainment (yes, I am also talking about Center Stage). I like the Squirrels, but don’t demand a new ballpark to be the City of Richmond’s first priority.
We need regional transportation, regional resource management, regional cooperation in general. If the RMA can’t supply that, then maybe its time to get rid of the RMA, or at least get the RMA out of the ballpark business altogether so it can concetrate on the PUBLIC interests.
I think that building a new stadium is a waste of money. Fix up the one you have now. The people that live in Richmond are not that big of supporters for local sports. Why do you think the Richmond Braves left?Nascar is about the only thing that happens here. How about spend the 50 million on fixing up this crappy city and get rid of all the crime and pay the city more for a more widespread security effort to fight crime.
If a new stadium is built, it should be built in either Chesterfield or Henrico along the 288 corridor.
Residents of Chesterfield and Henrico who have the interest and disposable income to spend money on going to games don’t want to take their family to a stadium in an area with crack addicts and homeless people. People want to go see a game in a safe area with convenient parking – without the risk of getting stabbed.
The stadium needs to be built in a place that’s convenient for regional travel and has the land available to allow for proper planning. Spending any money on a new stadium within city limits would be a gross waste, and this is much of the reason the counties tend to balk at allocating funds for these purposes.
Ah, the old “Boulevard is a crime-ridden drug haven” chestnut again.
Bravo, Mr Wangrolfen, for your refusal to advance out of the mid-1990s with the rest of society.
So they say “We recognize that the localities are facing difficult choices when it comes to budget priorities, and we believe that, if we work together, we can find a responsible solution that will have a new ballpark in place by the 2015 season.”
In layman’s terms: “This is expensive as shit, irresponsible as shit, and pretty unnecessary, but we’re going to find a way to build it anyway.”
In 1977, Byrd Airport (as it was known then) became Richmond International Airport. The powers that be, (my father being one of them) worked with surrounding counties that were using the facility, and the Capital Region Airport Commission was born. If you use it, you should pay for it. A similar commission needs to be formed for the sports fans in this town. And to those of you who say the money should be spent on crime, overall, the crime stats in this city have been going down the past few years. Get your facts first before you go “nutz.
Crime may be down, but there are plenty of things that the money could be spent on that would do a lot more for quality of life in Richmond, the most obvious being education (see today’s RTD on the RPS’s budget deficit), another would be dedicated funding for public transit (especially now that Congress is prepared to eliminate federal funding for public transit altogether). There’s no way that a new stadium will not be a net loss in any case. I’ve enjoyed games at the Diamond and, if you’ve noticed, they’ve drawn good crowds to that supposedly dilapidated, inadequate structure. I’ve never seen clear reasons why a brand new stadium is needed except that the Squirrels insist that it is. At the very least, let the localities that pony up for the stadium get a cut of the profits too.
I have mixed thoughts about this.
Full disclosure: I’m a lifelong baseball fan and have gone to about 20 Squirrels games a year. Ditto R-Braves since I was a kid during the 1980s.
I fear that if we lose this team we won’t get another one again. Of course it’s this fear the team is playing off of. I really enjoy minor league baseball because of its low cost, lack of millionaire athletes, and the chance to support my region.
On the other hand, the city of Richmond doesn’t have a lot of money. If you look around the stands it’s obvious that most fans are from Hanover, Henrico, and Chesterfield. (I’m from Prince George/Petersburg area). If this were to be publicly funded it would make sense the counties with the fans should support the facility.
In an ideal world, it’d be better to privately fund the ballpark. Corporate sponsorship, perhaps with some public funds. Has anyone discussed what VCU might contribute? I would think of all local institutions they have the most money for building projects.
Two last points. Overall the Diamond is passable as a baseball stadium. But I believe it has structural damage that long-term aren’t fixable. Also it’s training facilities/clubhouses aren’t up to par for players. I know, they should suck it up. But Major League teams want/expect their minor league talent to have modern facilities.
Secondly, I wouldn’t consider the ballpark dangerous. I’m NOT from Richmond and have gone there at night since 1985. I’ve never seen or heard of a shooting or stabbing or any violent crime due to a game. And its obvious that area is much nicer than it was 10 years ago. But I’m from Petersburg and people say the same things about my entire town.
Look if you’re not in a bad domestic situation, don’t use or sell hard drugs, and don’t walk in dark alleys in the projects at 3 AM, your chances of being a violent crime victim are slim.
In any case, part of the problem here is the city promised the team a stadium to get the team in the first place. Maybe they shouldn’t have, but they did. So the team has been quite patient. Hopefully something’s worked out that keeps the team here but doesn’t take from city services and people who may not like baseball.
The best thing about living in the City is that people like Johann Wangrolfen don’t! Gotta run…some crack head just passed out on my porch…..bummer….
I wonder if the city would build me a nice new building for my business and rent it to me to peanutz.
City econ 101: bring more businesses and people to your city and surrounding burbs and you have more money to do whatever is good for said area.
Drop your one sided views and acknowledge this is a somewhat vicous cycle and a balancing act. If you dont like baseball or sports it doesnt matter becasue its about whether or not you are spending money on things that make the region attractive to relatively large groups of people (like families with a small entertainment budget as one simple example…get it?)
So many people focus on the trees and ignore the forrest….
Everyone should also understand the phychology behind internet advocates…those that constantly post their views on all these stories…they are typiclally holding a grudge at whatever the topic is….they love the comfort of hiding behind the internet…Not you,Scott Burger, i see you at City hall with your same old “view” but you make a decent point here.
So to the greater public that does more reading than posting, dont ever take the overall temperature of the publics view by inet blog posters…they are usually angry about the topic and dont even come close to representing the collective view of richmonders…and often are narrrow focused and ignorant to the broader topic at hand, whatever it may be.
JT
Look, of course the stadium should be redone. Why? Because it is a very popular entertainment venue for the entire region. It has to be a regional project, because no one locality should foot the bill alone. Besides, diving the cost among several parties over 30 years makes the “cost” issue silly, to be honest.
It isn’t happening because the City government has isolated itself in the region. The revolving door leadership over the past 20 years and race-first philosophy of the City leaders just doesn’t work for anybody. If you can’t talk and have a relationship with your colleagues around you, zero will happen.
Here’s a simple question, “James tepe”, what is the City’s ROI (return on investment) on a new ballpark?
To elaborate with more questions,
What has been the City’s ROI on Center Stage? What has been the City’s ROI on the Canal Walk, including the $50 million loan to Cordish?
How much money has come back to the public coffers of the $2 billion or so invested in downtown?
In addition to that, what are the opportunity costs for these investments in PRIVATE entities? I would suggest to you that it has been better streets, schools, mass transit, etc.
What matters more to Richmond citizens?
For all or you opposed to a new ball park, and feel that it is counterintuitive to economic development; the reduction of crime and the overall success of the region please take a moment to study the revitalization of Pittsburg and understand the context in which the development is being proposed.
It has nothing to do with being a baseball fan or not, but it has everything to do with developing a vibrant, sustainable economy based on tourism.
We have been hearing that tourist b.s. for the last fifteen years. We have the highest admission and meals taxes in the state to thank for all that b.s.
I am not totally opposed to a new ballpark, but as I stated earlier, its time that the counties come to the table to talk more sincerely about regional efforts.
I am not going to stand for the Ballpark Nutz bullying City government to get City taxpayers on the hook for another ‘public-private partnership’ that has dubious ROI.
With all due respect Roger, the statement “The people that live in Richmond are not that big of supporters for local sports” is completely and utterly wrong. Are you failing to remember when Richmond seemingly shut itself down last March and April for Ram’s Basketball? And what about the outpouring of support when the Squirrels came into town — we had the highest attendance of our entire AAA division for that season. Richmonders really, really want to support local sports — we try out hardest to support local things in almost every other way. Don’t sell us short.
Well I think baseball is nice and all but in tough times (and good ones) one has to prioritize initiatives. In terms of needs for the city, and for the counties (I am a city resident BTW) I am pretty sure that there are far more important things for our leaders to be focused on than a new baseball stadium right now. Second I don’t really see how a group like the “Ballpark Nutz, a citizen advocacy group” can even be called that if it is a creation of the corporate entity that owns the team. If it were some kids from the neighborhood selling lemonade maybe but either way it’s besides the point. Reality is what happened to our very own Braves when they moved to Gwinnett County Georgia? That’s right folks, promised the world and left to foot the bill. Stadium will only cost $40 million…oops 50% increase in costs:
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/08/29/gwinnett_stadium_more_expensive.html
The county will receive parking revenues! Woops…only a small percentage of the forecast:
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/gwinnett-braves-parking-revenue-188884.html
Overall the projections were wrong and revenues can’t keep up with expenditures. Priorities should be made. Spending this kind of revenue on a entertainment venue doesn’t really reflect responsible decision making on the part of leaders in either the city or the counties when so many other needs are failing to be met. Look what happened to the locality that the Braves moved to as an example of what happens when this doesn’t go well. 30 years of bond repayments and budget shortfalls. Maybe now just isn’t the time for this. My 2 cents.
http://www.ajc.com/news/gwinnett/gwinnett-braves-struggle-to-1154341.html
Wow. Most of you hit the “nut” and the rest refuse to accept the truth. There’s nowhere to park, there’s no reason you can’t refurb the current stadium and there’s no reason Richmond alone should foot the bill.
Crime isn’t down, the chief just had the stats adjusted. The idea that this city is getting better on handling crime is BS. Cops are on a pay freeze but for some reason they keep hiring more? WTF?! And if anyone dares to say RVA isn’t “stat” driven, you’re a moron.
Since the entire community comes to these games, then the entire community should resolve to create the solution. Doing anything right now though, is absolutely ridiculous as more important issues such as cleaning up the projects, holding students and educators to a higher standard and improving the infrastructure far outweigh giving some dumbass Squirrel and his Nutz somewhere really cool to bang around a damn baseball.