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• Ballpark issue is topic of Public Square forum
• Ballpark is bad fit for Bottom, activist argues
• Businessman is passionate advocate for baseball in Richmond
• Give Shockoe Center plan a chance, developer says
• Shockoe-stadium foe says plan is bad deal for taxpayers
Critically evaluate Bryan Bostic's belief that minor-league baseball can greatly enhance a community's quality of life. Challenge his contention that Shockoe Bottom is the ideal location for a new ballpark.
Questioning his commitment to those positions is a tougher task.
Dating back to his involvement with the Richmond Ballpark Initiative, the local businessman has spent the past seven years advocating an upgraded baseball experience in a modern facility. Since the Atlanta Braves announced in January 2008 that they were moving their Class AAA franchise to Gwinnett County, Ga., Bostic says he has worked nearly every day toward his goal of returning baseball to Richmond.
Bostic, 47, acknowledged that the effort has included "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from his personal account. He has made more than 80 presentations to Richmond-area groups.
Why the investments in passion, time and resources?
"I was tired of going to all of these other cities and seeing how they had leveraged baseball as a catalyst for growth and revitalization, and how we weren't," said Bostic, a Richmond native who grew up in Newport News. "If we're going to spend money, let's spend it wisely. Let's create an economic-development opportunity."
Seven months ago, Bostic was among those who introduced the Shockoe Center proposal, a $318 million development with a $60 million ballpark. "We've done our homework," said Bostic, who strongly believes that the success of downtown ballparks in many other locales provides a blueprint for Richmond.
"Why should we be different? Just because baseball has been played on the Boulevard for 50 years?" Bostic said. "That doesn't mean it's right. It just means that's where it's been."
He is chairman of Richmond Baseball Club LC, which is in the process of purchasing a Class AA franchise -- the highest competitive level from which a franchise is available -- for the purpose of relocating it to Richmond and, in the short term, The Diamond.
Bostic, a former James Madison University tennis player, moved to Richmond in 1985 and launched 2b Technology. That became a global ticketing and reservation business for museums, zoos and other attractions. In 2000, Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. acquired the company in a reported $23 million, all-stock deal.
Bostic may be genetically wired to ensure that Richmond has pro ball. During the mid-1950s, his grandfather, Ed Phillips, was instrumental in raising money to turn Parker Field, which had been used for football and horse racing, into a baseball facility for the Richmond Virginians, the New York Yankees' Class AAA team.
The city continues to study the Shockoe Center proposal. Bostic continues to pitch.
"This is a huge challenge, there's no doubt about it," he said. "But I believe this community has real opportunity in front of it. It just needs to open its eyes to what other communities have done and we haven't."
Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or joconnor@timesdispatch.com.
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