New team owners promise Diamond improvements

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Connecticut franchise history:

1985-94: The Albany-Colonie franchise (New York Yankees) of the 12-club, Class AA Eastern League existed.

1995: Franchise relocates to Norwich, Conn., and becomes Norwich Navigators (Yankees).

1995: Senator Thomas J. Dodd Stadium opens in Norwich.

2002: Navigators win Eastern League title.

2003: Yankees switch Class AA affiliate to Trenton, N.J.; Navigators become San Francisco Giants' Class AA affiliate.

2005: Lou DiBella forms a partnership and buys the Navigators for about $10 million.

2006: Navigators' name is changed to Connecticut Defenders.

2008: Connecticut franchise and the Giants extend their Player Development Contract through 2010 season.

2009: Defenders lose the best-of-five league championship series; franchise relocates to Richmond.

Notable: In the seven seasons the franchise was a Giants affiliate, it finished last among Eastern League clubs in home attendance five times and next-to-last twice. . . . As a Giants affiliate, Connecticut went 480-510 and made the playoffs once (2009). The Defenders went 83-59 this season. . . . Bobby Evans, the Giants' vice president of baseball operations, grew up near Roanoke Rapids, N.C., and is a 1991 University of North Carolina graduate. He periodically watched Richmond Braves games as a youngster.

Quotable: "No matter where our Double-A club is, you've got to go to the airport, and you've got to fly there," Evans said. "Whether you're flying to Texas or over the Midwest, you're going to have to be in an airplane, so it doesn't make much difference whether you're on the East Coast or in the Texas League."

The sign outside The Diamond still proclaims "Home of the Richmond Braves," but Richmond and its 24-year-old stadium will have a new professional baseball team beginning next spring.

After months of delays, the long-anticipated relocation of the Class AA Connecticut Defenders was announced yesterday by regional and team officials who gathered at The Diamond in front of a banner that read, "Play Ball!"

"We're here to say baseball is back," Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones said.

Richmond has been without pro baseball since the Class AAA Richmond Braves moved to a new $64 million stadium in Gwinnett County, Ga., after the 2008 season.

The Atlanta Braves severed their 43-year relationship with Richmond after growing frustrated by the outdated condition of The Diamond and the lack of progress on a long-term stadium plan.

Though there's still no plan or even a timetable to get one, owners of the Defenders franchise said they're ecstatic to come to Richmond and plan to spend at least $1.5 million to upgrade The Diamond by opening day in April.

The work will include about 3,200 new flip-up seats with cup-holders in the lower level; a new video board and new windows on the corporate suites and press box; and a new team store and player amenities.

The Richmond Metropolitan Authority, which owns The Diamond, will contribute $75,000 toward general improvements.

"For the time being, this is our home," said Lou DiBella, the team's president and managing general partner. "We're going to treat it like your home. We're going to do what's necessary to bring it up to the appropriate grade."

He and other team executives promised a clean stadium and a brand of minor-league baseball that's focused on fun for everyone. The team, which is affiliated with the San Francisco Giants, lost the Eastern League's championship series last weekend to the Akron Aeros.

The team will play at The Diamond through at least 2011 and likely longer. The RMA is expected to approve Tuesday a two-year lease that would include options for three one-year extensions.

Jones said the lease would provide a timetable for the city, the surrounding counties and the team to figure out a long-term stadium plan, either at the site of The Diamond or elsewhere.

"I think we need to do due diligence," he said. "It gives us an opportunity to step back and do this right."

Last fall, Highwoods Properties submitted to the city a proposal to build a ballpark as part of a mixed-use development in Shockoe Bottom, but that plan was withdrawn this summer. Highwoods had been working with a group of local investors who were attempting to buy the Defenders franchise.

DiBella said his ownership group is relocating to Richmond "with a long-term view," and he emphasized that a decision about a new or improved stadium would be made cooperatively by the team, local officials and the community.

"Don't focus on the lease," he urged a reporter. "We're going to make this place the best it can be."

Given the sagging economy, any talks about a new or renovated stadium will have to take a backseat to other, more-pressing local needs, Henrico County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett said.

"With the economy the way it is, we don't know how long they may have to play at The Diamond," he said. And glancing up at the massive concrete stadium, Hazelett quipped, "I think it looks fantastic."

Contact Will Jones at (804) 649-6911 or wjones@timesdispatch.com.

January 2008: The Atlanta Braves announce their Class AAA franchise will relocate after the 2008 season to Gwinnett County, Ga.

February 2008: A group of local investors (Richmond Baseball Club LC) investigates the purchase of a franchise in Class AA, the highest level available.

July 2008: A few Eastern League franchise owners express interest in relocating to Richmond. Connecticut was slow in attendance for several years and was viewed as a top candidate.

May 2009: Eastern League President Joe McEacharn pledges to Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones that one of the Class AA league's 12 franchises will move to Richmond for 2010.

May 2009: Richmond Baseball Club LC fails to raise the money to buy the Connecticut Defenders for $15.4 million by the agreed-upon deadline.

June 2009: Lou DiBella, Connecticut's managing partner, requests permission from Minor League Baseball to explore the Richmond market.

September 2009: Connecticut franchise moves to Richmond.

LOU DIBELLA

President and CEO

Age: 49

Hometown: Brooklyn, N.Y.

Education: Tufts University (Medford, Mass.), Harvard Law School

Notable: boxing promoter and founder of DiBella Entertainment . . . practiced law for four years . . . spent 11 years with HBO sports . . . made professional acting debut in "Rocky Balboa."

Quotable: "We have an obligation to make Richmond and the surrounding communities a better place. And I can assure you, this team will do just that."

CHUCK DOMINO

Chief executive manager

Age: 49

Hometown: Pittsburgh

Education: St. Thomas University (Miami)

Notable: president, Class AAA Lehigh Valley . . . general manager, Class AA Reading, 1988-2006 . . . resigned yesterday as president of Reading franchise, also in Eastern League.

Quotable, on The Diamond: "The first thing I said was 'We've got to get new seats.'"

TODD PARNELL

Vice president and chief operating officer

Age: 43

Hometown: Locust, N.C.

Education: Messiah College (Grantham, Pa.)

Notable: assistant general manager, Class AA Reading . . . general manager, Class A Kannapolis . . . general manager, Class AA Altoona . . . minority partner, Class A Myrtle Beach, Class A State College.

Quotable: "We're not in the baseball business. We're not in the entertainment business. We're in the memory-making business."

BILL PAPIERNIAK

General manager

Age: 36

Hometown: Fauquier County

Education: James Madison University

Notable: director of group sales and promotions, Class A Lynchburg . . . assistant general manager, Class A Hagerstown . . . worked the past five years as general manager, Class A Daytona.

Quotable: "We certainly have every intention of the entire lower bowl being sold out in season tickets."