Independent league is ready to pitch in Richmond
Along with its plan to essentially rebuild The Diamond, Opening Day Partners would like Richmond leaders to consider putting an independent-league franchise in the made-over facility.
Minor League Baseball franchises are affiliated with Major League Baseball organizations. Independent leagues, such as the Atlantic League, are not.
Opening Day Partners, which this week released its proposal for a $28 million transformation of The Diamond, owns three of the eight Atlantic League franchises with local partners, and operates a fourth. "The Atlantic League would love to make a presentation and show Richmond how much we want to be there," said Peter Kirk, chairman of ODP. He added that the Atlantic League will make an expansion team available to Richmond for next season.
Kirk said Opening Day Partners also welcomes the opportunity to transform The Diamond for a Minor League Baseball franchise.
The Class AA Eastern League, part of Minor League Baseball, pledged to Richmond one of its 12 franchises for next season. Local investors failed in a bid to buy the Connecticut Defenders for $15.4 million. Minor League Baseball oversees a potential franchise sale and/or relocation it hopes to finalize by Aug. 1.
Eastern League President Joe McEacharn promised a "tightly managed process." Representatives of Ryan-Sanders, a well-regarded ownership group, late last month visited Richmond to investigate the situation. Reid Ryan, the firm's president, said this week "because of baseball rules, we are not allowed to comment on the market. Everything has to go through the Eastern League."
Asked for an update, McEacharn this week said "I really can't give any specifics other than to say we are continuing to explore a number of different options."
Kirk, a former owner of Baltimore Orioles' affiliates, called the Atlantic League "equivalent to Triple-A hitting and fielding, Double-A pitching." Independent-league players are commonly signed by affiliated teams. Since the Atlantic League launched in 1998, more than 600 players with major-league experience have joined its teams, according to the league. This season, Carl Everett, Armando Benitez, Jay Gibbons, Esteban Yan and Preston Wilson are among the ex-big-leaguers.
Atlantic League franchises are in Bridgeport, Conn., Camden, N.J., Lancaster, Pa., Long Island, N.Y., Newark, N.J., Somerset, N.J., Southern Maryland (Waldorf) and York, Pa., and clubs usually have former big-leaguers as managers. This season, Gary Carter, Butch Hobson, Tim Raines, Sparky Lyle and Tommy John are managing.
Average Eastern League attendance this season is 4,146. Average Atlantic League attendance is 3,895. Kirk said locales involved with the Atlantic League find it features "great baseball, but also, quite frankly, the community gets a better financial deal with the Atlantic League."
If an ownership group pays $15 million for a franchise, for instance, in most cases that doesn't leave much for ownership to contribute to a new stadium, Kirk said. An Atlantic League expansion franchise would require approximately $7 million "to buy the franchise, set it up and do all of the things you have to do," Kirk said. "You have so much more [financial] room to work."
Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or
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Reader Reactions
Oh dear God Almighty. Even AA ball would be better than a no-talent league. VCU could beat half those teams. Are we going to allow a major metropolitan area like Richmond to fall so far that we accept a bunch of no-talent losers coached by has-beens who wave their little caps in the air every game and collect a paycheck?
Cabbage: As a matter of fact, I have walked both sites, and I agree with you that a ballpark would look great in Manchester. That doesn’t mean it’s a better site.
I disagree that Frank Ricks would have a different opinion today. The fact is, nothing has changed in Shockoe Bottom, and isn’t that really part of the problem?
Manchester has a lot of positive things going for it, so yes let’s keep promoting redevelopment. What Shockoe Bottom has that Manchester doesn’t is an abundance of available off-peak parking, walking distance from all the downtown restaurants and office buidlings, and proximity to Main Street Station. The potential traffic problems in Shockoe Bottom (although manageable) have not been mentioned recently because of the focus on other non-issues; but they would be much worse in Manchester.
The problem is not lack of vision, it’s lack of leadership.
Well, Hate does have some points… Charlotte and Raleigh are miles ahead of Richmond… In comparison, Richmond does look like a poe-duck-town…
VaRoadWarrior….Have you even truly scrutinized the Manchester location I have mentioned several times in previous posts? Have you walked around the area and visualized how a ballpark would fit? Have you done the same in Shockoe Bottom?
Well this link will tell you about the genesis of the ballpark in the Bottom idea way back in early 2004:
http://www.baconsrebellion.com/Issues04/08-23/Bacon.htm
If Frank Ricks had toured Richmond today instead five years ago he probably wouldn’t have found the Bottom to be the most desirable spot for a ballpark. In 2004, major revitalization of Manchester had not occured and the Reynolds Foil Plant was not available. Both of these factors have changed. Ricks looked in Manchester years ago, but today he would have come to a different conclusion about the best place for a ballpark. The Crupi Report gave Manchester a thumbs up, but was ignored. You, VaRoadWarrior, simply have no vision.
Hate, your name says it all, you Hate Richmond. Talk about civic pride, you have none. So just leave and change your name to Love Charlotte, or Raleigh.
ramfan: I don’t know what they’re teaching you over at VCU, but it’s obviously not civic pride. first of all, if you’re happy about your life here, it’s obvious you don’t need baseball in your life. If that is true, why are you even making comments under this article? Why don’t you just step back?
Face it; Raleigh and Charlotte passed Richmond a long time ago and aren’t looking back. That’s Richmond’s problem: they look back too much. Richmond isn’t a Savannah or Charleston (which, by the way, have minor league baseball) where it’s cool to look back. Richmond is dead inside.
I just say to all that hate it here so much, leave. You all know you have it made here, so you just complain. Go to Charlotte, go to Raleigh. Ride your little choo choo train and tell us how good you have it down there.
Richmond has become such a suck *#% town - it doesn’t even have a real mayor so how do you expect any true leadership. I have long ago given up on this place, no hope for anything “big” anymore. I was in college down in North Carolina back in late ‘70s - early ‘80s, when Charlotte was positioning itself for pro sports. I still remember the pride I had in Richmond and how I told all those North Carolinian’s how neat a city Richmond was back then. I’ve watched Charlotte get light rail up and running & 2 pro sports teams - one of which is football - can’t get any bigger than that. Then Raleigh got pro Hockey and they are talking light rail. Richmond is talking about an independent baseball team and maybe running a bus from Rockett’s landing to Willow lawn. WOW! My guess is this place will rank somewhere below Beaverdam and Mineral 10 years from now.
By the way: Hampton Roads at least strives for good things. They have AHL hockey and AAA baseball… even though their arena is on level with the coliseum. Richmond strives to be on the level with….I can’t even talk about small towns because a lot of them have some sort of affiliated baseball (Roanoke, Lynchburg, Danville, Bristol, etc.). We want to strive to be even worse.
The site is fine. I have no problem with the site. It’s the TEAM that I have a problem with. You can build a Taj Mahal of a stadium, but if you put a crappy team in it the appeal goes away real fast.
Quit settling for below mediocrity and strive for something good (I’m not even saying great…just good…is that OK?)
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