Nolan Ryan’s business looking into Richmond situation
2004 / AP Photo / Pat Sullivan
Baseball Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan is investigating possible investment in an Eastern League franchise for Richmond.
Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan's Texas-based baseball business is sending representatives to Richmond this week to investigate possible ownership of the Eastern League franchise that is to move here next season.
Also, more than one Double-A Eastern League franchise wants to relocate to Richmond, sources recently confirmed.
Ryan-Sanders Baseball owns and operates two Texas franchises, Triple-A Round Rock (near Austin) and Double-A Corpus Christi; both are affiliated with the Houston Astros. Ryan is president of the Texas Rangers.
Ryan, his son Reid Ryan and Houston businessman Don Sanders established Ryan-Sanders Baseball, which includes several former professional players as minority shareholders.
"We're going to come over and take a look at the market and just kind of get a feel for what's happening in Richmond," Reid Ryan said yesterday.
"We have two clubs right now. We've been doing this since 1998, and during that time, we've looked at deals from California all the way to the East Coast, and we've only done two.
"Whenever there's a situation where there maybe is a change of ownership, or there's a possibility of a new team coming in, or a team moving around, we always try to at least get a meeting with the players and kind of see what's going on in the market, see if there somehow would be a fit for us."
Ryan called the trip "a preliminary look," but he also said that "we wouldn't be coming over and taking a look if we didn't feel Richmond was a great baseball town."
Ryan-Sanders Baseball, if it enters the Richmond market, could become the majority owner of the Eastern League franchise headed to Richmond, with Richmond Baseball Club LC serving as minority/operating partner.
Bryan Bostic, chairman of RBC, could not be reached for comment. RBC has been trying to purchase the Connecticut Defenders of the Eastern League, but two sources said the potential local ownership group hasn't met the sale price of $15.4 million.
The Erie, Pa., franchise of the Eastern League also may be an option for relocation to Richmond, according to sources, who declined to be named because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations.
The Eastern League and Minor League Baseball have assured Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones that one of the league's 12 franchises will be in Richmond next season. The team is to play at The Diamond until Richmond finds a long-term ballpark solution.
No Eastern League franchise has been identified formally for relocation.
"Richmond has had a great history of baseball over the years and has always been talked about as a superb market," Reid Ryan said. "I have some friends, some people who played there, and everybody I've talked to says great things about the city and says great things about the baseball fans in the area."
Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or
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Also, there are years and years of incidences where Richmond, the population, DID support a baseball team with a lesser Metro Richmond population than we have now. Check the early 2000s and you’ll see that the R-Braves were thriving. That’s my evidence that people in Richmond love baseball, where’s yours?
You guys say “Richmond won’t support a team,“ yet the mayor says we’re guaranteed a AA team next year. The Eastern League won’t let a team stay here unless we build a new stadium or *seriously* refurbish the diamond (again, this re-design will need to be drastic…say goodbye to the upper bowl).
Point is, if the mayor is so sure that we’re getting a team, you can be sure he’s going to want to keep that team - meaning Richmond WILL support a baseball team whether you guys want it or not.
I feel bad for all the kids and grandkids of the people who are so negative on this project. You all have no idea (or perhaps have forgotten) the joy that sports can bring to a child, especially when its *their* town and *their* local professional sports stars. These players and teams can have a pretty large effect on a locality with all the community service efforts they put in, and just by being role models for kids.
ps - whoever stated there are new taxes…there are no new taxes being imposed upon the citizens, aka you won’t owe any more in taxes.
pps - with all the tax revenue this development will bring, more of the public works and other programs you all support will be funded. That area currently brings in *very* little revenue, it could use a huge boost like Shockoe Center.
Greetings from Round Rock, Texas, home of the Round Rock Express, AAA affiliate of the Houston Astros. The Greater Austin area did not have professional baseball for 32 years until the Ryans came to town. They worked out a jointly financed ballpark (Dell Diamond) with the city of Round Rock, and it has been a success ever since the first day. The Ryan-Sanders group knows how to attract fans, even though the product is determined by the Astros. Richmond will not be disappointed if the Ryan-Sanders group secures a franchise for the city. Round Rock broke attendance figures just about every year we had a AA team, and we remain among the top three drawing teams in all of minor league baseball. I can assure you that Ryan-Sanders Baseball is a first class organization.
Wow how much more dysfunctional can Richmond get? Makes me want to move somewhere more exciting where I don’t have to continuously hear the negative crap from people like they talk about here. How about we try to be positive about this instead of showing a negative hateful attitude towards what people are trying to do here. You know thats how Gwinnett got the Braves was because they stayed positive and had a vision and did more doing than talking about it.
Nolan save your money,so the taxpayers of Richmond can save theirs.
Why would Nolan want anything to do with this dysfunctional place?
He would have better luck trying to accomplish peace in the Middle East.
To baseballan12: there is no irony here - just abuse of public funds. When this thing gets built and the promised businesses don’t materialize (and they won’t - look at the history of failed ventures in recent years that were built on the same faulty premise) where do you think the money is going to come from? You think it costs a fortune to live and eat in the City now - just wait. But hey - if you and the developers are so sure it’s going to be a huge success, you pay for it and keep all of th millions in profits you’re so sure will come rolling in.
As for kids learning Richmond’s history by being close to it - take a field trip. That’s assuming, of course, that you can find any of Richmond’s real history still being taught. Most it has been re-written or removed so we can all be politically correct.
“Have sports fans put their money where their mouth is.“ The ironic thing is that the funding program would work just like that. The stadium would be paid for by people who use the offices, hotel, restaurants, ballpark, parking, etc. in the development. If someone goes to a restaurant in the development, they’re putting their playing an active role in what they want their tax dollars to be spent on.
And here’s another crazy thought - our youth would learn about Richmond history by being close to it, not reading about it in a book. I can’t say my son would be excited if I asked him to go see the giant gravel parking lot downtown where some of Richmond’s most important history took place. Preserve what we know and experience it through additional means.
Simply put, if you want it? Pay for it. No taxpayer money, no new taxes, sell IPO stock in the venture, and let it stand on it’s own merit.
Overheard from another born/bred Central Virginian, “Why should Hanover, Henrico, or Chesterfield pay for a stadium in Richmond? Most people move to those localities to ESCAPE going to Richmond!“
The counties have given enough money to ventures in the city that have failed miserably.
Here we go again. Every time an article apppears in the RTD about (or related to) the Shockoe Bottom Stadium proposal the comments are overwhelmingly against it. Richmond and the surrounding counties are not going to support baseball in the Bottom. Period.
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