'Passion for success'

Bryan Bostic says he went to 15 to 20 Richmond Braves games a year during more than two decades as an area resident. He reached a conclusion about baseball on the minor-league level.

"Without question, of all of the sports we have available to us for family entertainment, this is by far the best one," Bostic said. "You can sit and enjoy a not necessarily fast-paced game, but a game that enables you to sit and talk with your children or your friends in a relaxed atmosphere at a price that is extremely affordable."

He doesn't want Richmond to whiff on that experience, one reason Bostic leads a group of investors who hope to bring a minor-league franchise to Richmond. Atlanta relocated its Class AAA franchise from Richmond to Gwinnett County, Ga., at the end of last season because the Braves were dissatisfied with The Diamond and the lack of a firm plan to replace it.

"I think Richmond has seen a new light with the passing of the Braves," Bostic said.

Though Bostic says he believes Richmond is a Triple-A city, there are no Class AAA franchises currently for sale in the International League territory. Bostic's group is looking at the next-highest level, Class AA. The cost of one of those franchises is likely to be $13 million to $15 million.

"It's going to take a huge investment in order to bring a team to Richmond," Bostic said. "However, we are willing to make that investment because this started and ends as a community opportunity.

"Yes, of course, we want to not lose money. But this is not a home run, if you will, like a private-equity deal."

Bostic was part of the Richmond Ballpark Initiative, a group of local businessmen formed about five years ago to explore the possibility of a ballpark in Shockoe Bottom. RBI's plan faded when the Braves brought in another development group and its proposal was rejected, primarily because of financing concerns.

Family history influenced Bostic's RBI involvement and kept him in the game this time around. During the mid-1950s, his grandfather, Ed Phillips, was instrumental in raising funds 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.

"I've known [Bostic] since he started getting involved in [RBI] and long before that, and it truly is a passion," said Michael Lowe, founder and president of Richmond-based SMARTBOX, with which Bostic is a major investor. "He's not in it from a business aspect solely, and I would say you've got to have a pretty strong passion to stick with it as long as he has.

"That's part of Bryan. The passion for success and building something, growing something, keeps him excited."

Bostic reluctantly revealed that his group of investors includes more than 10 members. He is the only publicly identified face and voice among them. According to Pete Boisseau of Boisseau Partners, the communications agency involved with the baseball project, the investment group has not been finalized. Major investors are on board, but the group's size probably will grow as more information about the project becomes available, Boisseau suggested. He added that investors commonly remain publicly unknown in a private venture such as this, but a list of Bostic's partners is likely to become public if the group reaches its goal of acquiring a team.

The baseball plan depends on Richmond's City Council going forward with a transformation of the North Boulevard area and Shockoe Bottom, where a $60 million ballpark with a capacity of 8,500 would be built.

"I think things are moving along with the proposals having been made to the city," said Tim Purpura, executive vice president of Minor League Baseball, which is coordinating the process of replacing the R-Braves. According to Bostic, his group and Minor League Baseball feel strongly that it is essential for a new facility to be built for baseball to be viable in Richmond.

Said Purpura: "There are a lot of parts to this that Minor League Baseball does not control. This is a city-county municipality type of a situation in great part. That combination of the political structure there in Richmond coming together and working with [a franchise owner] to get the stadium situation squared away, that's what's going to be the most important thing in this."

While Bostic says he loves baseball, tennis was the sport he played at James Madison University, and he continues to play at the Country Club of Virginia. Eric Martin, a business colleague and friend, played in tournaments with Bostic as a youth. Martin said Bostic "was a very competitive junior tennis player and that competitiveness is something you see throughout Bryan's life. He doesn't like to lose."

Bostic "was a good overall athlete," said Lem Doss, who played with Bostic on the Hampton Roads Academy basketball team. Bostic was a quick point guard who passed well, Doss said.

Bostic also played football and golf. "Bryan is a natural athlete," Martin said. "He was a guy who maintained an interest in multiple sports."

Bostic's financial portfolio began to expand rapidly after he moved to Richmond in 1985 and launched 2B Technology. "I always wanted to create a product that I could market on my own and build as my own," Bostic said.

He hit it big. 2B Technology became a global ticketing and reservation business for museums, zoos and other attractions. Among Bostic's 350 worldwide clients were the Guggenheim Museum in New York City, the U.S. Capitol and Monticello. 2B Technology had four employees in 1996, and 110 in 2000.

That year, Ticketmaster Online-CitySearch Inc. acquired the company in a reported $23 million, all-stock deal. Bostic then started investment companies, and in 2004 became chairman of the board for SMARTBOX, a business involving portable storage units. "Chairman of the Box" is how Bostic is known at SMARTBOX, Lowe said.

Now, with partners, Bostic wants to own a baseball team. Its arrival in Richmond, perhaps in 2010 with The Diamond as home field until the new stadium materializes a year or two later, hinges on Richmond's approval of the $785 million, two-pronged development advanced by Highwoods Properties.

"A great opportunity has been put in front of the community that is solutions-oriented, that transforms two key areas of the city and, most important, has a long-term vision that enhances the urban core of our region," Bostic said.

"I'm extremely encouraged about where we are, and about where we're going."
Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or joconnor@timesdispatch.com.