Nolan Ryan group visiting Richmond today

Whataburger Field
Location: Corpus Christi, Texas (adjacent to downtown)

Capacity: 5,050 fixed seats, room for 2,000 more on grass berm

Cost: approximately $25 million when built in 2005

Financing: being paid for by the city of Corpus Christi through bonds

Franchise: Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks (Houston Astros)

The Dell Diamond
Location: Round Rock, Texas (suburb of Austin)

Capacity: 8,722 fixed seats, room for 3,000 more on grass berm

Cost: approximately $25 million when built in 2000 ($1.6 million expansion in 2004)

Financing: shared between the city of Round Rock and Ryan-Sanders Baseball

Affiliation: Triple-A Round Rock Express (Houston Astros)

The Dell Diamond

(Round Rock, Texas)

Round Rock was a Double-A franchise from 2000 to 2004 and set Double-A attendance records. Became a Triple-A franchise in 2005 and has been among Triple-A attendance leaders. Includes a conference center; swimming pool and picnic area beyond right-field wall; playground with climbing wall; and a basketball court. Also hosts amateur and college sports events as well as concerts, craft shows and other activities.

Reid and Reese Ryan, of Ryan-Sanders Baseball, will visit The Diamond and the proposed site of a Shockoe Bottom ballpark today and then attend an evening meeting with community leaders and Eastern League President Joe McEacharn.

When the sons of Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan return to Texas, presumably they'll do so with a better sense of whether they should continue exploring potential ownership of the Double-A Eastern League franchise coming to Richmond next season, and the possibility of building a stadium here.

"I don't want to get the cart in front of the horse here and get people too excited that we're coming into the market or that we might be doing something," Reid Ryan, 37 and among the owners of Ryan-Sanders Baseball, said yesterday. Reese Ryan, 34, also is an owner.

"I don't know if we're the right fit," Reid Ryan said. "It would be great if we were, but there are a lot of things that have to happen before these deals ever come to fruition."

Ryan-Sanders Baseball, founded by Nolan Ryan and former Houston Astros owner Don Sanders, owns and operates two minor-league teams in Texas: the Triple-A Round Rock Express, near Austin, and the Double-A Corpus Christi Hooks. The clubs regularly are among their minor-league levels' attendance leaders.

Ryan-Sanders Baseball also is involved in the design and construction of ballparks in those locales.

Ryan-Sanders Baseball, or another majority owner, could address Richmond's ballpark problem by being a significant contributor to a new facility. The Eastern League franchise would play at The Diamond for at least the next two seasons.

"Round Rock was the first ballpark we built; Corpus Christi was the second," Sanders said. "We certainly, I think, built a better ballpark in Corpus than we did in Round Rock, because we obviously learned things.

"You'd like to think if we got involved and built a ballpark [in Richmond], then guess what? We would certainly hope that that's the best ballpark of the three."

Reid and Reese Ryan have discussed with Sanders the possibility of expanding Ryan-Sanders Baseball to include Richmond.

"They have gone over all of the parts, and it does sound very, very interesting. In fact, it sounds about as good as one can imagine," said Sanders, 73.

"We get a tremendous number of inquiries, a tremendous number of people who want us to move to this city and that city. We can't be in every place, and we're not going to be.

"But [Richmond] does seem like a unique situation. We certainly have the financial ability to make things happen."

Sanders said the Ryan brothers hope to learn whether the Richmond opportunity appeals to Ryan-Sanders Baseball; whether the situation makes sense economically for the company's shareholders; and whether the Texas company could run a Virginia franchise effectively without spreading itself too thin.

Ryan-Sanders Baseball, or another organization, could enter Richmond as the majority owner of the Eastern League franchise with local investors as minority partners/operators.

It's likely that other potential ownership groups will visit Richmond in comparable exploratory missions, said Pete Boisseau, a spokesman working with local investors.

Richmond investors are seeking a partnership with a majority owner, such as Ryan-Sanders Baseball. Richmond Baseball Club LC, a group of local investors, intended to purchase and operate the franchise. RBC has been unable to meet the Connecticut Defenders' sale price of $15.4 million, according to sources.

"As we seek the right business partnership for the Richmond community, we anticipate tapping into several resources within the industry and considering any number of different combinations to fulfill our quest for the right partnership for a long-term solution in Richmond," said McEacharn, the Eastern League president.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is scheduled to meet tomorrow with the Ryans.

"My role is to let them know that we want to have baseball in Richmond," Jones said yesterday. "We're excited that Richmond is on their radar screen as a good place for baseball to be played."

Jones won't be able to attend tonight's meeting. Instead, he will be part of a regularly scheduled gathering of top officials from the city and the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Henrico to discuss issues of regional interest.

Jones said he hadn't considered bringing up baseball at the meeting and was more focused on talking about extending high-speed rail to the area.

Contact John O'Connor at (804) 649-6233 or joconnor@timesdispatch.com.

Staff writer Will Jones contributed to this report.