From the RTD: http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news ... r-1238694/ Appears our baseball team will be playing at the Diamond for another 4 years. There are plans to add a seperate team locker room, something to call home, but that will not occur until a new stadium is built. The article mentions a $50M budget for the new stadium. That seems awful low for a new facility. Granted, the economy is not the best, but everyone benefits with modern, public facilities. Appears the city and area will continue to regress and potentially lose the Flying Squirrels.
Will keeping the FS here ever generate 50 million in revenue? I think they have been doing a fantastic job of getting fans to come back to the diamond for baseball, and proven that a new stadium is not necessary.
Maybe not to this date but come another 18 months the conversation will start to heat up again. A new stadium is needed, no way around it.
Its the organization that wants it more than anything. I do agree they have done a great job bringing people back but to make teams stay in Richmond a new stadium has to be done or Squirrels will eventually leave as well.
The Diamond is antiquated and in some places, potentially structurally unsound. Remember the concrete falling? However, what may even be worse; if the city does not have the ability to fund the Diamond replacement, wonder how they will replace the brown dump? Yeager may actually pull the tournament if nothing is done to replace the Coliseum within a couple of years. Not our "home court", however, it is a dump.
Greater Richmond Chamber of Commerce officials confirm that they are talking with the Richmond Flying Squirrels about building a new baseball stadium in Shockoe Bottom. Chamber officials said the conversation is moving away from a new stadium being a regional effort. Instead, they are talking with the team about a new stadium being an economic development project for the city. Chamber President Kim Scheeler said Henrico and Chesterfield Counties have indicated they are not prepared to help finance a new stadium next to The Diamond along the Boulevard in Richmond. Proposals for a Shockoe Bottom stadium have fizzled in years past, including a proposal by the Richmond Ballpark Initiative back before the former occupants of The Diamond, the AAA Richmond Braves, left for Georgia. The Diamond is currently owned by the Richmond Metropolitan Authority. RMA officials told the Richmond Times-Dispatch they were unaware of any current discussions about a new stadium in Shockoe Bottom. http://www.wric.com/story/19156439/new-baseball-stadium-could-be-coming-to-shockoe-bottom
Can you give me any reasons why a new Coliseum is needed? The CAA tournament will leave Richmond as the conference power shifts north. Richmond no longer makes sense for a conference with most of the teams in the Northeast. That leaves Arena football and the circus to use the Coliseum. Not worth the investment. As for a new Diamond on the Boulevard, the city would get a better return if they burned the money.
I can see my apartment in that picture! That lot is parking and a vegetable garden now. Good a place as any, but I sure hope they have a plan for parking facilities because I can say from experience it ain't great down here.
They have been talking about a new stadium since about the turn of the century...first-rebuilt at the current diamond, then build downtown, perhaps city stadium....blah, blah, blah. If anyone things that Richmond will have a new stadium or even a dedicated site and plan in just the next three years then I have a great investment opportunity for you....it is called the bradramfan fund and offers a 500% return guaranteed for the next 5 years. PM me and I wiull tell you where you can send me all your money. How anyone can take the Richmond city council and mayor seriously is beyond me. All they do is fund studies (with probably some great kick backs) to assess the potential of the possibility of the needed requirment of a new facility somewhere within the limits of Richmond and the surrounding area. I think they are just waiting for the state to fund a new VCU stadium so that the squirrels can play there and the city can reap the benefits.
they need to build it on the old reynolds site in Manchester with the skyline as a backdrop. but it won't happen...afterall it is the City of Richmond
