Font ResizeLess than two years after building a minor-league baseball ballpark in York -- and less than a year after building a ballpark in Waldorf, Md. -- minor-league developer Peter Kirk has submitted plans to build a $40 million stadium in Richmond, Va.
One plan calls for the Atlantic League to plant an expansion franchise in Richmond next season and play in the city's aging ballpark, The Diamond, until construction is completed on a new 8,500-seat stadium. The Diamond is an antiquated stadium built on a 60-acre parcel in the city's Boulevard area near the Interstate 95 corridor. The site has featured a minor-league ballpark since 1954, and The Diamond has hosted the Richmond Braves -- a Triple-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves -- since 1985.
The Atlantic League schedule for 2009 has been placed on hold, Kirk said, because the league has several options for next year, including adding two new teams.
"The league is prepared to bring back (the all-travel Road Warriors), but there are a couple other communities getting close (to building stadiums)," said Kirk, the chairman of the ownership group Opening Day Partners, which operates teams in York, Lancaster, Southern Maryland and Camden, N.J. "Another team could play in a temporary location next year."
One area of particular interest is Loudon County in northern Virginia.
"It's not likely, but it could happen," Kirk said.
Kirk said his group would not operate the team in northern Virginia.
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If the plans come to fruition, Richmond would be the second-largest market in the Atlantic League. The Long Island Ducks, based out of Central Islip, N.Y., would have the only market larger than Richmond in the league.
"To bring that market into the Atlantic League would be amazing," said York Revolution general manager Matt O'Brien, who previously worked at the Braves' Class A affiliate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. "Minor-league baseball is all about finding quality markets, and the number of quality markets that don't have teams is shrinking.
"Also ... looking at when the league's schedule starts in late April, there's nothing wrong with having a team in a Southern market."
Richmond has become a battleground for minor-league baseball operators because the Atlanta Braves pulled out of Richmond at the end of the International League's regular season. The Braves ended a 43-year relationship with the city and will move their Triple-A squad to a new stadium in Gwinnett County, Ga., in suburban Atlanta.
Kirk is one of two reported developers interested in planting a team in the Richmond market, and the first to make his plans public. Not surprisingly, he has borrowed ideas from his parks in York, Lancaster and Southern Maryland. And he's also gone a step further.
Renderings of the planned stadium feature a brick facade, manual scoreboard and carousel similar to York. Two unique aspects of Kirk's Richmond plan, however, could provide it with the political backing it will need for the city to pursue an Atlantic League club instead of an affiliated team.
Kirk's group already has the backing of Robert Bobb, a former Richmond city manager. Bobb submitted a revitalization proposal for the 60 acres surrounding The Diamond. The land currently houses a building for the city's maintenance vehicles -- but has been underused according to Kirk. Kirk submitted his 20-page ballpark proposal at the end of Bobb's proposal to revitalize the area.
"The City of Richmond should have a baseball team, and even if our proposal is not chosen, the city should move forward with Peter," Bobb wrote in an e-mail to the Richmond Times-Dispatch. "What Peter delivers is more than baseball."
Kirk's group also plans to build a miniature golf course, skate park and a domed facility beyond the outfield fences at its ballpark. The domed building is tentatively called the Brooks Robinson Life-Skills Center, named after the Hall of Famer who is a member of the ODP ownership group.
Capable of hosting indoor sporting events, the building will primarily function as an after-school educational meeting area for students who have been nominated for various programs by their schools.
"It is one (of our strongest proposals)," Kirk said, "because we had the time to analyze the market.
"The Richmond team was operated by the Atlanta Braves and run almost exclusively from the baseball side. They did not operate like we operate a team. They did not have reading programs, community outreach, corporate gatherings and concerts."
Similar to his plans for York, Kirk has offered to fund a portion of the stadium. The trouble with Richmond will be the politics.
Virginia has no program to aid in the construction of stadiums, like the $13.5 million used to build Sovereign Bank Stadium. So Kirk has not settled on just one location for a new stadium. He has also said he is willing to bring an affiliated baseball team to his ballpark in two or three years.
He took a similar approach in York, but after running several Orioles affiliates for more than a decade, Kirk has not returned to affiliated baseball since his group sold all their holdings -- including the Double-A Bowie Baysox and Class A Frederick Keys and Delmarva Shorebirds in 2000.
One real concern for the Atlantic League could be moving into a historic Triple-A market with no affiliation and no new ballpark.
Would fans in Richmond be interested in independent baseball?
"You have to stop and look at the whole spectrum ... a vast number of people are turning to minor league baseball for the primary reason it is family entertainment," Kirk said. "And that's why there are some rookie league teams that outdraw Triple-A teams.
"There are no Triple-A teams available right now, so that's not a possibility. Richmond has three options if they want another team: the Atlantic League, Double-A or Single-A."
The Atlantic League could keep Richmond from losing baseball.
"In an ideal world you would want a new park next year, but that just won't happen. And even though it's not ideal, it's beneficial to keep playing baseball next year," Kirk said. "You have to recognize what happens -- even to cities like York -- when they lose a long-time team. The city figures it can go without a team for a year before getting another one back. One year turns into two, and two turns into three and so on."
jseip@ydr.com; 771-2025
TWINBILL TODAY
The York Revolution's game against Long Island on Saturday was rained out. The game will be made up as part of a doubleheader starting at 1:37 p.m. today at Sovereign Bank Stadium.
The gates at the stadium will open at noon. There will be a roughly 30-minute break in between games.
Atlantic League rules dictate that doubleheader games last just seven innings apiece, not nine.
Fans who had tickets to Saturday's game may exchange them for any remaining 2008 Revolution home game, based on availability, team officials said.
Today's pregame festivities will include the second annual Guns 'N Hoses softball championship, pitting fire department professionals against their police counterparts.
