By DAVID RESS AND MICHAEL MARTZ
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITERS
This will be the final season for the Richmond Braves in the city they've called home for more than four decades.
The parent Atlanta Braves gave up on Richmond after months of waiting for a ballpark proposal promised by Mayor L. Douglas Wilder and years of talks over failed proposals for a stadium downtown, in Fulton Bottom or on the Boulevard.
They will move their class AAA Richmond farm team to Gwinnett County, Ga., in suburban Atlanta, for the start of the 2009 season. "It was delay, lack of clarity on financing and this opportunity coming along," Michael Plant, Atlanta Braves executive vice president, said yesterday when asked the reasons for the move.
"We've been at this for a long time, and there was no clear end in sight," he said, referring to the team's efforts to nail down a place to play ball in Richmond. The Braves' announcement came days after the city unveiled a consultant's plan to redevelop the Boulevard, including building a new ballpark. In June, the city told the Braves it would hire a consultant and outlined a timeline for the plan -- more than a year after Wilder declared the Boulevard would be the Braves' home after the collapse of his proposal to move the team to Fulton Bottom.
"No, they didn't hit it at all," Plant said when asked if the city met that schedule.
"Between June and January, I talked with someone for 45 minutes," Plant said. "I rest my case."
He would not comment when asked if the Georgians offered sweeter financial terms than the $15 million, 20-year lease the Braves had said they were willing to sign in Richmond. The team offered to pay five times as much rent for a new Richmond stadium as they now pay for The Diamond but was unable to get local governments to agree.
The Braves -- to be called the Gwinnett Braves -- will leave what Plant called the worst ballpark in Triple-A baseball for a new facility.
Gwinnett started talking seriously about building a ballpark two years ago. At the time, Braves officials told the county they weren't interested in moving the team from Richmond, Plant said.
"I'm not angry. I'm surprised," Wilder said.
He said baseball teams had approached city officials as recently as two months ago, but added that the city did not actively pursue the opportunity because they believed they were negotiating in good faith with the Richmond Braves. He said two teams had already called the city. City officials would not name them.
"The mayor and his people need to understand that what they don't do has an impact on all of us," said Charlie Diradour, a Richmond real estate investor. "What they do and what they don't do has an impact on this city."
"What do I tell my 6-year-old who says, 'I want to go to a baseball game.'? I have to say, 'Honey, there are no baseball games.'"
Longtime fan William Sawyer, a Midlothian engineer who takes his grandson to The Diamond a dozen times a year, said he thinks Wilder and his top officials created an unfriendly environment for the Braves.
"They really just messed up -- this is a lost opportunity," he said.
City Council President William J. Pantele was also frustrated.
"What the hell are we supposed to do? This was the mayor's project." As for the Braves, Pantele said, "I think they tried and did everything they could, and they were not treated well by the Wilder administration."
City officials and the Braves have been talking about where the team would play since 2003, when plans to renovate The Diamond stalled after developers and the Braves began pushing for a Shockoe Bottom park.
"Baseball's like any business. After five years, you've got to say, 'How long are we going to wait?"" said Jon Newman, cofounder of The Hodges Partnership, a marketing firm. He said it will take a major effort to woo a new team -- with the key issue still unresolved.. "Even a Double-A or Single-A team is going to want a new stadium, and you're right back at square one," he said.
Henrico County Manager Virgil R. Hazelett said the Braves might have been frustrated by the slow pace of progress, but added: "They had accepted that timetable. They understood what was going on."
Hazelett said he was surprised by the news. So were Braves' neighbors at The Diamond.
"It kind of just shakes everybody up," said Rhoda Elliot, owner of Bill's Barbecue, which operates a restaurant on the Boulevard across from the stadium and another a few blocks away near West Broad Street.
"It's the unknown that people are not crazy about," Elliott said. "Having a business down there, the unknown is not that great for me, either."
Contact David Ress at (804) 649-6051 or dress@timesdispatch.com.
Contact Michael Martz at (804) 649-6964 or mmartz @timesdispatch.com.
Staff writers Cynthia McMullen and Will Jones contributed to this report.
Click for online petition to keep the Braves in town - http://www.savetherbraves.com/
Click Here to Clovia's Interview with Mayor Wilder
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