Take Me Out to the Ball Game: The Impact of Sports Venue Development

So Larry, right back, let's go to the, the core question here.

How has the world changed in that sports and real estate now go hand in hand? I'm not saying they were separate before, but now they're hand in hand.

Yeah.

I mean, what, what's interesting and, uh, specific to Richmond, it takes more than just a stadium.

I mean, we were right across the street.

That stadium has been around for 40 years.

We were there for 15.

We did really well, right? 'Cause we established ourselves in the community.

The Squirrels are a big deal here.

And we were able to put 7,000 or 8,000 people a night into-

Mm-hmm

...

the diamond.

But the area around this didn't really, you know, gentrify until the rest of Richmond started to gentrify in this area.

You know, what's interesting about it is it takes a little bit more than just, let's plop a stadium down here.

You need public/private partnership.

You need resources from the municipality to make the numbers work.

I mean, that's the bottom line.

If you go through the history of how we got here, and if the city didn't just step up, Richmond and the mayor, and write us a check to help build this stadium, it would've never happened, right? 'Cause the numbers just don't work.

It has to all come together one way or the other, and then you can reap the benefits of it.

20 years ago, we tried to get a new stadium, and no one could pull it off until you guys.

So it's been a major feat, and I know a big process, but it's huge that it's happened.

And you're right, everything seems to be converging on this area at the right time, and that's why it's, it's almost like-

like-The perfect storm or the perfect thing to happen at once.

The public-private partnership, that seems to be how all these major stadiums are being built.