The city of Richmond will pay Virginia Commonwealth University $25 million to replace Sports Backers Stadium, which is scheduled to be demolished to make way for the $2.4 billion Diamond District redevelopment.
Several years ago, VCU agreed to transfer the 3,200-seat stadium to the city to make way for a ballpark. But the dollar figure VCU will get in return was not made public until last week.
The $25 million payment represents another cost the city must account for in the massive redevelopment plan and a significant chunk of funding for VCU’s athletics village, where the new Sports Backers Stadium will go.
VCU owns the stadium, which houses the VCU soccer and track and field teams, the Virginia Union University track and field teams and office space for Sports Backers employees.
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The university will transfer the 7-acre parcel, located between Arthur Ashe Boulevard and Hermitage Road, to the city’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) by the end of May 2025, according to the development deal. The deal was approved Monday by the city’s planning commission but still needs a signoff from the full City Council.
Then the EDA will sell it to the developer for roughly $12 million. The parcel was assessed this year for $5.8 million.
Richmond will use bonds from the project to pay VCU, and revenue from the development will be used to pay back the bond holders, said Leonard Sledge, director of economic development for the city. Revenue will comes from the Flying Squirrels and VCU, who will pay to play at the new ballpark as tenants.
VCU currently pays $134,000 annually to practice and play at The Diamond. A cost for playing at the new park has not been determined.
The new ballpark is expected to cost $110 million and be paid for with bonds issued from a community development authority, which the city plans to establish.
City officials said Richmond will not increase taxes on its residents to pay for the redevelopment.
The city is willing to cover the cost of a new Sports Backers Stadium because it needs the plot of land in order to move forward.
Without Sports Backers under EDA control, Phase 1 of the project is not possible, Sledge said.
Because the city and the developer stand to make money off the land, VCU asked for help building a replacement stadium.
“The city and the developer want that property in the middle of the Diamond District to be turned into revenue-producing land for the benefit of the larger project,” said a person familiar with the development, who spoke on the condition of anonymity and is not authorized to speak publicly.
The city will cover the replacement cost, and if VCU wants to add amenities, it will pay for those by itself, said Lincoln Saunders, the city’s chief administrative officer.
The new Sports Backers Stadium will be built on the east side of Hermitage Road on property VCU recently purchased.
VCU spent about $40 million acquiring 42 acres, including the vacant Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control warehouse. The athletics village is “one of the largest undertakings in the university’s history,” VCU athletics director Ed McLaughlin said last year. It will include a separate soccer stadium, indoor and outdoor tennis courts, an indoor track, multiuse courts and a track and field stadium.
A total cost of the village has not been determined. But $25 million is pivotal to VCU’s fundraising efforts to build the athletics center, McLaughlin said.
“The replacement of Sports Backers Stadium within the new athletic village will not happen without the funding that we will receive from moving,” McLaughlin said. “We want to make sure we have a solid plan to replace it without adversely impacting our student-athletes for any period of time.”
The university has not set a schedule for construction, though it plans to open the track and tennis facilities first.