Playing ball in Shockoe.

Ok, so last week I touched on the re-visitation of the idea to build a stadium in Shockoe Bottom. Since then people have complained about traffic, crime, and poverty. Tourism is the 3rd largest industry in the Commonwealth and the City of Richmond. If I were the Police Chief, then I would be talking about ways to deal with crime in Shockoe Bottom, not tourism. Ok sure, there needs to be way to make it all work and I have a few ideas, ideas that I probably won't cover in one sitting, but I will cover eventually.

The first thing is first. Financing. I believe I covered the idea of selling the Diamond, City Stadium, and the Coliseum and use the income to purchase the already partially city-owned land in Shockoe Bottom needed to build a Sports Complex. Oh and didn't the Landmark Theater just get renamed the Altria Theater? Corporate backing for redevelopment, that happens? Really!? Hmmm, the Dominion Arena and MWV Stadium, I kind of like the sound of that. I mean if they can drop $150,000 each for one day of fireworks, I think they might be able to make some more moves for tourism. Then they could have fireworks inside the stadium that bares their name, after a baseball game, or maybe also even a football game. Yeah and why has nobody brought that idea up... which brings me to my next rant.

Virginia Commonwealth University. Hello, you are THE largest state funded school in the Commonwealth of Virginia and you do not have a football team? What is that about? Let's break it down. Dr. Trani was against the idea while he was President, but things have changed. There is a new guy in town and his name is Michael Rao, a graduate of the University of Florida and South Florida. He was also a Dean at Central Michigan? Don't all those schools have pretty successful Football programs. And haven't we seen how a little school pride boosts a local economy. Sure we can bank on Basketball, so build a new arena and call it the home of the A10 Tournament Championships or perhaps a few NCAA tournament games, but it will have to be at least 16k seating, cause nobody is calling anything home without it. But basketball isn't the only thing this city loves. We love football! Why not give VCU's Club Football team the chance to grow into a Division 1 FCS or even FBS team that it should have already had years ago? And I would never suggest having them play in City Stadium, there is a reason the Universtiy of Richmond built a new stadium on their campus and its the same reason the Squirrels want a new baseball stadium. The facilities are terrible and poorly placed. A stadium in Shockoe Bottom would be right next to VCU's Medical Campus and would require an investment from VCU to allow them to play baseball and football there. Then you could also pitch the counties on a new place to play their regional tournaments, or pitch to the Virginia High School League, or the Virginia Independent Schools Athletic Association, in both football and baseball. It could be a mixed-use stadium and would be used year round. The Squirrel's season ends in September and Football starts in September. Perfect timing. Let's make it happen. Mixed Use Stadium and Let's get VCU involved.

Last thing, this is just the first phase of revitalizing Richmond's most historic neighborhood. This is NOT the answer to everything, but it is the thing that gets the conversation started with everything else. By revitalizing our most historic neighborhood, it makes the area attractive to the people who live in the West End, the people who scowl at the prospect of an evening in Shockoe Bottom, and the people who want to do more but don't see Richmond as that place to be doing more. You know what else it does? It brings in more tax revenue, which can be spent on teachers salaries, after school programs, hiring more police officers, building wider on-ramps from 95 to Broad Street to accommodate more traffic for ingress and egress to and from Shockoe Bottom, and perhaps even a few homeless shelters with job training. But its not all going to happen overnight, you have to start somewhere. There is no time like the present.

I welcome any and all of your comments. You can leave them here or send an email to mrrvatourism@gmail.com. Thank you for reading!