City, VCU appear to set a September deadline for Squirrels agreement in new contract
The lease for CarMax Park instructs the Richmond Flying Squirrels to work “in good faith” with VCU to reach an agreement allowing the Rams baseball team to play at the new stadium.
What exactly that language means could be the next legal frontier in a project that has turned increasingly acrimonious.
Last October, the three groups (VCU, the Squirrels and the city) held a joint press conference to announce they had reached an agreement. Under the deal, VCU would lease the stadium from the city for about $400,000, while paying the Squirrels $300,000 per year to cover their share of maintenance costs.
However, getting to the finish line has proven to be harder than anticipated.
VCU reached an agreement with Richmond’s Economic Development Authority late last week on its portion. That contract is contingent on the Squirrels and VCU coming to terms, which is referred to by the EDA as the “Use Agreement.”
In the VCU-EDA deal, it spells out that the contract is to begin:
“the later of
i) date of the start of VCU 2026 ‘fall ball’ and
ii) the date of execution by VCU of the Use Agreement, but no later than September 1, 2026.”
The "fall ball" college baseball period traditionally begins in September.
Read literally, the contract could be interpreted to mean that VCU will begin having access to CarMax Park this fall.
Richmond Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Sharon Ebert appeared to hint at such during a presentation to City Council earlier this year. At the time, the Squirrels had said they would not be able to reach a deal with VCU and were planning to move forward without them this season.
“We now have learned that the (Squirrels) do not want to go forward with the operating agreement, so we'll most likely be doing that as well,” Ebert said at the time.
Michael Phillips
Squirrels owner Lou DiBella took objection to that, and sent a letter to the EDA stating the team would use legal action if the city tried to give VCU a lease without the Squirrels’ permission.
On Monday night, a team spokesperson responded to a Richmonder request about the most recent contract.
“We are unaware of any deadline or legal obligation to maintain the field for VCU or the baseball facilities it uses within the ballpark,” they wrote. “Our obligation is to negotiate in good faith, which we have done for years."
If the “good faith” clause is ultimately adjudicated, the city may point to comments by the team in a lawsuit the team filed last week.
“DiBella and the Squirrels have no obligation to maintain the field and stadium and share MLB-used spaces with VCU, and DiBella has been clear that he currently does not intend to do so,” the suit says.
In repeated inquiries from The Richmonder, city officials would not directly answer the question of what they would do if the September deadline passes.
Graham Moomaw
A spokesperson for the EDA wrote: “The current agreements envision that the operating agreement between VCU and the (Squirrels) will be completed no later than September 1, 2026, so that VCU can begin Fall Ball in CarMax Park.”
A VCU spokesperson also did not directly answer a question about the agreement, writing: "We’re looking forward to working with all partners to complete the next steps of this important community project."
Contact Michael Phillips at mphillips@richmonder.org. Reporter Graham Moomaw contributed to this report.
