In internal memo, Squirrels COO says team had permission to use Diamond for storage
The chief operating officer of the Richmond Flying Squirrels said Wednesday that the team had permission from the city’s Economic Development Authority to use The Diamond for storage, despite the EDA’s recent directive to clear everything out of the former baseball stadium.
In an internal memo obtained by The Richmonder, COO Ben Rothrock pushed back on what he described as “misinformation” by the EDA, saying the notion the team was surreptitiously continuing to use The Diamond was “categorically false.”
“The Flying Squirrels had an understanding with an EDA representative that the club could temporarily store items at The Diamond and that the city/EDA would notify the Flying Squirrels if/when this arrangement had changed,” Rothrock wrote in the memo sent Wednesday afternoon.
Rothrock identified the EDA staffer who approved the arrangement as Senior Development Manager Douglas “DJ” Mulkey.
City officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.
Graham Moomaw
The Squirrels just completed their first season in the newly built CarMax Park, a long-awaited replacement stadium that sits right next to The Diamond.
On Sept. 21, EDA Director Angie Rodgers told the Squirrels to remove any team equipment or merchandise remaining in The Diamond by Oct. 16. She indicated the locks on the facility were being changed, and any Squirrels staffers entering the facility after Oct. 16 would be treated as trespassing.
The harsh exchange over the use of The Diamond comes after the Squirrels ownership group sued the city in early September over the direction of the ballpark-anchored Diamond District development project. Squirrels owner Lou DiBella has accused the city of failing to live up to its promises in the deal, while the city has accused DiBella himself of being the cause of some of the delays that have left the project behind schedule.
Because the new ballpark is publicly financed and owned, the EDA is essentially the team’s long-term landlord, despite the apparently souring relationship between city and team leaders.
Rothrock’s memo indicated the team would comply with the EDA’s order to vacate The Diamond. Reiterating instructions he said were already given at an all-staff meeting, Rothrock said anything still at The Diamond should be removed by this Friday.
“The operations team will do a sweep of the building afterward and discard anything that is left,” Rothrock wrote.
Rothrock said the EDA’s directive was “clearly retaliatory for legal steps the organization has taken to protect its business interests and to seek transparency around the Diamond District.”
“It is important that you know that we would never put you in harm’s way by instructing you to trespass or enter a premises on which you were not permitted,” Rothrock wrote.
The Squirrels COO also sought to reassure his staff the team is unlikely to be evicted from CarMax Park, despite the EDA floating that as a possibility if the team’s owners can’t reach an agreement with VCU to allow the university’s baseball team to also use the new facility.
Rothrock said threats to end the team’s lease at CarMax Park were “similarly retaliatory and have no legal standing.”
Contact Reporter Graham Moomaw at gmoomaw@richmonder.org
