Top innovators of 2009

Some people have a vision of something that doesn’t exist. They believe that people will pay for it. And then they take the gamble and invest time and money creating it. We’ve picked seven of the most innovative business people to highlight. Surely there are others, but you’ll have to keep reading RBS in 2010 as we discover them.

7. Peter Vinci, Vinci Pro
When you talk to lots of startups, you hear a common refrain: “We just don’t have the money for marketing, and that’s what we need to get the word out.” Peter Vinci found a way around that. The Richmond-based maker of baseball mitts – run by a father/son team – gives them to minor league players, and when those players move up to the big leagues, they stick with their glove. The company sells more than 65 types of gloves and styles that cost between $50 and $250. The company was featured in Fortune and an RBS story . Read more

Deal to buy baseball team is dead

The current deal for the Richmond Baseball Club to buy the Connecticut Defenders is going to expire, the investor’s spokesman told the Norwich newspaper The Day:

Peter Boisseau, spokesman for Richmond Baseball Club LC, which had a deal to purchase the Defenders for $15.4 million and move the team to Richmond, said this morning there is no way that deal could be saved by the Sunday deadline for closing the sale.

“That deal is going to expire,” Boisseau said. “The deal could not be consummated.”

Boisseau said financing and the current slow economy “played a role” in the business group’s inability to complete the deal.

The sons of Nolan Ryan are scouting Richmond today as the company co-founded by the pitching legend considering a stake in the team, but Boisseau told the paper even if they jump on board it is too late to get the financing together in time to meet the deadline.

According to a previous report from The Day, current team owner Lou DiBella said the Richmond investor group will lose a substantial deposit if a deal isn’t reached in time.

From the article:

DiBella said he has not heard from Bostic’s group in two weeks, and added that the prospective buyers would lose a substantial deposit come Monday if the deal is not concluded.

”Clearly these guys don’t have the means to close on their own and are looking for a partner,” DiBella said.

Ryan-Sanders Baseball owns and operates two minor league teams in Texas, and has made no commitment as of yet to assist with the Defenders deal.

Local media has reported the investor group led by businessman Bryan Bostic is short of the estimated $15 million needed to buy the team. News broke this week that Ryan’s company, co-founded with former Houston Astros owner Don Sanders, is considering potential ownership of the franchise and possibly investing in the ballpark planned for Shockoe Center.

Eastern League president Joe McEacharn is also in town visiting the Diamond and Shockoe Center site with the Ryans. McEacharn has previously said he is committed to bringing a team to Richmond to play next season, whether it is the Defenders or another team.

Study says city support needed for ballpark

After reviewing the results of a $100,000 economic feasibility study, Mayor Dwight Jones still isn’t quite ready to greenlight a $318 million mixed-use project in Shockoe Bottom. Read more

The wrong baseball debate

The debate about bringing baseball back to Richmond somehow got sidetracked into a tangential spin cycle.

Tonight the Times-Dispatch will host a Public Square pitting two proponents of a Shockoe Bottom stadium versus two opponents who say baseball should remain on the Boulevard.

Yankees versus Red Sox this is not.

On one hand there is a group of potential team owners who are willing to buy a team and move it to a new $60 million stadium downtown under the guidance of Bryan Bostic, a businessman who is taking on much of the financial risk. The deal to acquire a Connecticut team may be slower than planned, but, according to sources we’ve talked to, it is moving forward.

Part of the business plan put forth by Bostic and his partners at Highwoods Properties requires a stadium with updated amenities and loads of commercial space (although that seems dubious with vacancy rates skyrocketing across Richmond). They are not proposing a stadium on the Boulevard. They have not said they would buy a team if they had to run the business at the Diamond long-term.

As far as I know, there is no doppelganger for Bryan Bostic, who has assembled some investors and found a team to move from another location to Richmond. If there is, that person should step forward and be at the Times-Dispatch’s forum tonight.

Until then, the real debate should address one central issue: If professional baseball is not a viable business without some government assistance (land, help with bonds … whatever), what price would be reasonable for taxpayers to support such a quality of life improvement? Minor league baseball is a tough business that usually requires some municipal backing. It did at the Diamond, which was owned by the Richmond Metropolitan Authority and operated on behalf of the city and counties. Folks didn’t demand that the stadium be closed because it used public funds. Read more

Baseball team purchase in limbo

The purchase of the Class AA Norwich Connecticut Defenders baseball team by the Richmond Baseball Club seems to be undergoing a delay of game.

Norwich’s local paper The Day reported yesterday that there is no closing date scheduled for the deal, which current Defenders owner Lou DiBella said was “imminent”  in early April.

The sale is pending approval from the Major and Minor leagues. Neither DiBella or Bryan Bostic, head of the investors buying the team, provided any details about what may be holding up the approval, but it seems like missing paperwork could be the culprit.

From the article:

An earlier tentative closing date for the sale had to be postponed because the Richmond group did not submit all the necessary paperwork to baseball officials. Eastern League President Joe McEacharn could not be reached for comment last week, but said last month he hoped to receive the Richmond group’s application by the end of April and anticipated a quick review of the proposal.

In addition to receiving approval for the purchase, Bostic’s group must also receive permission to move the team to Richmond because the city is outside of the Eastern League’s territory, the AA division to which the Defenders belong.

Richmond Baseball Club set to take over Defender’s lease

Last month, Bryan Bostic of Richmond Baseball Club LC announced they planned to buy a AA baseball team in Connecticut to replace the AAA Richmond Braves.

Their plan to buy  the Connecticut  Defenders is closer to becoming a reality, despite no guarantee that the stadium slated for Shockoe Bottom will be built.

According to local newspaper The Day, Norwich City Council will consider a resolution next Monday that would assign the lease of Dodd Stadium to Richmond Baseball Club.

The Defenders’ current owner Lou DiBella said the team could be sold to Richmond by early April, according to The Day.  The sale is still awaiting approval from the Eastern League, which will likely require either a new stadium or an upgraded Diamond as a condition of the sale.

The Times-Dispatch previously reported the expected purchase price will be $15 million.

The Defenders current lease in Norwich ends in 2012, but there is a buyout provision that allows the lease holder to terminate early for a penalty of $140,000.

According to previous statements, the investors would move the team to Richmond for the 2010 season. The team would play at the Diamond until the new stadium is finished in 2011 or 2012.

Rally Caps: The Monday Q&A with Bryan Bostic

Bryan Bostic thinks he has pitched Richmond the sort of deal it can knock out of the park: a $60 million stadium that seats 7,500 and brings professional baseball back to Richmond with almost no public spending. And the 47-year-old is working more than 45 hours a week to convince Richmond’s various interest groups that baseball belongs in Shockoe Bottom. (He has already spent seven years and several hundred thousand dollars.)

And now it’s crunch time for him and his crew of potential owners. The deadline to buy a team is in early March. Read more