VCU advances its Diamond District plans

Virginia Commonwealth University was expected to wrap up deals by the end of 2025 for the Richmond Economic Development Authority to buy VCU’s aging Sports Backers Stadium and for its Rams baseball team to play at the forthcoming CarMax Park stadium.

VCU, the City of Richmond and Navigators Baseball, which owns the Richmond Flying Squirrels baseball team, committed to those deals in a ceremony on Oct. 20, 2025, held at the under-construction ballpark that’s part of the larger $2.44 billion Diamond District redevelopment project near the intersection of Interstates 64, 95 and 195.

As of late November, the agreements still had to be finalized, according to Douglas “DJ” Mulkey, the EDA’s senior development manager.

The first step was for VCU to ink the deal to pay the Squirrels about $300,000 annually for CarMax Park’s operations and maintenance. Expected to be completed by the start of baseball season in April, CarMax Park will become the home field for the Squirrels and the Rams.

VCU would then sign a lease to pay the EDA about $400,000 annually for 30 years to use CarMax Park and enter into an agreement to sell Sports Backers Stadium to the authority for $25 million. The EDA plans to tear down that stadium in early 2026, Mulkey says.

The 6.6-acre Sports Backers Stadium parcel will be redeveloped as part of the 67-acre Diamond District project. Anchored by CarMax Park, it will include residences, retail space, a hotel and green space.

“The sale has not been finalized yet,” Mulkey said in November 2025. “The transaction is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2025, pending completion of the preceding agreements.”

The stadium sale will help pay for VCU’s Athletic Village, a four-phase development in the Diamond District near the intersection of Hermitage and Robin Hood roads. The VCU Board of Visitors amended its contract with construction firm Barton Malow at a meeting on Nov. 21, 2025, to build the track and field stadium in the first phase.

Originally capped at $24.6 million, the contract is now for $28 million due to rising costs for materials. Work on the practice fields and outdoor track/soccer field is scheduled to be completed in 2026, with the track and artificial turf field ready for use early this year and the grass fields ready later this summer, according to the board’s report.