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Game changer: Attendance, ticket sales surge since Squirrels arrival

Fred Jeter | 4/6/2023, 6 p.m.
The Richmond Flying Squirrels had a good season on the field in 2022 and a great season at the ticket …

The Richmond Flying Squirrels had a good season on the field in 2022 and a great season at the ticket booth.

Richmond won the Eastern League first half schedule and made the playoffs for just the second time in the franchise’s history.

Fans must have liked what they saw.

Some 406,560 spectators came to The Diamond in 2022, the highest total in all of Class AA baseball. The midweek playoff game against Erie drew 9,159.

Richmond has been at or near the top of Eastern and across-the-board AA attendance since the Squirrels arrived in town in 2010.

Home runs were hit at a rapid pace in ’22. The Squirrels connected on a franchise-best 169 long balls, 96 of which were stroked at The Diamond.

More of the same is expected this spring and summer with family-friendly promotions on a nightly basis.

Fans will need to bring plastic and not cash.

The parking, ticket booth and concessions are going cash free for the first time. Credit and debit cards will be accepted; plus, fans can purchase tickets online at richmondflyingsquirrels.com (go to tickets).

Richmond began the week with a mystery roster.

As of Sunday, the parent San Francisco Giants had not assigned their minor league players to cities.

Richmond is hopeful it will start the season with shortstop Marco Luciano in the lineup. Luciano played with the Squirrels in last year’s playoffs and is considered the organization’s No. 2 prospect.

On the Giants’ pecking order, Richmond is one step below AAA Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League and one level above High-A Eugene, Ore., of the Northwest League.

Richmond competes in the Eastern League’s Southwest Division with Akron, Ohio (Cleveland farm team), Altoona, Pa. (Pittsburgh), Bowie, Md. (Baltimore), Erie, Pa. (Detroit), and Harrisburg, Pa.(Washington.)

This figures to be the next to last season the Squirrels will play at The Diamond, which opened in 1985 as an Atlanta Braves’ affiliate.

In 2025, the pro team (along with VCU baseball) is expected to move into a new stadium in the Diamond District, just south of the existing stadium along Arthur Ashe Boulevard.