How’s this for a bombshell!

The International League Charlotte Knights might be on the move, and it looks now like it won’t be from their current digs in Ft. Mill, South Carolina to a new venue in Uptown Charlotte.

The Charlotte Herald reported last week that the planned opening date for their new ballpark would have to be pushed back yet again. With the current credit crunch and the ever escalating costs of building the ballpark, plus the added on lawsuits from obstructionists, the entire project may have become untenable.

So now Knights owner Don Beaver is examining all his options, which would include claiming the open Richmond market. Meanwhile, an investment group led by the owner of three independent teams named Peter Kirk has proposed $1-million in proposed upgrades and renovations to The Diamond, locating an independent league team there for 2009, while moving forward with plans to build a new ballpark in Richmond to AAA specs, and even using some of the new fixtures at The Diamond in the new facility.

If Richmond puts together a plan with real teeth this time to get a new ballpark done, then the Charlotte Knights are history. With the NFL and NBA and their gleaming newer facilities, not to mention being a NASCAR hot bed, my guess in that AAA baseball in Charlotte would hardly be missed.

After all the stability and lack of franchise movement in the I.L. for the longest time, this has been a crazy 24 months, and it’s about to get crazier.

We’ve reported in this space in the past about the impending move of the International League Richmond Braves to suburban Atlanta, Georgia for the 2009 season. There they will be known as the Gwinnett Braves and will play in a new ballpark which is hastily being built along I-85, in order to be ready in time for April 2009.

Yet back in Richmond, the R-Braves aren’t ready to call it quits just yet. Despite pressure from civic officials in Richmond, the Braves have yet to opt out of their lease at The Diamond, which runs through 2009.

Why the hurry? Richmond is trying to plan their baseball future in a post Braves world, and one idea has the AA Eastern League Erie Seawolves relocating to Richmond. There are also RFP’s due for ballpark redevelopment proposals, none of which can move forward until the R-Braves’ departure is a totally done deal.

Meanwhile back here in USRT country, we have penciled in a planned trip to Gwinnett County for 2009, and that has us saying “&$%^@*)!!!” rather than jumping for joy. Why, you wonder? The distance will involve a flight rather than drive, plus we just did a return visit to Atlanta’s Turner Field a couple years ago so no pressing reason to see that venue again when there are several other MLB yards overdue for another looksie. So that means lots of expense just to visit a AAA ballpark, and maybe tie in some A-ball teams like the Rome Braves or the Greenville Drive.

*Sigh*, but that is what we do… we are the Ultimate Sports Road Trip after all.

Here’s some news which
hit so suddenly it caught us flat footed - another franchise will be on the move in the International League come 2009, and things are happening at breakneck speed.

After years and years of unsuccessfully trying to secure a replacement venue for The Diamond in Richmond, the team will be relocating to Lawrenceville, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta, as reported in today’s Atlanta Journal Constitution.

A 30-year lease was approved by the Gwinnett County Commission today. The lease calls for the Braves to pay $250,000 a year in rent for a new ballpark on a 12-acre site on Buford Drive, just off I-85. County officials signed the lease before actually coming up with a ballpark plan: their previous plan was for a $25-million, 5,500-seat ballpark suitable for an independent-league team, but the current plan is for a larger $40-million ballpark which would work for the Triple-A team. County officials were so eager to close the deal with the Richmond Braves they didn’t even identify a funding source for the new ballpark.

Additionally, a new web site for the “Gwinnett Braves” was hurriedly brought online, with some very rough sketches and a site plan for the new ballpark, and an icon inviting fans to reserve season tickets with a $100 deposit.

Although Gwinnett County must begin construction of their new stadium by April 1 and have it ready by March of 2009, they have yet to secure funding for the venue, only saying they hope to secure private financing.

Meanwhile, the shock is spreading across Richmond over this sudden turn of events.

The USRT made a journey to The Diamond in 2003, and what we found was a crappy, hastily built stadium made of concrete, located in the middle of nowhere next to a shabby industrial park and a bus terminal. We saw Third World clubhouses and player facilities, not to mention a pressbox mimicking a phone booth. And if you remember, the 2004 Governors Cup playoff games between the Buffalo Bisons and the R-Braves were all played at Dunn Tire Park, because The Diamond was underwater from a tropical storm and was deemed unplayable.

So looks like the USRT has TWO new International League venues to travel to in ‘09… Columbus’ Huntington Park and Gwinnett County in Georgia. It will be interesting to see if and when the League chimes in on this relocation, as this eliminates the natural rival for the Norfolk Tides and drives up travel costs and distances to go for just about everybody in the IL.

Update: More on this story at MiLB.com.