In January, The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that Gov. Ralph Northam’s proposed budget would give VCU the first right of refusal on the 20-acre ABC site. That item was approved.

ABC expects to vacate the property in early 2021, when it intends to move into a new warehouse and headquarters site in Hanover County.

The Flying Squirrels this offseason installed a $250,000 videoboard at The Diamond, which opened in 1985 and is outdated by modern ballpark standards. Lou DiBella, the franchise’s managing general partner, told The Times-Dispatch that the videoboard can be moved to a new stadium, and “we’ll be bringing that board with us in, hopefully, about three years. That’s my hope.”

The Flying Squirrels, who open their 10th season at The Diamond on April 4, and the Eastern League have longed for a new stadium since Sept. 23, 2009, the day the franchise was relocated from Norwich, Conn., to Richmond.

“I don’t think there’s any way in the world we anticipated 10 years ago that [The Diamond] would still be our home,” DiBella said. “We’ve done our best to make it as nice a place as it can be, which is really all we can do in that situation.