Richmond Flying Squirrels x CARMAX Park
Selling a stadium before it existed
When the Richmond minor league baseball team, the Flying Squirrels needed to drive premium-suite sales before their new CarMax Park stadium opened, traditional tools weren’t enough. Renderings explained the vision, but they didn’t create belief.
We transformed a two-bedroom apartment into an immersive Preview Center designed to simulate suite culture, hospitality, and game-day energy, giving prospects a tangible reason to say yes sooner.
Overview
Selling premium experiences for a stadium that didn’t exist yet required more than information, it required belief.
The Challenge
The Insight
When the product isn’t built, confidence becomes the product.
Transform an ordinary apartment into an immersive Preview Center that made the future feel undeniably real.
The Idea
From This
To This
My Role
• Partnered directly with Flying Squirrels leadership to identify key pain points, operational constraints, and non-negotiables shaping the Preview Center experience.
• Led a research phase analyzing successful stadium preview environments (including SoFi Stadium and Nissan Stadium) to understand how immersive spaces accelerate premium sales successfully.
• Used AI-driven visual exploration to rapidly prototype spatial concepts and experiential moments. (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google Gemini)
• Partnered with an experience designer to translate strategy into tangible design directions, providing the client with a clear framework to guide the buildout of the space.
The CARMAX Park Preview Center became the bridge, converting an empty apartment into a tangible vision of premium baseball in Richmond.
Explaining the Future isn’t “Easy”
Existing tools could outline the vision, but they rarely gave buyers the confidence to move forward. People were being asked to invest in something they couldn’t stand inside yet.
How can we help people see the Brands Vision?
I centered the work around one question:
What creates genuine readiness in a buyer?
In sports, it isn’t information, in this case it’s emotional certainty. Harvard Business Review notes that emotionally connected consumers are 52% more valuable than those who are simply satisfied.
By replacing static data with immersive moments, we shifted the experience from “I understand it” to
“I’m ready for it.”
Making Immersion Make Sense to Leadership
This work was directly tied to premium sales performance, and skepticism was fair. I had to translate experiential thinking into business logic, showing how immersion could shorten conversations and reduce hesitation more effectively than any other brochure ever could. All without losing the existing brand legacy the Squirrels had built for decades.
Industry benchmarks from premium seating consultancies (e.g., Legends, Advent) indicate that immersive sales centers drive a 22–34% increase in premium sales.
Once leadership aligned around the strategy, the next step was translating emotional certainty into a physical environment. Every decision inside the Preview Center was designed to help buyers imagine themselves inside the future stadium.
Designing For Belief
The entry hallway set the emotional tone from the start.
Lighting, messaging, and spatial design were used to build anticipation before any sales conversation.
The space created a sense of momentum and expectation as visitors moved through it.
A dedicated wall invited fans to “mark their place in history”.
Visitors signed custom acorn tags that would later be installed in the completed CarMax Park.
Setting the tone from the first step
Consultation rooms were designed to replicate the premium suite experience.
Seating layouts, sightlines, and digital displays helped buyers envision real use cases like hosting clients or bringing family.
The space made the experience feel tangible rather than hypothetical.
A scaled stadium model allowed customers to locate their exact seats.
Visitors could visualize sightlines while looking out at the real-time construction of the ballpark.
Turning Conversation Into Conviction
Historic memorabilia and subtle brand cues connected the experience to Richmond’s baseball legacy.
The space reinforced the new stadium as a continuation of history, not a replacement.
Authentic seats from across the stadium (GA to premium) were installed within the space.
Visitors could physically sit in and experience the exact seating options available in CarMax Park.
The tactile experience helped bridge the gap between imagination and reality.
Connecting the future to the Squirrels’ Legacy
Premium sales are often heavily weighted decisions for consumers (Cars, Appliances, etc.) as well as businesses.
The experience was designed to extend beyond the physical space.
Premium leave-behinds were created as tangible reminders of the visit.
These touchpoints helped keep the future stadium experience top of mind.
The Experience Didn’t End When Buyers Left
Where Experience meets Business Impact
Drives Revenue Growth
Increases revenue per seat through personalized sales and tiered offerings.
Enables data-driven upselling of premium experiences.
Reduces churn and build long-term loyalty.
Elevates the Fan Experience
Fosters emotional connection and engagement with the team's vision.
Cultivates transparency and trust in the sales process.
Differentiates the Flying Squirrels in a competitive market. (MiLB)
Capitalizes on Opportunities
Leverages the Diamond District redevelopment to reach new audiences.
Expands community integration and corporate partnerships.
Targets new demographics and enhances the brands value.
Key Takeaways
Prototyping experiences clarifies strategy
Rapid visual exploration helped translate strategic ideas into tangible environments the client could react to. This allowed the concept to evolve quickly while staying aligned with the brand vision.
Immersion builds belief faster than explanation
Renderings communicate a concept, but environments communicate a brand experience. By turning a real apartment into a Preview Center, prospects could step into the future of CarMax Park before it was built.
Environment is a brand signal
Premium seating is about the lifestyle surrounding the experience. Designing a space that reflects the brands culture helps buyers understand the value of belonging to it.