Is minor league baseball primarily an entertainment business for localities, or is it primarily a teaching and evaluation system for MLB? Since MLB provides and pays for the players, in the end, it's their call.
I was looking at it from the local MLB team’s perspective. From the teaching and evaluation aspect, A AAA team in Richmond stands to enhance that for a team in this area on multiple logistical fronts more than a team in Rochester.
Additionally, being able to market long-term down the I 95 Corridor into Virginia figured to be in the big-picture, long-term interest of both the team and MLB in general, especially as far as visibility in marketing. If the reports are accurate that the team had a direct interest in Richmond specifically (already having shown a willingness to partner with the Potomac nationals on the new place in Fredericksburg), what better way to potentially jumpstart some renovations in the near term and a possible new facility in the longer-term than to have a locally interested and committed major league team involved?
This goes to the original thought on this that MLB, while touting long-term vision in what they’re doing now, once again may have proven unhelpful to local baseball, just as they did with the MASN fiasco and the relocation debacle that went on for years.