Nutzy and Nutasha will be welcoming baseball fans to CarMax Park in a few years.
Used-vehicle retail giant CarMax Inc. said it has signed a multiyear deal with the Richmond Flying Squirrels, a minor league baseball team based in Virginia’s capital city.
CarMax is headquartered in Richmond, where a new stadium for the Flying Squirrels is scheduled to open for the 2026 season. The team has not one but two rodent-inspired mascots, a caped duo named Nutzy and Nutasha.
“This is an exciting time for Richmond, and CarMax’s naming rights partnership reflects our commitment to our city, its people and its growth,” CarMax CEO Bill Nash said in a statement.
The used-vehicle retailer said it first partnered with the Flying Squirrels in 2016. The team is the Double-A Eastern League affiliate of Major League Baseball’s San Francisco Giants.
Its 10,000-seat stadium is expected to cost $117 million, the Washington Business Journal reported. The stadium is part of a $2.4 billion mixed-use development in Richmond’s Diamond District.
The Flying Squirrels’ current home will be demolished.
Automakers including Ford Motor Co., Nissan Motor Corp., Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Kia, Subaru and Toyota Motor Corp. have stadium naming rights deals with teams in the NFL, NBA and Major League Soccer.
In 2023, Hyundai signed a 20-year deal for the naming rights to the Georgia Institute of Technology’s football field.
Another automotive retail giant, AutoNation, had naming rights to MLS side Inter Miami CF but no longer does.