Henrico names raceway president Bickmeier inaugural executive director of sports and entertainment authority

Henrico County officials Wednesday named a familiar face as the inaugural executive director of the new Henrico County Sports and Entertainment Authority.

Richmond Raceway President Dennis Bickmeier will lead the agency, which will be tasked with managing and marketing all county-owned sports and entertainment facilities and venues.

Bickmeier has spent more than 33 years in the sports industry, working for teams in the National Hockey League, Major League Baseball and the National Football League before moving to the Big West Conference and then to NASCAR, where he worked for two racetracks before moving to RR in 2011.

Henrico County officials praised his knowledge of the industry and experience working with a broad cross-section of people, businesses and agencies in this region.

“He cares deeply about people and works really hard to build a strong community,” Henrico County Manager John Vithoulkas said during a press conference Wednesday morning to introduce Bickmeier – in a room at the government center adorned with a banner that read “Welcome Home Dennis.”

That was a nod to the close relationship Bickmeier already had with numerous county officials, whom he partnered with at the raceway for NASCAR and other events, and, most recently, mass vaccination and testing efforts for COVID-19 that have taken place at the raceway.

By naming Bickmeier to lead the new agency, “we will immediately insert an industry expert who knows and loves our region,” said Brookland District Supervisor Dan Schmitt, who also serves as chairman of Richmond Region Tourism. “He is tested and he is trusted. He’s clearly committed 100% to our collective success.”

For Bickmeier, who admitted that it was difficult to tell his staff at the raceway Tuesday that he’d be leaving, the new role was appealing because it will allow him to call upon all the experience he’s gained in his career – from communications and marketing efforts to sales, promotion and leadership roles.

“I get to take all of those experiences, all those lessons learned and pour them right into this job,” he said.

Of the opportunities the county has to enhance its already impressive sports tourism efforts, he said simply: “It’s really mind-blowing, but exciting.”

Bickmeier gave a nod to the efforts of the Henrico Economic Development Authority and its executive director, Anthony Romanello, suggesting that the new authority and its members would work to serve a similar role in the sports and entertainment space.

“I see the opportunities with the facilities we have and those being planned to knock on doors that maybe we haven’t knocked on before or haven’t knocked on in a long time,” Bickmeier said. “There is a lot of competition in the sports tourism space. We know we’ve got to take steps to separate ourselves from our competition.”

Two county employees who have helped lead "Visit Henrico" tourism effort in recent years – Dawn Miller and Michael McCormack – will be part of the new authority.

Henrico supervisors first heard formally about the concept of a sports and entertainment authority during a retreat in January 2021, when County Attorney Andrew Newby (then a deputy county attorney) presented the concept to them as a way to provide oversight for venues like Belmont Golf Course, the Frank J. Thornton YMCA Aquatic Center, the planned indoor arena at Virginia Center (which is expected to open by September 2023) and future facilities, among others. A private 17,500-seat arena at the $2-billion GreenCity development at Parham Road and I-95 also is planned in the next few years.

Supervisors formally authorized the sports and entertainment authority earlier this year.

Sports tourism has been a focus of the county and its division of Recreation and Parks for a number of years; last year, the county hosted 160 tournaments that generated $59.1 million in economic impact, according to county officials. That impact peaked in 2019 at $66.2 million – up from $33.2 million just six years earlier – before dipping in 202 because of the pandemic.

The county’s new arena at Virginia Center will allow it to attract a plethora of local, regional, state and even national basketball and volleyball tournaments, as well as other entertainment events, county officials believe.