As the new year begins, the stale standoff continues between the mayor and the Flying Squirrels, with the Jones administration accusing the team of not doing enough to find a new home in the suburbs.

“It became clear that the Squirrels hadn’t deeply explored their options as they committed to do, even though 20 sites were available around the region,” said Jones’ press secretary, Tammy Hawley. “The Squirrels need to sincerely explore all of their options.”

Lou DiBella, the Squirrels’ president and managing partner, had a different take.

“The Squirrels never came out and said, ‘We want to find our perfect home and we’re going to find someplace by the end of the year,’” he said. “The mayor decided there was no room for us in the inn in Richmond and basically punted us to our own devices to take whatever meetings we could take in the counties.”

Frankly, the counties have no more incentive to find a nest for the Squirrels than the team has to leave what for them has been the perfect location. The team finds itself in the middle of a dynamic outside its control. Any team foolish enough to follow the Squirrels, should the team depart, would be advised to bone up on a Virginia political system that pits independent cities against surrounding counties.