Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 5, 1992 TAG: 9202050391
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
TECH-UVA GAME IS NOT THE HOT TICKET IN ROANOKE
The Virginia-Virginia Tech men's basketball game, once the most consistent sports draw in the Roanoke Valley, appears to have lost some of its attraction.Officials are expecting a crowd between 7,000 and 7,500 at 7:30 tonight at the Roanoke Civic Center. It will be the first time since 1977 that the game in Roanoke has not been sold out.
Virginia Tech athletic director Dave Braine said declining attendance would be a consideration in returning the annual game to campus sites, where it has not been held since 1975.
"I talked Monday with [Tech executive vice president] Minnis Ridenhour and it seems support is growing for the idea on both campuses," Braine said. "I think there's good reason to do it.
"I'm mandated by my contract to balance the budget. It makes it easier when you're selling 10,000 tickets in Roanoke, compared to 5,000 in Blacksburg [where students would not pay]. But I think you owe your students a chance to see the game."
First-year Tech coach Bill Foster is in favor of playing at the schools because the games would draw capacity crowds.
"I'd go up [to Charlottesville] every other year to get them down here," Foster said. "If the game were here, those 5,000 student tickets would be history, they'd be gone so fast. I don't see any advantage to playing in Roanoke."
Actually, this was to be the year the schools started playing twice a year: once at a neutral site and once on one of the campuses. According to preliminary schedules, the games this year would have been played in Roanoke and Charlottesville.
"With the ACC bringing in Florida State, it couldn't be done," Braine said. "That was two extra games [UVa] hadn't accounted for."
The teams have met once a year since 1985, with the game alternating the past six years between the Roanoke Civic Center and Richmond Coliseum. The game did not sell out last year in Richmond, when there was an announced crowd of 9,473 in a building with a listed capacity of 10,716.
"I think basketball attendance is off everywhere," Braine said. "Most everybody in the country is suffering from the same problems. And, quite frankly, neither team is burning up the court, although Virginia is doing better than we are."
The Cavaliers, who have won six of nine games against Tech in Roanoke, enter tonight's meeting with a 10-8 record. The Hokies are 7-10.
Braine said he did not think ticket sales were adversely affected by a decision to televise the game on Home Team Sports, a cable network accessible in the New River Valley but not Roanoke. It originally was reported that the game would not be televised unless it were sold out.
"I can't remember when we've ever advertised the game as much as we have this year," Braine said. "We realized it wasn't going to sell out, and you reach a point where you're cutting off your nose to spite your face.
"It enables us to make a little bit of money and we'll get two games [on HTS] next year" in exchange for allowing this year's game to be televised, he said.
Braine cited the economic downturn as one reason for the drop-off in attendance, but he said the $15 ticket price is not exorbitant. The price was $15 last year in Richmond and $13 two years ago in Roanoke.
"These prices were set last year," he said. "I'd hate to have to drop the ticket prices. I don't think it's an inferior product."
A crowd of 8,497 in 1977 was the smallest to see any of the nine games between the teams in Roanoke. The next two crowds of 9,828 and 10,000 were sellouts, according to the configuration of the civic center at the time. Since then, attendance has been announced as 10,056.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Tech had sold 3,200 tickets, Virginia had sold 2,600 and 1,500 had been sold at the civic center. Those totals did not include several hundred complimentary tickets issued by the schools.
News of a possible change in venue for the Tech-UVa basketball game comes in the same week that owner Henry Brabham has said he would try to sell the Roanoke Valley Rebels hockey team to out-of-town interests and the Commonwealth Games of Virginia have been declared insolvent by chairman Ken King.
"We want to do what we can to keep the game here," said George "Chip" Snead, director of public safety and administration for Roanoke. "I don't think one year's attendance is enough reason to move the game back" to the campuses.
However, Snead said, he was concerned about the drop-off, particularly because Roanoke has tried to improve its rapport with Virginia Tech.
"I have not heard from any school officials, but we want to have more college basketball games here, not less."
TECH-UVA CROWDS\ IN ROANOKE\ 1976-77 8,497\ 1977-78 9,828*\ 1978-79 10,000*\ 1980-81 10,056*\ 1981-82 10,056*\ 1983-84 10,056*\ 1985-86 10,056*\ 1987-88 10,056*\ 1989-90 10,056*\ \ * Sellouts