BEER SALES OK'D AT CIVIC CENTER

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 23, 1993                   TAG: 9303230289
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
BEER SALES OK'D AT CIVIC CENTER
If the Roanoke Civic Center gets a professional hockey team, fans will be able to sip beer as they watch the games.
The Civic Center Commission voted Monday to approve the sale of beer in the coliseum at professional sports events to help boost revenues and attract more spectators.
It also revised its policy on alcoholic beverage sales to make it easier for the center's concessionaire to sell alcohol at events in the exhibit hall.
Currently, no alcohol is permitted in the coliseum. Alcohol can be served in the exhibit hall, but a permit must be obtained from the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board for each event.
Under the new arrangement, the concessionaire won't need to get a permit for selling beer in the coliseum. And the concessionaire won't be required to seek the state's permission each time alcohol is sold in the exhibit hall.
The Salem Civic Center has allowed beer sales at professional sports events for more than a decade. And most other centers in nearby states also have beer sales at professional sports.
Vern Danielsen, commission chairman, said beer could have been sold at four events at the Roanoke Civic Center in the past year if the new policy had been in effect.
Bob Chapman, center manager, said he could have booked two additional shows in the past 12 months if beer sales had been permitted.
Danielsen said a professional hockey team would provide the most events where beer could be sold because it would have more than 30 games in the center.
Civic Center officials are talking with a local group that includes former Roanoke Valley hockey players who are seeking a franchise in the East Coast Hockey League.
Danielsen said it's too early to say whether Civic Center officials can reach an agreement with the group on a lease for the building.
But he said he is more optimistic about agreement with the local group than he was with Larry Revo, owner of the Roanoke Valley Rampage.
"I think this local group has a better chance of putting together something that will work," Danielsen said.
Beer will not be sold at high school and college basketball games, rock concerts or other music events. Neither will it be sold at the circus, ice-skating shows or other family events.
Chapman said beer will probably be sold at shows such as tractor pulls and the Harlem Globe Trotters because they would classify as professional sports.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB