Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, April 27, 1993 TAG: 9304270352
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The valley's dismal support for its past teams - the Lancers, the Rebels, the Rampage - has often been blamed not only on the teams' miserable win-loss records and the lack of a hockey tradition in these parts.
Also lamented has been the state of the facility and the out-of-the-way location of games at the Vinton LancerLot. To be popular, critics said, hockey would have to be played at the civic center.
Well, now it will be, assuming investors win league owners' approval to start a new team - and that prospect looks good.
City officials have shown commendable flexibility in working out a lease with the investors. They've agreed to an unusual fee arrangement that, for the first couple of years, anyway, would trade a portion of the rent for high attendance - and the lucrative concession sales expected to accompany it.
This could give a team time to develop on the ice and to establish a following. Then, if hockey proves successful - as it has in other Virginia cities - civic center officials could renegotiate.
It's a good deal for both sides. A new franchise would need the initial break: Given the valley's history of non-support, making a success of this venture may not be smooth skating right away. It will take time. If the sport takes off, though, everybody could be a winner: the team, the investors, the civic center and the city.
After a couple of years, when city officials tally up parking receipts and beer-sales proceeds to decide if hockey is successful enough to keep its home at the civic center, they should figure in factors other than the games' direct profitability.
They should, for instance, monitor opportunities for more lucrative events that are lost because the hockey schedule ties up the civic center. On the other hand, they also should recognize that not only players and fans can benefit from a successful sports franchise.
There is the indirect benefit to economic development - another community asset to note when wooing prospective employers. And there are direct benefits. A good team will draw fans to the Roanoke Valley from the larger region - fans who may stop and buy gas, or eat dinner at a downtown restaurant.
A team, especially one playing in as prominent a location as the civic center, can also become a rallying point for the community.
Whatever happens, it's better to have made this effort, to have taken a chance, than to allow the roof's collapse at LancerLot to symbolize hockey's fate in the valley. Hockey in the civic center may or may not thrive, but at least it will get its best shot.
by CNB