Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 4, 1993 TAG: 9308040123
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Sports Productions, Inc., a Winchester-based company run by promoter Russ Potts, put together a college basketball doubleheader in late November that pairs the Tech-West Virginia and Maryland-Georgetown games at 18,756-capacity USAir Arena, formerly the Capital Centre. The Hokies and Mountaineers were scheduled to play Feb. 23 in Blacksburg.
In another deal with Sports Productions, Tech will move its game against Virginia from the Roanoke Civic Center to Landover. The date remains March 2.
Braine said Potts is trying to negotiate a television deal for the games. The doubleheader will be played Saturday, Nov. 27, unless TV dictates otherwise, Braine said.
Braine said Tech expects to make $280,000 from its 12 home basketball games this year, and that the $300,000 guarantee from the WVU and UVa games will help balance Tech's operating budget of approximately $6 million. And the switch costs Tech nothing - not even traveling expenses, which will be paid by Sports Productions.
"We don't have to sell, market, promote or print tickets," Braine said. "All we do is show up, play and get a check."
Virginia will get a check, too - for $100,000, its guarantee from Sports Productions. And Tech will pay West Virginia the visitors' guarantee of $5,000, the same as it would have had the teams played in Blacksburg.
It's the second time in three years that money has prompted a significant schedule switch in one of Tech's two major sports. In 1991, the Hokies moved a home football game against Florida State from Lane Stadium to Orlando, Fla., for an $800,000 payoff. The Florida State game became part of a five-game road stretch that a talented Tech team couldn't handle.
Hokies basketball coach Bill Foster said last week he didn't want to move the WVU or Virginia games. He had emphasized scheduling home games for a young team coming off a 10-win season, but now the team has one fewer home game.
Tech struggles for revenue when it has to play the UVa and WVU football games on the road, as it does this year. And the fact that the 1992 Tech-UVa game at the Roanoke Civic Center didn't sell out played a part in Tech's decision, Braine said.
"I don't like the fact that we have to do things like that," he said. "I had to take [the number of basketball home games] into consideration. The ever-present fact that we need money was more important."
A three-year, university-run fund-raising campaign for athletics ended in February with more than $18.6 million pledged, but that goes for scholarships and capital projects - not to balance the operating budget, Braine said.
Tech has played twice in Landover, easily accessible to Tech's large alumni base in the Washington, D.C., area. The Hokies lost to Georgetown in 1988 and 1989.
In the other half of the doubleheader in November, Georgetown and Maryland will meet for the first time since the 1980 East Regional semifinal of the NCAA Tournament.
by CNB