Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, December 24, 1993 TAG: 9312240105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The game, which has been held in Roanoke in even years since 1982, was moved to the USAir Arena in Landover, Md., as part of a deal announced in early August.
Tech was to receive $300,000 for moving two games to Landover, Md., including the Hokies' opener Nov. 27 against West Virginia.
Neither Tech athletic director Dave Braine nor promoter Russ Potts could be reached for comment Thursday night. However, civic center assistant manager Mark Collins confirmed the Tech-UVa date.
"It was just firmed up today," Collins said Thursday. "It has been resolved from our end."
Civic center officials never knew the game wouldn't be held in Roanoke until they read in the newspaper of an agreement between Potts and Tech.
"After we read that it was going to be played in Maryland, we took the game off the schedule," Collins said. "It was to everybody's good fortune that the date was still open. The only thing that's going on that day is a hockey team practice."
Collins said he did not want to speak for Tech on possible reasons behind the move, but he was aware that Tech's game with West Virginia was only lightly attended.
The attendance for the Tech-West Virginia game was estimated at 4,500. Another Potts production, the first game between Maryland and Georgetown since 1979, did not come close to the capacity of 18,756 at USAir Arena, formerly the Capital Centre.
Potts, a state senator from Winchester, was forced to rewrite the contract for fear of breaching the state's conflict-of-interest law for legislators. Attorney General Stephen Rosenthal informed Potts in a letter Aug. 19 that he could not contract with a Virginia school.
The contract was rewritten between Tech and Georgetown.
"It was good for Virginia Tech that it was able to get a large guarantee, but I'm glad we got it back," Collins said.
Roanoke City councilman Mac McCadden, originally critical of the move, said he wanted to put aside past differences.
"If this is confirmed by the civic center, I see it as an opportunity for Southwest Virginians to show their support for the two programs," McCadden said. "I didn't like the game moving, but I understood the financial ramifications.
"The last thing I would want is for people not to come because they were ticked off."
The Hokies and Cavaliers played in Roanoke every year from 1977-79, when the teams met twice each season. Once the series was cut to one game each year, the games alternated between Roanoke and Richmond, site of last year's game.
A crowd of 8,396 watched the last Tech-UVa game in Roanoke, won by the Cavaliers in double overtime, 61-57, in 1992. Late sales helped improve on projections of 7,000, but it was the first non-sellout in Roanoke since 1977.
by CNB