Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 25, 1994 TAG: 9403250085
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A new baseball stadium, one that perhaps could be the home of the Salem Buccaneers, has come up in discussions between Roanoke Mayor David Bowers and an associate of the team's owner.
Several weeks ago, the subject arose at a meeting between Bowers and Bruce Welch, the lawyer for Bucs owner Kelvin Bowles. Bowles said Thursday the meeting was nothing more than an impromptu chat between old friends and did not come at his urging.
Asked about the meeting, Welch said: "Kelvin Bowles is one of my clients and I do not discuss my clients' business."
Bowers was more terse.
"No comment," the mayor said.
However, sources in city government say the conversation included an estimated price tag for a new facility - $6 million - and a proposed location - South Roanoke Park, in the River's Edge Sports Complex.
"That's all news to me, I guarantee you," said Bowles, just back from spring training where he was scouting for the Florida Marlins. "The only thing I've heard about that meeting was several weeks ago, before I went to Florida. But I can assure that I had no part in it, nor do I have any intention of talking to anybody in Roanoke until I find out what the people in Salem are going to do."
Bowles and the Bucs are awaiting the results of a referendum sometime in the summer, when Salem voters will be asked to pay for a new ballpark to replace antiquated Municipal Field. According to the referendum, Salem won't build the facility if it's going to cost more than $5 million or require a tax increase.
Common wisdom says a new ballpark can't be built in less than a year, although Hickory, N.C., for one, got it done in less time for the South Atlantic League's Hickory Crawdads. But assuming it would take a year, a new park in Salem would not be ready for the start of the 1995 season if construction started after the Salem referendum.
Against such a backdrop, it would make sense for Bowles or his emissaries to feel out the situation in Roanoke. But the Bucs' owner denies approaching Roanoke officials.
"I am not going to talk to anybody in the City of Roanoke about a new ballpark until Salem indicates to me that I can't build a new ballpark [there]," he said. "If that happens, then everything's open - Roanoke, Rocky Mount, everything."
Bowles conceded that referendums are an iffy proposition, that you never know what voters will do. But he also said even if the referendum failed, Salem City Council could approve construction of a new ballpark.
Indications are a referendum will pass. According to Salem officials, the people of Salem want to keep their baseball team.
Bowles said he has not had a chance to talk to Salem officials about the implications of the referendum although he plans to soon.
"I want to find out what the inside story is," he said.
Should efforts to build a new park in Salem fail, Bowles has said he would have no choice but to move the team out of town or sell it to somebody who would.
Bowles raised the possibility Thursday that, if forced to, he could move the team out of town, operate it for a while as an absentee owner, and then seek a buyer.
Since the proposed sale of the Bucs to Eric Margenau of New York for $2 million fell through when Salem City Council denied Margenau a lease for Municipal Field, Bowles has made no effort to find another buyer. Bowles won't rule out talking to another prospective buyer, "But it would have to be such a deal that it would blow me right out of the water."
Meanwhile, he's just biding his time until the Bucs open their Carolina League season April 7 and the referendum comes up during the summer.
"I want to see baseball stay in Salem until the day I die, although I might not be in it that long," Bowles said.
by CNB