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

DATE: TUESDAY, January 25, 1994                   TAG: 9401250131
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

EXPRESS SCORING BIG CIVIC CENTER MAKING MORE THAN EXPECTED

Roanoke Civic Center attendance is up 17 percent, and ticket sales have increased by 50 percent during the first six months of this fiscal year.

In December alone, when the hockey team played seven games at home, attendance was up 57 percent over the same month a year ago.

Civic center officials had hoped hockey would attract 2,800 to 3,200 spectators a game, but the attendance is averaging more than 4,000 a game. Last Saturday night, the crowd was 7,579.

"We're making money," said Vern Danielsen, chairman of the Civic Center Commission.

Danielsen said ticket sales, concessions and parking are all generating more revenue than projected. Parking revenue for the first half of the fiscal year was $84,758, more than double the amount for the same period a year earlier.

Danielsen did not disclose details Monday, but he said hockey has been a good deal for the civic center.

Mark Collins, assistant civic center manager, said that Les Miserables, a Broadway show, was also a factor in the big increase in attendance and ticket sales.

He told the Civic Center Commission that the center appears to be headed for a record year in attendance and ticket sales.

Encouraged by the success of hockey games and Broadway shows, the commission decided to lobby the city for more money for capital improvements and repairs to the center in the next budget year.

More money is needed for expanding women's restrooms, paving the parking lot, repairing ice-making equipment and other repairs.

Sheriff Alvin Hudson, a commission member, said the center badly needs repair. He cited the steps to the Exhibit Hall, which flood whenever there is a hard rain.

"We've got a building that is on the upswing. Let's keep it going," Commissioner James Stephens said.

Danielsen said the center may get a world-class scoreboard with graphics by next hockey season. He said an unidentified business has agreed to pay for the scoreboard if it can have the advertising rights on it.

City and state law will require the civic center to seek bids on the scoreboard. The business that is willing to pay for it will be free to bid.

Stephens said the center can use part of the additional revenue from parking and other fees to make the needed repairs.