THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 1, 1995 TAG: 9512010394
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TORONTO LENGTH: Medium: 80 lines
If the Pirates want to move from Shreveport, La., to Norfolk's cramped Foreman Field, the Canadian Football League is powerless to stop the team, league chairman John H. Tory admitted Thursday.
U.S. antitrust laws give team owners lots of leeway on club moves. ``Every time a league has tried to stop a franchise from moving, it's failed,'' he said, following the second day of the three-day CFL Board of Governors meetings.
League officials are wary of Foreman Field because of the stadium's field dimensions, which are 30 yards shorter than a standard CFL field. Commissioner Larry Smith will visit Norfolk Monday to inspect the stadium and to try to gauge support for the Pirates among business and political leaders.
But Tory said even if Smith found the stadium and public support lacking, the league would be hard-pressed to stop the Pirates.
``It wouldn't be impossible, but we're not going in with that mode,'' he said. ``We're going to go in there and try to make it work.
``(Pirates owner) Bernie Glieberman believes in that place, and if the people are enthusiastic and want to buy tickets and sponsor the team, then we'll find a way to make the stadium work.''
The CFL meetings conclude this morning with the Pirates scheduled to make a brief presentation about Hampton Roads. Pirates president Lonie Glieberman, who was not scheduled to attend the meetings, flew from Hampton Roads to Toronto Thursday night to make the presentation.
Bernie Glieberman, Lonie's father, said he asked his son to attend because he was asked several questions about Hampton Roads that he couldn't answer. Lonie Glieberman has been in Hampton Roads since mid-October; Bernie will make his first trip to Norfolk Monday with Smith.
``Every time Norfolk was mentioned, it was mentioned in a positive note,'' Bernie Glieberman said. ``But there are things about Norfolk I don't know that Lonie does.''
The CFL, meanwhile, made a series of decisions Thursday designed to cut costs:
The board killed the ``marquee player rule,'' in which each team is allowed to sign a high-salaried player in addition to the salary cap. However, current marquee players, including Pirates quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver, have been grandfathered into the league. Tolliver has two seasons remaining on his three-year, $1.4 million contract. Calgary's Doug Flutie, the league's best- known player, has four years left on his salary.
The salary cap was reduced from $1.9 million U.S. dollars to about $1.74 million.
The league announced a 25 percent budget cut for its front office, and the teams all pledged to reduce front-office costs by 25 percent.
As expected, both Memphis and Birmingham have withdrawn from the league. The teams had combined losses of more than $10 million in the 1995 season. Smith said Birmingham might relocate to another city, perhaps Montreal, but that the league has set a cutoff date of Jan. 1 for all decisions on relocation.
There will be no rules changes and no change in the CFL's name.
The cuts stand to reduce the average CFL budget from nearly $6 million to a little less than $5 million. Bernie Glieberman said the cuts ``are a major step forward'' that will allow the American teams a greater chance of staying solvent.
``What we've done is gotten our budgets to the point where we can live without a major TV contract,'' he said. ``Now, we want a contract and eventually I think we'll get one. But when we expanded into the United States, we were structured to where we needed one to survive. Now we can survive without one and as we grow, we'll become more attractive to the networks.''
San Antonio and Baltimore, the only other U.S. teams, have pledged to play next season. But there's a big question looming for Baltimore: Where will they play?
The NFL Cleveland Browns have announced they'll move to Baltimore and Stallions owner Jim Speros acknowledged Thursday that he'll probably have to move from Memorial Stadium.
``We're looking at Houston, and we're looking at Richmond,'' said Speros, whose team won the Grey Cup. ``We're offering a championship team and a great organization. We'll be playing somewhere that's attractive.'' by CNB