THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180001
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Following a joint review of sports possibilities, Norfolk and Virginia Beach have issued a joint ``no thanks'' to the Canadian Football League and announced they would begin a joint search for a major-league franchise that area cities would support jointly.
Suddenly the joint is hopping.
It initially was hoped that bringing the CFL Pirates here would be an inexpensive exercise in regional cooperation, a kind of test run for the big leagues later on.
But things may have worked out better than hoped. Virginia Beach and Norfolk are seriously talking about wooing a major-league team here. The cities want to skip the ``test run'' and go directly to the National Basketball Association or National Hockey League, if possible. With Virginia Beach and Norfolk jointly discussing major-league sports, Chesapeake, Portsmouth and Suffolk surely will join in. Ideally, Hampton and Newport News will count themselves in, as well.
Here's part of the joint statement by Norfolk and Virginia Beach:
``Following a joint review of the proposal, the cities have decided not to commit public funds to the Foreman Field renovations. We appreciate the interest of the Glieberman family in bringing their franchise here and wish them well; however, it was decided that the long-term interests of Hampton Roads would be better served by pursuing other professional and amateur sports opportunities.''
Traditionally, Norfolk and Virginia Beach would bicker over which city would get the first major-league team. Now there's growing recognition that attracting a major-league franchise to Hampton Roads would benefit all the cities. If the team were called the Hampton Roads something-or-other, the area suddenly would be on the national map. Obviously, the team would entertain residents from all seven area cities.
Virginia Beach Councilman W.W. Harrison Jr., who was instrumental in bringing a soon-to-open amphitheater to that city, said it would make sense to place a 20,000-seat arena in downtown Norfolk, with help from neighboring Hampton Roads cities.
Any football stadium that might be built later surely would go outside Norfolk, with Virginia Beach and Chesapeake the most likely sites.
Wherever a local arena or stadium is built, means must be devised to share both cost and benefits.
With more than 1.5 million residents, Hampton Roads is the largest United States city without a major-league team. The CFL is a first-tier league in Canada but a second-tier league in the United States, where three of seven franchises have failed. Already, the Hampton Roads Admirals and the Norfolk Tides have demonstrated that well-managed minor-league teams succeed here.
Local officials feared that a failing CFL franchise would do more harm to the area's reputation than a successful CFL franchise would do good.
Soon, with cities pulling the same rope in the same direction, Hampton Roads may get the chance to prove a major-league team, or better two or three, can flourish here.
This is a big-league region, when it acts like a region. Hampton Roads deserves big-league teams. by CNB