THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, February 26, 1996 TAG: 9602260033
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM AND KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The Virginia Beach City Council will be asked Tuesday to consider building a $3.5 million, 7,500-seat stadium in Lake Ridge whose primary tenant would be the Hampton Roads Mariners professional soccer team. The stadium would be expandable to 30,000 seats.
Mariners officials say the facility would enable them to eventually move from the minor league United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues to the Major Soccer League, a 10-team loop that is seeking to become to soccer what the NFL is to football.
The Major Soccer League, which kicks off its inaugural season on April 6, has teams in Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas and Boston and a contract with ESPN, the national cable sports network.
The stadium, to be located on a portion of 1,200 acres in Lake Ridge owned by the city, also would be used for high school football and youth soccer tournaments.
The Mariners made the stadium proposal to Virginia Beach officials several months ago. The Virginia Beach Economic Development Department has since tentatively added the stadium to its long-term plan for Lake Ridge, said Page Johnson, part owner of the Mariners.
Virginia Beach economic development director Don Maxwell declined comment on the proposal other than to say the City Council has yet to be briefed on the stadium proposal.
``We would like to take it to council for direction,'' he said.
Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf and Councilman W. William Harrison said they were aware of the project, but know few details. The council will receive a presentation on the stadium Tuesday at 3 p.m. from economic development officials during an informal session. A vote will not be taken Tuesday.
``I've seen a site plan and a drawing (of the stadium), but that's all,'' Harrison said. ``We're still very early in the process.''
Stadium expansion would come in two stages - from 7,500 to 15,000, then from 15,000 to 30,000. The Mariners say they need 15,000 seats to move up to the Major Soccer League. No cost estimates were available for the expansion phases.
Though a stadium site hasn't been selected, city planners have proposed that it share parking facilities with the soon-to-be-built satellite campus for Old Dominion and Norfolk State universities. That campus will be constructed adjacent to Tidewater Community College, not far from the Virginia Beach Amphitheater, which is also under construction.
A new stadium is necessary if the Mariners are to move to the Major Soccer League, say team owners Mark Garcea and Johnson, also part owners of the Norfolk Tides baseball team. The Mariners currently play in high school stadiums in Virginia Beach.
``It's hard to promote a professional sport at a high-school stadium,'' said Johnson, who added that the Mariners would sign a binding, long-term lease if the stadium is constructed.
``Having a stadium would put us in a whole new light. Most of the other teams in our league have better stadiums. Playing at a high school stadium hurts the credibility of what you're trying to accomplish.
``If we can bring Major League Soccer here, it would be a great thing for promoting Virginia Beach.''
But he cautioned that the proposal is just that, a proposal the city has yet to take a position on.
``We're encouraged, but it's very, very preliminary,'' he said.
A public meeting on what the city should do with Lake Ridge will be held tonight from 7 to 8:30 at Landstown Elementary School near Princess Anne Park. It isn't known whether the stadium will be discussed at that meeting.
KEYWORDS: PROPOSED STADIUM by CNB