THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, September 10, 1996 TAG: 9609100426
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 75 lines
Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim concedes that the region's cities are unlikely to cooperate in funding a proposed $140 million, 20,000-seat indoor arena and says a statewide lottery is now Hampton Roads' best hope for building the arena.
Fraim, who has led the effort to build the arena and attract a major sports franchise to Hampton Roads, has also backed away from his insistence that downtown Norfolk is the best site for the arena.
``If we can come up with this funding formula, let the guy who's going to bring in a $75 million hockey franchise or $150 million NBA franchise pick the site,'' he told the Norfolk Sports Club on Monday at the Holiday Inn-Executive Center.
``If he thinks Greenbrier is a good site, or he picks a place out by CBN in Virginia Beach, let him do that, let him be where he can maximize his opportunities,'' Fraim said. ``I'm parochial enough to believe good sense will argue for downtown Norfolk. . . . But if the owner picks a site in another city, I believe Norfolk will support the project.''
Norfolk has been working for nearly two years to attract a major sports franchise. The city hired Bob Walsh, a Seattle-based consultant, to do a study last year which concluded that the region, the nation's largest without a major sports team, could support an NBA or NHL franchise.
The city's economic development department contacted the NBA a year ago, culminating in a meeting with NBA commissioner David J. Stern last winter, in which he said he was impressed with Hampton Roads as a prospective expansion site.
But Fraim has had less success within Hampton Roads. Norfolk and Virginia Beach pledged in January to cooperate in trying to lure a major sports franchise. Yet, in the eight months since, regional leaders have been unable to agree on how to hire an arena consultant.
Virginia Beach officials are skeptical of the arena proposal. Fraim concedes that persuading Beach residents to use their tax dollars for an arena in Norfolk ``would be a tough sell.''
But he added: ``If you use lottery proceeds, and if the site is determined by who will make the investment, there really isn't anything for them to argue against. If you're not asking their taxpayers to foot the bill, I think there is enough good will . . . that they would not raise any political hurdles'' to an arena.
A commission on which Fraim serves recently recommended that a new lottery game be part of a financing package for a proposed $300 million baseball stadium in Northern Virginia. The stadium would be built if the Houston Astros move to Northern Virginia.
Fraim says the lottery would provide $14 million of the $27 million per year needed for debt payments. The owners would chip in $9 million, and $4 million would come from rebates of state taxes on the team.
``This is not pie-in-the-sky stuff,'' Fraim said. ``We had some of the state's top leadership sitting at the table.''
House Majority Leader C. Richard Cranwell, D-Roanoke County; House minority leader Vincent F. Callahan Jr., R-Fairfax; Richard L. Saslaw of Fairfax, Democratic leader of the state Senate, and veteran Del. Alan Diamonstein, D-Newport News, were on the committee.
The proposal likely will be considered by the General Assembly in January and is expected to include language authorizing Hampton Roads to use a similar funding formula to build an arena.
However, many state officials say the baseball stadium proposal's chances are iffy. Fraim acknowledges that ``it could hit some pitfalls,'' and says the key is support from Hampton Roads.
``If they get some support from the Hampton Roads delegation, then their chances would increase dramatically,'' he said. ``The people who are making the recommendations carry a lot of weight and spent a lot of time on this proposal. I think they're serious about it, and it leads me to be very hopeful.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
Mayor Paul D. Fraim also no longer insists the arena be in downtown
Norfolk, saying, in effect, let the team pick the site. by CNB