THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701130188
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A7 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: THE NHL IN HAMPTON ROADS
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 45 lines
The case for a city or region acquiring a major league sports franchise rests almost entirely on image.
Everything that civic leaders cite as positive influences of big-league sports - usually quality of life and opportunities for business growth because of a higher profile - invariably spins off from there.
Jacksonville, for example, isn't a dowdy nothing anymore, a pit stop to Spring Break, now that its Jaguars are a victory away from the Super Bowl. Jacksonville is hot. Jacksonville is jumping, teeming with national media.
Jacksonville is proud of itself, even though the Jaguars' players are hired mercenaries with few or no ties at all to the city. The Jaguars are winners, so Jacksonville and its people must be winners.
Nobody gathers in TV rooms and bars to watch big banks win more accounts or the factory add a third shift. Many more livelihoods depend on those things, but major league sports are the big splash, the right now, the instant payoff that could change a city's course seemingly overnight.
For Hampton Roads, the bonanza from a successful Rhino charge would be that the area finally is ``worthy.'' It would proclaim that the NHL has enough faith in owner George Shinn and the region to grant them entry to its exclusive club that currently numbers 26.
And if the NHL, with so much of its own image riding on the reputations of its membership, offers an endorsement, it follows that the medium- or large-sized corporation that wants to move or branch out would look twice, too.
With a sexy, successful big-league team blaring the horn, Hampton Roads could finally jostle that giant within that supposedly has been asleep for so long, burdened by regional wrangling and, some claim, an inferiority complex.
No, it isn't the NBA, the major league thought to be a better fit for Hampton Roads. An NBA owner or expansion opportunity have never materialized.
Still, a berth in the NHL, assuming the proper financial checks and balances are there to facilitate the team and arena's good health, could provide an economic stimulus and unifying presence that regions much smaller than Hampton Roads enjoy.
Anybody can be minor league. The big leagues, the image-makers will tell you, only take the best.
KEYWORDS: NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE FRANCHISE