THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 25, 1997 TAG: 9701250284
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: THE NHL IN HAMPTON ROADS
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 94 lines
Hampton Roads apparently will not make a decision on regional funding for a $143 million Norfolk arena until the National Hockey League makes a decision on Hampton Roads.
Heads of the region's 15 cities and counties decided during Friday's Mayors and Chairs meeting to hold off voting on whether to fund the proposed 20,000-seat arena until the region ``has a pretty good indication'' it will get an NHL expansion franchise, Hampton Mayor James Eason said.
The decision could put off arena voting by city councils and county boards of supervisors for months, depending on how long the NHL expansion process drags out. The league executive committee is expected to discuss expansion in February, but a decision on franchises might not come until May or June.
The NHL has applications from 11 groups in nine cities and is expected to award two to four franchises. Charlotte businessman George Shinn has applied for a franchise in Hampton Roads.
Hampton Roads has met the NHL's basic requirement of having an arena deal - Shinn has an agreement ``in principle'' with the Hampton Roads Partnership. The NHL is expected to award expansion franchises conditionally. To officially be awarded a franchise, candidates then must get formal approval for arena deals.
Hampton Roads officials admit they're putting off that approval battle until it's necessary. Eason said delaying the debate on arena funding ``is the right decision for now.''
``This may be a contentious issue in some communities,'' he said. ``The feeling was why go through that if you don't even have a franchise. We have enough interesting council meetings without shooting ourselves in the foot when there may be no reason for it.''
Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf agreed: ``I think it's very premature (to vote on arena funding) until we know what the NHL plans to do.''
The mayors also instructed their city managers to meet with Rick Horrow on Feb. 19 to discuss Horrow's plan for a series of regionally funded projects. Horrow, a Miami-based sports and municipal consultant, has asked the Hampton Roads Partnership to hire him to bring the cities together on regional funding for projects such as a convention center in Virginia Beach.
The partnership asked the Mayors and Chairs for approval to hire Horrow, and while no action was taken, Horrow generally drew positive reviews in the discussion, which was closed to the public and the media.
Horrow led a successful effort to build 11 projects costing $285 million in Oklahoma City funded by a regional tax. He also led the successful effort to fund baseball and football stadiums in Detroit last fall.
Oberndorf has met with Horrow and spoken with Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer and Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick about Horrow. The Beach mayor said she's impressed with what she has heard about his plans for Hampton Roads, partly because Horrow acknowledges there must be public referendums in every city, and partly because Horrow pledged to mount an aggressive public relations campaign to explain the importance of the projects to voters.
``The part of the plan that makes absolute sense to me is that each community would get something accomplished, but more importantly, every citizen in each city would be able to vote in a referendum on whether to support a tax increase,'' she said. ``I like the fact that in Oklahoma City there was a sunset clause in the (sales) tax that ended the tax after 60 months.''
Eason said the discussion about the arena was cordial.
``There was certainly support for the arena,'' he said. ``There was also some caution, and with others, some sentiment that there will be a very difficult time getting everyone to participate.''
Although more than 70 percent of arena funding would come from ticket fees, rent and rebates of state and local taxes generated at the arena, the 15 jurisdictions would be asked to provide $2.3 million a year for 30 years.
Art Collins, executive director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission, said the Mayors and Chairs agreed that a group was needed to lead the public relations campaign for the arena in the next few months. A meeting among officials from the partnership and other groups next week may determine who will lead that effort.
Collins said the public will be told that the arena will be more than just a home for a hockey and basketball games and concerts. It will be a vehicle for promoting Hampton Roads to potential employers.
``We have to look at this arena in context, and the context is how can we change Hampton Roads from a federally dependent community, which it has been since World War II, into something else,'' he said.
``Advertising is a big part of that. . . . This should be looked at as part of our evolving economic strategy. We want to be known in the world. A vehicle for doing that is a sports team. To have that, you have to have an arena.''
But in some corners, the arena and the Rhinos, as the NHL team would be called, are getting bashed. At a public hearing on Chesapeake's capital budget Thursday night, city councilman W. Joe Newman said he won't support funding for an arena.
``I have no intention of supporting the Rhinos,'' Newman said in response to a Chesapeake resident's criticism that the city might support something like a hockey arena at a time when it can't afford to fund more basic projects like local parks. ``I just can't imagine being involved in that.''
MEMO: Staff writer Nacy Young contributed to this story.