Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 6, 1993 TAG: 9302060213
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SYRACUSE MAY HAVE BEEN SCARED OFF BY RAMPAGE RECORD
The Roanoke Valley Rampage's dismal record played a major role in a decision by Syracuse (N.Y.) officials to stop pursuing the East Coast Hockey League franchise for the 1993-94 season.Brian Elwell, a member of a Syracuse committee hoping to attract professional hockey to the upstate New York city, said Friday the Rampage's 11-35-1 record "had a lot to do with turning us off."
"Syracuse is known as a city that supports a winner," Elwell said. "It doesn't support a loser. At least you've got to be competitive. A record of 20-20 is not bad, but 11-40? Bring that in and [the fans] just might desert you. And the last thing we wanted to do, after not having hockey for a long time, was get off on the wrong foot. We could get buried the first year, and that's the last thing we need."
Elwell, a former player for the Syracuse Blazers of the old Eastern Hockey League, said some of the committee members weren't sold on the ECHL, either.
"I know we have certain group members who feel it's the American Hockey League or nothing here," Elwell said. "Also, some were concerned that an ECHL club here, with the length of bus trips that would be involved, might make Syracuse become known as the worst place a player could be sent."
Elwell said he and three other group members were originally scheduled to "talk numbers" with Rampage owner Larry Revo at this week's ECHL All-Star Game in Wheeling, W.Va. Elwell said the trip to Wheeling was called off when too many group members voiced questions over the Rampage's record and the viability of playing in the ECHL.
"We had a meeting and we said we couldn't waste the money to go [to Wheeling] when some of the people here don't think we should pursue this," Elwell said. "As much as I want a tenant in the building [Onondaga County Auditorium], it just scared us to think we could have another failure."
Elwell said Revo was the prime reason why the Syracuse group had seriously considered making an offer to the Rampage and the ECHL.
"Larry Revo is a first-class guy," Elwell said. "I was very impressed with him and his game plan of how to attract spectators. Maybe it's not working in Roanoke, but it certainly sounded like it had a chance here.
"When Larry came in here to talk to us last October, we thought if anybody could make it in here with the ECHL it was this guy.
"But, ultimately, the general feeling of the committee was if we bring in Roanoke and Larry and we fail, it's 5 to 10 years before anybody will look at us again."
\ WHERE DO I GO NOW?: Revo, who had all but booked a moving van to haul the Rampage to Syracuse, now finds himself scrambling to come up with a workable Plan B.
Currently, Revo's choices, in no certain order, appear to be: A) move to the Roanoke Civic Center; B) move to Winston-Salem, N.C., where the Rampage drew 3,334 on Jan. 21 for a game moved from Vinton; and C) move to Huntsville, Ala.
Revo sent Huntsville a proposal this week, but the northern Alabama site remains a long shot since Knoxville, also looking to relocate, is first in line at the 7,200-seat Von Brunn Civic Center.
\ IT HAS COME DOWN TO THIS: To his credit, Henry Brabham, who sold the club to Revo last summer, has chosen to remain in the background as the Rampage has turned into the worst club in ECHL history.
Brabham, though, couldn't help but unleash a verbal swipe at Revo's regime on Thursday as he watched public-address announcer Jeff Dickerson, who 45 minutes earlier had had his head shaven at center ice, ride atop the Zamboni between periods in front of a gathering of 691 fans.
"When I had the club we at least had pretty girls wearing bikinis riding atop the Zamboni," Brabham said. "Now we've got a fat, bald-headed P.A. man riding the Zamboni. Have things changed or not?"