Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 17, 1993 TAG: 9302170011
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
BOWL GAME TO MOVE TO SALEM
Salem Stadium will be the home of the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, the NCAA Division III football championship game, for the next three Decembers.The National Collegiate Athletic Association informed Salem officials Tuesday that it chose the city's bid for the game over Bradenton, Fla., which was the site of the last three Stagg Bowls.
The first Stagg Bowl at the 8,000-seat stadium, matching the finalists in the annual 16-team Division III tournament, will be played Dec. 11.
Salem Civic Center manager Carey Harveycutter, the point man for the city's winning bid, said the Stagg Bowl is expected to bring $1.5 million annually to the Roanoke Valley.
The game will be televised by cable's ESPN, probably on a tape-delay basis.
James "Moose" Malmquist, the NCAA Division III football chairman, said the decision to give Salem the Stagg rights through 1995 was unanimous. A four-member committee voted after presentations and financial bidding last week in Marco Island, Fla.
Malmquist, athletic director at Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) College, said Salem's major selling point "was the broad-based community support that was displayed. The Salem people who made the presentation did a great job of articulating their understanding of what we were looking for."
Harveycutter said an 8 1/2-minute video about the city and its sports interest was crucial in luring the game to Southwest Virginia. The Roanoke Valley's metropolitan area of 225,000 residents also was sold. Salem Assistant City Manager Forrest Jones and Joe Yates, director of planning and economic development, joined Harveycutter in Marco Island for the bid process.
"We're very excited and very pleased the NCAA has chosen Salem for the Stagg Bowl," Harveycutter said. "A lot of people put a lot of work into this already, and it's going to require a lot more work from a lot more people, too."
It also didn't hurt that Salem's financial bid is believed to be the most lucrative in the 20-year history of the Division III playoffs.
Salem will pay the NCAA a guarantee of $25,000 annually, then keep the next $10,000 of the championship receipts. The NCAA and Salem will split the remainder of the profit on a 60-40 basis - the NCAA getting the larger percentage.
The ticket price, which will be established by Salem in consultation with the NCAA championships staff, likely will be in the $8-$10 range.
Wayne Burrow, an assistant director of championships for the NCAA, said another plus was Salem's proximity to Division III football, along with the involvement of the Old Dominion Athletic Conference as a Division III sponsor of the bid.
The ODAC office is in Salem; Commissioner Dan Wooldridge was the first to float the Roanoke Valley as a potential Stagg Bowl site three years ago.
When Wooldridge first pitched the Roanoke Valley and ODAC's desires to stage the Stagg Bowl, the idea was to use Victory Stadium. That changed because of the deterioration of Roanoke's municipal stadium, its inadequate locker-room space and the notion that a 24,500-seat stadium would look too empty with an expected Stagg Bowl crowd.
Salem then grabbed the handoff from Wooldridge.
More than 200 schools will play NCAA non-scholarship Division III football in 1993-94, and the closest of those to Bradenton is Millsaps (Miss.). Besides the geographic closeness of the ODAC schools and Ferrum College to Salem, Division III football has been dominated in recent years by schools from Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York. Ten of the last 12 Stagg Bowl participants have come from those three states.
Wisconsin-La Crosse won this year's Division III title, beating Washington & Jefferson (Pa.) College at Bradenton's Hawkins Stadium before about 4,500 spectators. The average crowd for the Stagg Bowl in recent years has been about 5,500.
"Salem will be a very accessible site for teams and fans, because you're sure you're going to have at least one Eastern team," Burrow said.
Burrow also mentioned the Salem Civic Center and Salem Rotary Club's participation in staging the ODAC basketball tournament for 14 years as another plus in Salem's bid. Malmquist said the stadium, which opened in 1986, should provide the desired atmosphere.
"The geography in relation to many Division III schools was extremely important," Malmquist said. "The people there understand the mentality and the karma of Division III. We were looking for the best possible experience for the kids. This is a big game for these teams.
"Salem also presented the game as a regional event, tying in other parts of the Roanoke Valley. The facilities are there for the events that accompany the game, too."
Burrow said the competing teams will arrive in the Roanoke Valley on Wednesday afternoon or Thursday morning of game week. Two banquet-receptions are planned. The teams will practice on local high school fields.
Asked about any negatives for Salem as a site, Malmquist said, "The only one worth mentioning would be the climate. . . . I'm from Minnesota, so I know snow. Salem isn't Bradenton. You aren't peddling sunshine there, but you aren't peddling the Arctic Circle, either.
"What's most important is the atmosphere for the game. We are looking for the best game in the best game atmosphere."
The Stagg Bowl is named for the legend who coached college football, primarily at the University of Chicago, from 1890 to 1946. Stagg, who died in 1965, introduced the huddle, the end-around play and the man-in-motion.
The bowl began in 1969 as the West Regional championship for Division III, before a national tournament was played. When the NCAA went to a national final in 1973, the name moved to that game.
The 14 tournament games leading to the Stagg Bowl are played at campus sites.