Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 1, 1993 TAG: 9309010049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
After the Tour DuPont stopped in Lynchburg and Blacksburg this year, more than a few locals - including Roanoke Mayor David Bowers - vocally wondered why the nation's premier cycling event bypassed the Star City.
Good question. Roanoke's efforts a year ago were too little and too late. It promises to be different in 1994.
When Medalist Sports announces the next Tour route in about two weeks, Roanoke is all but certain to be included. Considering the bid the Roanoke Valley made for a Tour stop, Medalist hardly can afford to exclude the Star City.
"Roanoke made a very strong proposal to us," said Steve Brunner, vice president of development and communications for Medalist, the Richmond-based organizer of the Tour DuPont. "When someone comes to us that's that forward, you have to look seriously at what they've proposed.
"Let me put it this way: Roanoke is making it very hard for us to say no."
So, expect Roanoke to be part of the Tour's map during the second week of the May 5-15 trek from Delaware to North Carolina. Brunner said the Tour route of nearly 1,100 miles is being finalized and is likely to be announced Sept. 15.
Mac McCadden, the Roanoke city councilman who has been coordinating the Tour bid process for the Roanoke Valley, said he has been told by Medalist officials that the valley's proposal was the most impressive the Tour organizers received for the sixth annual race.
In addition to its financial package, the Roanoke Valley's bid was accompanied by support letters from government leaders in Roanoke, Roanoke County and Salem, and all three area chambers of commerce.
Brunner said Roanoke's bid, made according to Medalist specifications, included a minimum of 300 complimentary hotel rooms and two meals (dinner and breakfast) for 600. That would indicate that Roanoke is likely to be the finish for a stage of the Tour, or the site of a one-day time trial. Wilmington, Del., the likely start of the Tour again, and the Greensboro, N.C., Triad area were the sites for time trials this year.
"Our bid was for up to 400 hotel rooms," McCadden said. "The package we bid, in goods and services, is worth $60,000. Our plan is to raise that money through sponsorships or have local businesses rent the hotel rooms and give them to the Tour to use."
McCadden said Roanoke "has made it very clear to Medalist how much we want the Tour." Brunner said all that's left is to put the final pieces into "the giant jigsaw puzzle" that is the Tour before the route is revealed.
What the Tour should mean for the Roanoke Valley is obvious. It's a world-class sporting event. It brings TV exposure on ESPN and CBS. The 1993 Tour was televised in 93 countries, with a daily estimated viewership of 20 million. It means coverage in newspapers and magazines internationally. The Tour's media visitors included journalists and broadcasters from Japan, Italy, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Great Britain, France, Colombia, Mexico and Canada this year.
The annual overnight finish-start in Richmond means a $1.75 million economic impact to the state's capital region. Roanoke's bid shows the Star City can compete in some sports arenas, when it tries. Charlotte, N.C., will be along for the Tour ride next year, too.
Despite the notion of some valley leaders, who see the games people play as nothing more than that, sports is big business - and a natural to go with the region's bid to add to its tourism base.
For 1994, there were 33 earnest bids for this bikers' convention. About 18 to 20 were given serious consideration by Medalist. Brunner said the Tour will return to Lynchburg. It also is expected to be back in Blacksburg.
Roanoke will find it's really worth making this Tour, too.
by CNB