Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 30, 1995 TAG: 9508300080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JUSTIN CATANOSO LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: GREENSBORO LENGTH: Long
David Stonecipher, chairman of Jefferson-Pilot Corp., and Walter McDowell, president of Wachovia of North Carolina, are leading a group investigating the possibility of attracting a team and financing a stadium to be located somewhere near the interstates between the three cities.
Both acknowledge the effort - which could cost $350 million - is a long shot. But, Stonecipher said Tuesday, ``If we don't think about all the possibilities and stretch ourselves, we may sell ourselves short.
``Demographically, baseball is a fabulous sport for the communities of North Carolina. But it's also a way in which the Triad region could really work together for a common good and do something major.''
Both Stonecipher and McDowell, who lead two of the state's largest financial institutions, have promoted the idea to corporate executives. They commissioned an economic feasibility study from a national accounting firm. A stadium study is under way.
And last month, Stonecipher led a small group of business leaders to the governor's mansion in Raleigh, where Gov. Jim Hunt promised his support.
While a team, if it comes, would locate in the Triad, it would be promoted as the state's major-league franchise. Such a deal could take five years or more to accomplish, the businessmen said.
And the effort may fail, given the Triad'scities' low profile nationally and the intense competition for major league franchises. Organizers in Northern Virginia, Orlando and Nashville are are pursuing major-league dreams. The Triad effort also clashes with the Bats' plan to build a new stadium for Double A baseball in Greensboro.
But the major-league idea, the businessmen say, is being greeted enthusiastically by other corporate leaders. Public officials who will likely be asked to support the idea with tax dollars have largely been kept out of the discussions until this week.
McDowell, past chairman of the Piedmont Triad Partnership, a 12-county economic development organization, said, ``The next logical thing for us to do as a region is to bring Major League Baseball to the Triad, and in a broader sense, to North Carolina.''
Like First Union, a major financial backer of the Charlotte Hornets pro basketball team, and NationsBank, the lead financial backer of the Carolina Panthers pro football team, McDowell said Winston-Salem-based Wachovia is interested in being ``the designated hitter'' for a pro baseball team.
Don Beaver of Hickory, who owns four minor league teams, has told the business leaders he is interested in leading an ownership group to acquire a major-league franchise. That could be accomplished either through league expansion this decade or by relocating an existing team.
No major-league team has switched cities since the Washington Senators moved to Arlington, Texas, more than 20 years ago. But in this summer of baseball's discontent
Beaver, 55, who made millions this summer after his chain of 50 Southeastern nursing homes merged with Living Centers of America, pitched in the 1952 Little League World Series as a 12-year-old from Iredell County. He has long harbored the dream of bringing major league baseball to his home state.
``Basically, I see the Triad as the center of the state for North Carolina's population,'' said Beaver, 55, who made millions this summer after his chain of 50 regional nursing homes merged with Living Centers of America. ``I see this as a drawing area for Raleigh, Charlotte and even Roanoke, particularly with the highway system here.'' On Beaver, McDowell said, ``For someone to come to the forefront and say, `I own teams, I want to be involved, I want to be an owner,' and have money to invest, that's pretty significant.''
Not everyone is impressed by the effort.
``What makes the good people of the Triad feel they've got a shot at Major League Baseball when they can't even build a decent Class A baseball stadium?'' asked Mike Scanlon, a partner with Greensboro Bats' principal owner Bill Collins of American Baseball Capital Inc., in Alexandria, Va.
Class A is the lowest classification in minor league baseball, beneath Double A and Triple A.
``I'm sorry, but it flies in the face of logic to think that Major League Baseball is going to take a leap of faith that a community that can't produce a Class A ballpark can do more than that,'' Scanlon said. ``You cannot run unless you can walk.''
Collins and Scanlon have been briefed periodically on the progress of the Triad effort. But both appear to believe the initiative undermines their efforts to take the Bats to Double A in Greensboro.
Collins' group is also considered a front-runner to bring a major-league franchise to Northern Virginia.
Peat Marwick, a national accounting firm, was paid $25,000 through private Triad support to complete an economic feasibility study. Reichard said the results, to be released today, support the notion that the Triad region is a viable market for Major League Baseball.
Assuming that fans will drive 90 minutes to see a game, Peat Marwick studied a 100-mile radius around the middle of the Triad, which encompasses nearly 6 million people as far away as Raleigh, Charlotte and Roanoke.
by CNB