Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, September 13, 1995 TAG: 9509130026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's a question the Roanoke Express' ownership is trying to answer. Roller hockey is a hot sport, and not just because it's played in the summer. That doesn't mean the Express' investors should roll into a concept being floated by some of their East Coast Hockey League divisional brethren.
It's likely the ECHL's Eastern Division will play on wheels next summer. Roller Hockey International has sought to put a franchise in Norfolk, and Blake Cullen, the Hampton Roads Admirals' owner, doesn't want RHI rolling on his Scope floor.
Richmond investors love the idea, too, and ECHL clubs in Charlotte, N.C., and South Carolina (Charleston) are leaning toward summer skating.
In Roanoke, the Express hasn't gotten too far down the track on the new venture.
``We're putting budgets together to see if it can work,'' Express president John Gagnon said Tuesday. ``We're looking at it as a business. We think roller hockey is becoming more popular. But is it viable here?''
Good question. To borrow a slogan from the RHI, it could be hell on wheels for the organization. The Express hasn't talked with the Roanoke Civic Center about the 11 or 12 dates the club would need for a home schedule. Before it could play a game, the team would have to invest about $60,000 for a roller-hockey carpet that's needed atop the arena floor.
That's one reason the start-up costs and first-year operations budget would run more than $350,000. Gagnon says the Express projects that a roller hockey team could break even with an average crowd of 3,000, at an average ticket in the $5 to $6 range.
That number seems possible. But at what cost to the Express? The return of hockey to the valley is considered by some no less than a miracle on ice. The Express rightfully has earned a solid reputation for its sales, promotions and game-night shows, not to mention what coach Frank Anzalone has done with the club on the slick surface despite minimal affiliation help and no local practice ice.
With a new venture, the Express would risk what it has nurtured. It would be trading on its first-class reputation in packaging two hockey clubs. How many times can you go back to the same advertisers? Would the impetus and man hours needed to start a new venture diminish the operation on ice?
With football's Rush and soccer's RiverDawgs, there are two more competitors for bucks than there were a year ago. The big hitter is the Salem Avalanche, however. The club attracted 69,478 for 20 dates in Salem Memorial Baseball Stadium to finish the season, just 1,155 fewer than appeared for 46 dates at Municipal Field.
In the first full season in the new park, the Avalanche will reach more corporate sponsors and season-ticket purchasers. The club would share some of the same playing dates as a roller hockey league, which is likely to play mostly on weekends.
The Tour DuPont, the Commonwealth Games, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, three or four other Salem-based NCAA Division III championships and the Roanoke Valley Horse Show are knocking on the same doors, too. It's certainly a crowded playing field.
Roller Hockey International may be trying to invade Norfolk and Charlotte, but RHI is the big league of the sport. It's not interested in Roanoke. Is concern about territorial protection elsewhere enough of a reason for the Express to play another game only three years after it got into another one?
We're not talking about the threat of the American Hockey League invading the prosperity of the ECHL, as it did in Greensboro, N.C. Besides, the Express' first priority now should be finding practice ice. The club isn't going to Hillsborough, N.C., for training camp because it wants Dean Smith to drop by.
Gagnon said a decision on whether Roanoke plays roller hockey will be made in 30 to 45 days. Don't be surprised if the Express doesn't go head over wheels about it.
by CNB