ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 23, 1996 TAG: 9606240070
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RICHMOND
SOURCE: ROBERT LITTLE STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA BASEBALL CLUB'S efforts to build a stadium have hit a couple of big snags, but it's not ready to call it quits.
If the investment group known as the Virginia Baseball Club were actually a major league franchise, it would be out on strikes and headed for the showers.
But the team isn't playing baseball this summer - it's playing politics, a game where you always get another swing.
Efforts to bring a major league team to Northern Virginia hit a series of snags last week, including stalled negotiations to finance a stadium and the withdrawal of each location considered a possible stadium site.
Armed simply with a promise from state officials to keep trying, however, Virginia's would-be baseball owners are shifting their sights to next month's All-Star game in Philadelphia, where they expect interest to intensify among major league owners shopping for new home cities.
Their goal: Get a commitment from a major league team before the next baseball owners' meeting in November, then dangle it in front of legislators as they debate stadium financing anew.
"With that commitment, I think we'd be on much stronger footing with the legislature," said Virginia Baseball Club investor Mike Scanlon, spokesman for the group.
The investors are optimistic. The Houston Astros were ready to make a deal last year before the major league owners told them to wait, and now the Milwaukee Brewers are under league pressure to look for a new home.
Baseball supporters in the legislature, meanwhile, are hoping successful talks with major league owners will be the ingredient they need to keep baseball from crumbling in the General Assembly.
"It's the kind of hopeful sign we could use right now," said Winchester Sen. Russell Potts.
Two issues continue to rattle efforts to attract a team to Virginia:
Stadium financing. Members of a special legislative subcommittee studying stadium financing delayed any formal decisions last week, opting instead to take the matter before the full General Assembly in January. Several said that if a vote were taken today, the legislature would reject proposals to use public money to build a 45,000-seat stadium.
Most lawmakers remain warm to the idea of a major league team in Virginia. But even with the Virginia Baseball Club -headed by telecommunications executive William Collins III - agreeing to carry $13 million of the annual costs of a stadium, $14 million more would have to come from the state.
"If the state's going to have to issue some bonds to do this, then that dog ain't gonna hunt," said Del. Richard Cranwell, D-Vinton, a member of the panel and chairman of the House Finance Committee.
"What I hear at McDonald's is folks don't want to pay for it, they want baseball to pay for itself."
Financing proposals already would funnel all the stadium's tax money from tickets, parking and concessions back into the stadium, so proponents are scrambling for alternatives.
Norfolk Del. William Robinson, an advocate of public financing for stadium construction, said he might revive efforts to open floating casinos in Hampton Roads as a way to cover the costs.
"If we need $14 million a year, that's only one and a half riverboats," said Robinson, a member of the legislative committee studying stadium financing. "I think the urban areas of the state, particularly South Hampton Roads, would be receptive to the state's involvement. Not only would it enhance Virginia's identity nationwide, it would be good for business."
nStadium site selection. The deadline for localities to submit proposed sites for a stadium passed Monday without any applications making the deadline. The chairman of Virginia's Stadium Authority suggested baseball no longer has a chance of moving to the state by the 1999 season.
But the selection process has been renewed, and several private land owners are offering new sites in Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Even though the process is behind schedule, partners in the ownership say they can wait until about November and still have a chance of buying a team this year.
"You're going to find opposition anywhere," said Potts, the state senator from Winchester and the owner of a sports marketing firm. "If they wanted to build it in the middle of the desert, the environmentalists would be complaining about cactuses. In all of Northern Virginia, there has to be a suitable site somewhere."
Meanwhile, in the District of Columbia, government officials have ordered a study to determine where and how a stadium could be built within the Washington city limits.
The investors consider Washington a last resort, but leave the possibility open.
"We always say we're going to dance with who brung us," Scanlon said. "We're not going to eliminate any opportunities, either, though."
Want more information on the proposed baseball stadium in Northern Virginia? Visit our on-line baseball site at: http://www.infi.net/roatimes/
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