ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 28, 1997 TAG: 9701280073
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: JACK BOGACZYK
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
For the closest trip to an NBA or NFL game in recent years, Southwest Virginia has looked south of the border.
Well, North Carolina has come here with another pitch.
North Carolina Baseball Inc. wants the same thing for the Piedmont Triad that Northern Virginia is seeking - a transferred or expansion big-league franchise.
And we're part of the plans. The Roanoke Valley and points south are within the 100-mile radius of Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, in a region that includes 6.5 million people.
One of those is Mike Solomon, an engineer who Monday night at the Roanoke Valley Sports Club dinner made his 77th speech about North Carolina's baseball hopes.
Solomon is executive director of North Carolina Baseball Inc., the non-profit corporation formed to seek a franchise. He is a past chairman of the Greater Greensboro Open golf tournament and chair of the North Carolina Sports Commission.
Solomon also knows the out-of-state audience he's pitching. He's a 1974 Virginia Tech graduate and a Danville native. His visit to the Salem Civic Center for the sports club talk wasn't his first.
He admitted to seeing a Black Sabbath concert there years ago.
If a native Virginian trying to get a major-league franchise seems a bit ironic, consider that the primary owner of the Class A Greensboro Bats franchise is William Collins, the telecommunications mogul who is trying to do the same in Northern Virginia.
``Southwest and Southern Virginia are very critical to our effort,'' Solomon said. ``We are the two largest markets available to baseball. I can't speak to the Northern Virginia effort, but in the Triad, we're very confident of where we are today.''
And why not?
Baseball will expand by two clubs by 1999, with the teams scheduled to begin play by 2002, if not sooner. Although the Virginia and North Carolina bids aren't rival ones, they really are. Both aren't likely to get teams, unless some established club moves after the expansion process.
Solomon has been lobbying his old neighborhood for support. The North Carolina Baseball board includes former Roanoke City councilman and ex-umpire Mac McCadden. That list will grow.
Solomon also has sought letters of support for the North Carolina Wannabes. He has them from Salem, Martinsville and Danville, among others. Roanoke City and Roanoke County haven't responded.
Why? Perhaps because those municipalities figure supporting the Triad effort somehow will be seen as a slap at the Northern Virginia effort. Well, that won't sit well with local baseball fans, who just want a team to watch that's closer to home than Baltimore.
So, maybe the question should be: Would you rather drive 90 miles, to a ballpark site between Greensboro and Winston-Salem, near the Triad airport, or spend four hours on the road to Northern Virginia?
Solomon could have an easy sell in these parts. He also may have the right geography. While Northern Virginia isn't far from Camden Yards, the Greensboro region sits in the midst of a map with no big-league team.
There's little question the instant success of the NFL's Carolina Panthers has boosted the baseball bid in the Tar Heel State. The Greensboro area's effort has gotten the eyes and ears of baseball's bigwigs, too.
By Feb.15, Solomon's group will submit legislation to North Carolina's General Assembly to create a stadium authority. If approved, as expected, a baseball stadium funding referendum will be held in Aug.in 12 North Carolina Triad counties.
It would be ``stand-by'' legislation, meaning that, if the referendum passes, until or unless North Carolina gets a team, there will be no taxes imposed in the 12-county region. The options are a restaurant tax at 1 percent or a sales tax at one-third of 1 percent.
``It figures out to about $12 per person,'' Solomon said. ``Is it worth the price of a large pepperoni pizza to get a major-league baseball team?''
North Carolina, with 11 clubs, already boasts more minor-league clubs than any state expect Florida (16). In Don Beaver, who owns the Carolina League's Winston-Salem franchise among his four minor-league holdings, North Carolina Baseball has a prospective big-league owner.
Solomon talks about a $250 million price tag on a 38,000-seat stadium, a project that would be a private-public partnership. The group projects an average attendance of 31,250 per game.
I can't speak for the other 6,499,999 in the 100-mile radius, but if they built it, I would come. Then, it's Bud Selig and his buddies who have to be convinced nothing could be finer than the bigs in Carolina.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 linesby CNB