THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 7, 1995 TAG: 9511070399
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
A month ago business around here was as usual. We had our families, our jobs, our various and varied lives. On the whole, things were pretty good, wouldn't you say?
Sure, we were sort of aware that some people viewed Hampton Roads as a slumbering sports market slowly awakening, but it was mostly conversational fodder.
A nugget to chew on while politicians and sports commissions went about compiling this or that study on stadiums and such.
Look now. All of a sudden, Hampton Roads is a shimmering grand prize in some game, in which all the rules aren't even clear, being played by multiple Canadian Football League interests.
It apparently doesn't matter that the only stadium here in excess of 20,000 seats, Foreman Field, is decrepit and unsuitable as is to host an entity such as the CFL.
It apparently doesn't matter that the market has never proven it can support any enterprise larger than Triple-A baseball and low minor league hockey, where modest prices are the major selling points.
What matters most, we are being told, is a population of about 1.6 million, unsullied by direct football competition and supposedly starving for anything close to ``big league'' sports.
So over there you've got Lonie Glieberman, who wants to move his Shreveport Pirates here, and who is days away from launching a season-ticket drive to gauge support.
Over there you've got T.J. Morgan, the local guy who owns the amateur Hampton Roads Sharks, who was quietly planning to pursue a CFL expansion team before Glieberman showed up and stole his thunder.
And up there you've got Jim Speros, who now finds his Baltimore Stallions, the only American team in the CFL successful at the gate, probably squeezed out by the Cleveland Browns' planned move.
It's unlikely, but what's to keep Speros from eyeing up Hampton Roads and joining the logjam?
Speros thinks highly of Hampton Roads. CFL commissioner Larry Smith has said Speros alerted him years ago to this market's potential. And that Speros has pushed for a team in Hampton Roads to create a regional rivalry with Baltimore.
Speros mentioned the region in passing Monday in a press conference. Said he'd recently been in touch with officials from various potential CFL markets, including ours.
Such attention. Such an embarrassment of riches. A heady feeling, too, going from wallflower to belle of the ball in a matter of weeks. And by doing nothing more than minding our day-to-day affairs.
Not that Jeff Sias is doing backflips yet. As director of sports promotions for the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, Sias and business leaders who want to establish a CFL team here must take a sober approach to the suitors.
Especially so because none of the suitors has yet replaced their bluster with a black-and-white business plan detailing how they intend to make the CFL work.
``(Community leaders) haven't received any hard inquiries in writing from any of these parties,'' Sias said. ``That should concern us all a little bit. We're still at the talk stage and haven't gotten beyond that.
``My heart would love to see a CFL team here. But my head says there are a lot of questions that have to be answered. And those two don't always talk to each other.''
These days, though, there is a pulse in heads and hearts throughout the area that wasn't there in early October.
It's still all talk, but it's fun to listen in. by CNB