THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140221
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
The Shreveport Pirates have submitted a 100-page business plan to the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce that apparently has eased some worries about the Canadian Football League's plans to move to Hampton Roads.
The chamber requested a business plan last week because of concerns that the Pirates were attempting to move to Hampton Roads with no vision of how to succeed.
``It was a vast document that indicated they have done their homework,'' said Jeff Sias, sports promotions director for the chamber. ``It gave us a better understanding of their goals and objectives. It was an impressive document.''
Sias would not share details of the business plan and said the chamber has not yet taken a stance on the CFL team. But another source, who asked to remain anonymous, said the group will endorse the Pirates' planned season-ticket drive.
The Pirates will kick off that drive at 10 a.m. today at the Omni Hotel in downtown Norfolk. Head coach Forrest Gregg and quarterback Billy Joe Tolliver will attend the team's first official press conference in Hampton Roads.
Pirates president Lonie Glieberman said the team will move from Shreveport to Norfolk's Foreman Field if the drive nets 15,000 tickets sold.
Prices are expected to range from about $125 to $250, with discounted tickets available for families of four. Phone lines have been set up at Progressive Publishing in Virginia Beach, where the team has temporary offices. Glieberman said the lines will be manned 24 hours beginning at 11 a.m. today.
Glieberman said the ticket drive will gear up slowly. Barker, Campbell and Farley, the team's Virginia Beach public relations firm, plans to buy media advertising later this month. He said a mass mailing of at least 50,000 will be made around Thanksgiving to targeted households.
Pirates executive vice president Bill Haase said the team will provide the chamber with an addition to the business plan within a week. The version delivered to Sias dealt mainly with the ticket plan, budgeting for next season and how the Pirates chose Hampton Roads.
The addition will include estimates on how much it will cost to make renovations to Foreman Field. The team has retained an engineering firm that is surveying the 25,400-seat stadium.
``The mayor (Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim) will be the first to see that report,'' Glieberman said.
The Pirates hope the city or a regional entity, such as the Sports Authority of Hampton Roads, will pay for the renovations.
The plan already presented to Sias includes marketing information on 20 cities surveyed by the Pirates as potential locations.
Joan Prescott of Barker, Campbell and Farley, which wrote the business plan, said the report ``was compiled more than written. They provided masses and masses of information and we simply compiled it.''
Sources say the report used mathematical formulas to show that Hampton Roads, with 1.6 million people the nation's largest area without a major sports franchise, has more sports dollars being chased by fewer teams than any comparable market of its size.
``We didn't pick Hampton Roads off a dartboard,'' Glieberman said. ``We were very careful and did a lot of research before deciding to come here.''
The plan estimates that the Pirates will average about 18,000 per game at Foreman Field and, assuming concessions and corporate revenues come in as expected, the team could break even at 18,000.
Haase said the team continues to operate as if it will be moving to Hampton Roads next season.
``We're searching for a site for a training facility and a permanent office,'' Haase said.
Both Virginia Wesleyan College in Virginia Beach and Norfolk's Barry Robinson Center, a residential treatment facility for children, are being considered as potential training sites. by CNB