THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, November 28, 1995 TAG: 9511280435
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Canadian Football League commissioner Larry Smith will visit Norfolk for the first time Monday.
Smith will look over Foreman Field, where the former Shreveport (La.) Pirates have announced they will play next season. He also is scheduled to meet with area business and political leaders and likely will hold a news conference.
Norfolk Mayor Paul Fraim said meetings are planned between the commissioner and city officials.
``We're looking forward to the commissioner seeing this area,'' Pirates president Lonie Glieberman said. ``He's heard a lot about Hampton Roads and is excited to see it. He'll get a feel for what we're looking at in Foreman Field and Hampton Roads.''
Smith's trip will come on the heels of a three-day board of governors meeting that begins Wednesday in Toronto. The Pirates' request to transfer to Norfolk will be discussed, and perhaps provisionally approved, at the meeting.
The Pirates must sign a lease with ODU, which owns Foreman Field, and the city of Norfolk must approve $400,000 in renovations to the 59-year-old stadium before the team's move will receive final approval. That likely will come Jan. 20, when the league holds its next meeting in Edmonton, Alberta.
NEW OFFICE: The Pirates have opened an office and have changed their phone number.
The team was sharing quarters with Progressive Publishing but has moved into its own office in the Little Neck Towers at 3500 Virginia Beach Blvd., Suite 320, in Virginia Beach. The Pirates' new number is 463-9270.
``The people at Progressive Publishing were very kind and very helpful, but they just weren't set up for us to be there over the long haul,'' said Bill Haase, the team's executive vice president.
The new office will be temporary. Once the Pirates have found a training site, they will open an office nearby. They are looking at Virginia Wesleyan College and numerous other sites in Norfolk.
AROUND THE CFL: Baltimore Stallions owner Jim Speros is scheduled to meet with Richmond officials today to discuss moving his CFL team there. Speros is in the midst of a season-ticket drive in Baltimore, but he acknowledges he'll likely have to move if the NFL's Cleveland Browns move to Baltimore, as expected. He told the Baltimore Sun that Miami, Orlando, Milwaukee, Portland, Ore., Salt Lake City and Richmond are among his top relocation options. The Pirates are urging him to move to Richmond. . . . Longtime Toronto general manager Bob O'Billovich was fired Monday. He was coach and GM when the Argonauts won the Grey Cup in 1983. The Argonauts were 4-14 this season, including a 2-7 record with O'Billovich serving as interim coach after he fired coach Mike Faragalli. by CNB