THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, December 4, 1995 TAG: 9512020483
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 04 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Ted Evanoff
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines
The big question about the Shreveport Pirates is what would happen to the team after it arrives in Tidewater.
Owners of the Pirates, a Louisiana expansion franchise in the Canadian Football League, see rich waters in Hampton Roads and have asked Norfolk to spend $400,000 fixing Foreman Field at Old Dominion University.
Norfolk is considering the deal, though repairs wouldn't end two conflicts. CFL rules call for bigger playing fields than America uses. What's worse, the stadium location off 49th Street could deter attendance.
Peninsula residents must negotiate nine traffic lights between 49th and Interstate 564. Modern pro stadiums are near expressway ramps, an attraction for fans who drive many miles.
All this leads to one issue. Foreman would be temporary even after $400,000 in repairs. Where would the Pirates play permanently, and more to the point, at what cost?
Vancouver faced similar decisions. Not long after the British Columbia Lions won the 1985 Grey Cup, the CFL championship, Vancouver built a new arena.
It was modern. It included plush $2,000-a-season seats. It harbored the Lions and hockey's Vancouver Canucks. And it cost $163 million. Fortunately for Vancouver taxpayers, the world's largest corporation pitched in. The stadium is called General Motors Place.
For the Pirates' permanent home, it's tempting to toss around names like CBN Dome, Norfolk Southern Arena or Ford Field. And why not Lillian Vernon Terrace? Thing is, there may not be a future team on hand.
On most Sundays, about 340 millionaires play in America's National Football League. Another 75 millionaires skate each night in the National Hockey League. And when spring comes, some 270 millionaires take the field in major league baseball stadiums.
Television revenue allows America's top pro athletes to command movie-star salaries. Last week the New York Yankees offered a 27-year-old individual good at hitting baseballs $25 million for three seasons.
Hardly anyone blinked at the amount, though the player, Roberto Alomar, would take in more cash than the CFL earns on television contracts in a single season. He would take in more cash than the CFL earned the last five seasons from TV.
In Canada, football is sport. In America, sport is big business, big show business. Glitz, hype and national television attracts huge followings.
Retail sales of National Basketball Association merchandise reached $3 billion last year. Those are global sales. They'll most likely grow. Major league sports has been driven by America's peculiar gift for peddling entertainment abroad.
The NHL recently scouted Europe. The NBA has looked at Europe and Latin America. The NFL seems destined for expansion in Mexico City and Toronto.
Rodney Fort, author of Pay Dirt, a book about the sports industry, suggests the NFL in Toronto would diminish the CFL's appeal in Canada.
The CFL already aches. About 30 million people live in Canada. In contrast, the local television market for the NFL's Washington Redskins includes about 10 million residents.
Not only does Canada possess a small TV market, Canadian national TV provides the CFL relatively little exposure. One franchise had to buy air time and pay its own production expenses.
Ticket sales and not TV sustain the CFL. However, fan interest has faded. Only 3.3 million Canadian TV viewers watched the 1993 Grey Cup, down from 7.8 million viewers in 1982.
Interest waned for several reasons. One was wide broadcast of major league baseball, NFL, NBA and NHL games. And players come and go. Each CFL team on average used 58 different players in 1993, compared to 45 in 1974. Fans can't easily identify all the new players.
What's more, the league limits salaries. The average CFL player earns $60,500, less than 10 percent of the NFL's $650,000 average. Even athletes of medium ability strive for the NFL.
To bolster attendance, many CFL owners have cut ticket prices. Attendance averaged 26,180 per game this season, up from last year's 21,720. But the league's 13 teams still expect to lose a combined $40 million this year.
Opening franchises in the United States and signing U.S. TV deals are part of the CFL survival strategy.
In the end, though, you have to ask: Why should Hampton Roads spend millions of public dollars on a permanent home for a minor league that appears to face long financial struggle?
KEYWORDS: CANADIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE by CNB