THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220450
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
The Oyster Bowl college football game is dead and will not be resurrected until Hampton Roads constructs a new stadium to replace Foreman Field, game chairman James A. Howard Sr. said Wednesday.
The bowl, played 49 times in the past 50 seasons, raised more than $3 million for the Shriners Hospitals for Crippled and Burned Children, but in recent years the Shriners struggled to make ends meet.
``The Oyster Bowl has been canceled,'' Howard said. ``It's a very painful decision to have made, especially when you consider the purpose of the game.
``But we have to go in a different direction.''
That does not include hosting a high school game, something bowl officials had contemplated. The Shriners will sponsor a golf tournament to raise money for the hospitals, Howard said, but they are out of the football business.
Virginia Military Institute was scheduled to meet The Citadel in the 50th Oyster Bowl in November. The game will be played in Lexington instead.
Howard said the bowl died because it could no longer afford to attract major Division I-A schools such as Virginia and Virginia Tech. The Oyster Bowl was forced to invite smaller Division I-AA schools, and corporate and fan support slowly waned.
Howard said the bowl's major problem was the small size and deteriorating condition of 25,600-seat Foreman Field, which is owned by Old Dominion University.
``The stadium is too small and the facilities are just not up-to-date,'' he said.
Rising costs also hurt the bowl, Howard said. Norfolk's amusement tax ate up $8,000 of the gate last season. Oyster Bowl officials lobbied unsuccessfully years ago to have the charity game exempted from the tax.
``A lot of cities don't even have an amusement tax,'' he said. ``The city made more on the game than we did.
``The stadium rent doubled (to about $10,000),'' he added. ``And we didn't have the benefit of concessions revenues at ODU. . . . Even the costs for game officials skyrocketed. It cost $5,000 just for the (game) officials.
``Some years ago, the Oyster Bowl paid for constructing the end zones at Foreman Field. When the stadium was refurbished (in 1979), the Oyster Bowl paid ($90,000).
``We've paid our way in every respect.''
ODU athletic director Jim Jarrett, who allowed the Oyster Bowl to cancel a five-year lease with the university on Tuesday, expressed sorrow at the game's demise.
``I'm personally very sad to see it end,'' Jarrett said.
Howard said he hopes Hampton Roads cities will build a football stadium that could revive the Oyster Bowl.
``A stadium is like a zoo,'' Howard said. ``The city doesn't make any money out of a zoo, but you've got to have one.
``We need a new stadium.'' ILLUSTRATION: GARY C. KNAPP
Oyster Bowl chairman James A. Howard Sr. announced the demise of the
area's longtime college football fixture.
KEYWORDS: OYSTER BOWL by CNB