THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060600
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
LENGTH: 73 lines
It could've been any Dave, Dick or Denny Deeppockets. That it happens to be Charlotte's George Shinn is a quirk of timing and fate.
Whomever it was, though, and whenever he came along, people knew some big-money sports guy would be a bolt of lightning. The one who could jolt the region's seized political cognoscenti, infuriatingly long on thinking but short on acting, into frantic motion.
At the Waterside Marriott on Tuesday, at least, fur was flying. I saw a mania of business suits and ties, many who nearly needed bibs for their salivation over a possible major league sports team.
I saw a stunning number of local business and political heavyweights in one room for something that wasn't a funeral.
I saw men and women dashing off checks in multiples of $100 fast enough to give them paper cuts. I saw a shrewdly organized, balloon-loaded pep rally that whipped up the twister of emotion it was designed to produce.
In short, I'm beginning to think I saw the future - and it was purple and teal, wrinkled and leathery and had two horns sticking out of its snout.
The Rhinos.
Stranger things have happened.
``We've been looking at this market for over six months,'' said Tom Ward, who would be the marketing director of Shinn's NHL Rhinos if and when they arrive. That explains the modest $100 deposit required of those who wish to hold season tickets in their name in some yet-to-be-conceived downtown Norfolk arena.
It obviously didn't take Shinn and his people long to develop an informed caution for what this under-incomed market can bear. Asking even $250, as Shinn did in Charlotte for deposits on top tickets during his bid for an NBA team 10 years ago, might have handicapped his effort in Hampton Roads from the start.
In lieu of an arena and a major league sports history, Shinn's hopes lay largely with dazzling NHL owners with his list of ticket orders. And anymore, $100 is about an hour at the mall or an anniversary dinner.
A hundred bucks, or $10,000 down for a luxury suite, will hardly spook anybody or any business who would consider a season ticket or a suite in the first place. They are easy numbers to jot onto a check with hardly a second thought to the thousand, or many thousands, that must follow.
``(One hundred) is a good round figure,'' Ward said. ``A hundred dollars is a legitimate deposit that someone is going to make a commitment to. If it's $20, there's not a whole lot of equity in that. We wanted to make sure they've got some equity built into that.''
As for this area's fabric made of so-called ``hot dog and hamburger'' tastes, Ward said, ``that's what this season-ticket drive is all about. It can dispel all those theories.''
Team Shinn knows the drill. It has a history of debunking stereotypes and energizing cities. Every few years, in fact, seems to find Shinn in the middle of some region's sports lust.
In the early '90s, Shinn, who has long sought a major league baseball team, was involved in an aborted attempt to buy the San Francisco Giants and move them to St. Petersburg, Fla.
When that didn't materialize, Shinn resurfaced soon after as a leader of a Bay Area group that would buy the Giants and keep them in San Francisco.
Media reports, though, had him angering some investors with his plan to strip the Giants of big-salaried stars, and also by not revealing to them his financial records.
Shinn eventually dropped out of the deal. But he stirred up enough activity that the Giants were purchased by local interests and remained in San Francisco.
In fact, sports agent Leigh Steinberg, who was involved in trying to keep the Giants in San Francisco, told a newspaper in '92: ``The San Francisco offer to buy the Giants would never have come together if it were not for George Shinn.''
Ultimately, this effort will boil down to the spending whims of your friends and neighbors. There's no question, though, that Shinn finally has the power base shaking. by CNB