THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Thursday, January 2, 1997             TAG: 9701020173
SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 
DATELINE: NEWPORT NEWS                      LENGTH:   39 lines

NEWPORT NEWS OFFICIALS BALK AT LEAD ROLE IN BUILDING PARK THE PENINSULA STILL HAS NO PLAN FOR A NEW HOME FOR BASEBALL'S CLASS A DURHAM BULLS.

A plan to bring a minor league baseball team from Durham, N.C., to Newport News has been dealt a setback by the city's decision against taking the lead in building a baseball stadium.

``Newport News has concluded this is not a Newport News project,'' Mayor Joe Frank said. The City Council discussed the issue behind closed doors Tuesday.

Ken Young, owner of the Triple-A Norfolk Tides, has an option to buy the Durham Bulls, the Class A baseball team made famous by the movie ``Bull Durham.'' Young's option expires Jan. 31, and the Peninsula still doesn't have a plan for financing and constructing a stadium.

``It probably doesn't help,'' Young said of Newport News' decision, ``but I don't think it kills it.''

Young has said work on a $12 million, 6,500-seat stadium would have to start in April in order for it to be ready for the 1998 baseball season. The site most prominently mentioned for a new stadium has been in York County, at the intersection of Interstate 64 and Virginia Route 199.

Young said it will come down to whether the public wants to bring minor league baseball back to the Peninsula, which lost its team in 1992.

``The gist of it is, if there's no one that wants to take the lead, you have to ask where's the public support, and you pack your bags,'' Young said.

Durham has received a Triple-A International League expansion franchise. The Bulls will play one more season in Durham before the new team begins play in 1998.

A group in Myrtle Beach, S.C., also is interested in buying the Bulls.

KEYWORDS: BASEBALL STADIUM NEWPORT NEWS PENINSULA