THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, January 4, 1997 TAG: 9701040351
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 83 lines
The Hampton Roads Partnership and George Shinn have inched closer to an arena deal, but apparently not close enough for the two sides to shake hands.
A source who asked not to be identified said the differences now ``are very narrow'' between the Partnership and Shinn, who owns the Charlotte Hornets NBA team and has applied for a National Hockey League expansion franchise in Hampton Roads.
Time is running out. Shinn has said an arena deal must be part of the presentation he is scheduled to make Jan. 14 before the NHL Board of Governors in New York City. The deal would have to be done by early next week to be a part of the presentation, which will include a film, brochures and an oral report from Shinn.
Sources say Shinn delivered an offer to the Partnership late Friday that will be discussed by region officials over the weekend. The two sides have been exchanging proposals since early November for a deal to build a $125 million, 20,000-seat downtown Norfolk arena that would house the Rhinos, Shinn's chosen name for the team.
Meanwhile, a wave of stretch-run promotional support has kicked in from three local corporations:
Hoffman Beverage Inc. has put the Rhinos logo and a season-ticket advertisement on 2.5 million cans of Pepsi being distributed in Hampton Roads. The company donated the advertising to the Rhinos.
Several local McDonald's restaurants will stuff more than 200,000 season-ticket brochures into take-out bags.
Farm Fresh will put thousands of season-ticket brochures into shopping bags.
Sinclair Communications also is sponsoring a ``Rhino Rally'' Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. at Iceland Skating Rink in Virginia Beach to sell season tickets, and Dominion Tower in downtown Norfolk has placed a ``Go Rhinos'' sign on the side of the building facing the Omni Hotel.
``In nine years with the Hornets, I haven't been able to get our logo on 2.5 million cans of Pepsi,'' said Tom Ward, vice president of marketing for the Hornets and Shinn's point man for the Rhinos in Hampton Roads.
The promotional push is targeted at pumping up season-ticket sales before the Jan. 14 presentation. The team's 6-week-old ticket drive is believed to have netted about 5,000 season tickets and 25 luxury suites. Shinn's goals are 10,000 season tickets and 40 suites.
But an arena deal is the top priority for Shinn and the Partnership, a group of more than 50 government, civic, educational and business leaders, including the region's mayors.
The arena would be constructed with bonds issued by the Hampton Roads Sports Facility Authority. The bonds would be paid off by taxes generated at the arena, contributions from local cities and by the Rhinos. The main holdup in the deal is the amount of the Rhinos' contribution.
Officials say privately it's possible that Shinn and local officials may not come to an agreement.
Shinn was unavailable for comment, but issued a statement through Hornets' media relations director Harold Kaufman: ``We're plugging away and we're still hoping that things work out for the best.''
Ward left Hampton Roads Friday to meet with Shinn and go over the script for the presentation.
``It's nearly done,'' said Ward, who is overseeing the production of the presentation. ``We're going ahead full bore.''
The Rhinos are plugging season tickets and luxury-suite sales with a renewed media blitz after virtually shutting down their advertising campaign over the holidays.
The new campaign includes newspaper, radio and television advertisements that will continue through Jan. 10, when sales will stop so the accounting firm of KPMG Peat Marwick can audit the figures for Shinn's presentation to the NHL.
``There are a lot of lines out there that have been dangled'' in the business community, Ward said. ``Once we have an arena deal, I think a lot of those sales will begin coming in next week.
``Next week is the key.''
Upward of half a dozen major corporations, including Norfolk Southern and Newport News Shipbuilding, have been asked by regional leaders to purchase luxury suites and up to 1,000 season tickets each. MEMO: Staff writer Mylene Mangalindan contributed to this report. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Ian Martin/The Virginian-Pilot
Promotional Support: Hoffman Beverage Corp. put Rhinos logos on 2.5
million Pepsi cans at no charge.
KEYWORDS: NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE FRANCHISE HAMPTON ROADS
RHINOS