THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 15, 1997 TAG: 9702150623
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 66 lines
Hampton Roads Admirals vice president Page Johnson says he and co-owner Mark Garcea are ``toying with the idea'' of putting an ECHL expansion team in the Hampton Coliseum.
Johnson said he discussed the issue with ECHL president and CEO Rick Adams when he visited Norfolk last week.
``Rick thought it was a great idea,'' Johnson said. ``There are about 600,000 people on the Peninsula, and I asked him if 600,000 is enough (to support an ECHL team). He said that's probably the average in the ECHL.
``This is very preliminary, but the idea is intriguing. Any time we played Richmond or Hampton, we'd have a sellout. It would be a good rivalry. And it would help add more entertainment value to the area.''
Johnson said it would also end the threat of an American Hockey League team moving to Hampton. Several groups have expressed an interest in putting an AHL team there in recent years.
The price for ECHL expansion franchises is $1.5 million. Cross-ownership of teams is allowed in the ECHL - Raleigh and Wheeling, for instance, have the same ownership group.
The Hampton Coliseum seats about 8,000 for hockey. Coliseum director Joe Tsao was unavailable for comment but has said that updating the facility with ice-making equipment and other essentials for hockey would cost at least $600,000.
Tsao also has said it would be difficult to fit a hockey team into the Coliseum's schedule, which is laden with weekend concert dates.
Johnson said he has met with Tsao, but not to discuss a potential expansion franchise.
Adams said via telephone from his Trenton, N.J., office that he thinks a team in Hampton could work if it did not damage the Admirals' ticket base. Johnson said about 20 percent of the Admirals' tickets are sold to Peninsula residents.
``It's all dependent upon the impact upon the Admirals, but there is potential for an upside,'' Adams said. ``The rivalry between Hampton Roads and Richmond is arguably the best in our league and perhaps the best in minor league hockey. We don't want to damage that. If we can enhance it, it would be worth considering. But it was really just a preliminary discussion.''
Johnson said he thinks a team on the Peninsula wouldn't necessarily hurt the Admirals at the gate.
Entering Friday's contest with Raleigh, the Admirals were averaging 6,811 per game - about the break-even level for the team. Johnson said the Admirals can expand their base in South Hampton Roads with corporate sales.
``We've barely scratched the surface, it's basically untapped,'' he said of corporate sales. ``There are a lot of things we can and plan to do to improve attendance.''
Johnson said he and Garcea have been approached by AHL officials who want the Admirals to move up to that league, and acknowledged that a few months ago they were leaning toward moving up. But he said that, so far, they have decided to stay put.
``We think the quality of play is much higher'' in the AHL, he said. ``But at the level we're in, we have great, great rivalries, with the Richmonds and South Carolinas and Raleighs and Charlottes.
``Nobody knows the cities in the AHL. I don't think it would do any more for the area, it would increase our costs dramatically and I don't think the fans would get that much more out of it . . . for the increase in ticket prices.
``Maybe I'm wrong. If the fans tell us they want it and it makes sense, then we'll do it.''
Hampton and Norfolk had competing AHL teams in the 1970s.