THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 18, 1997 TAG: 9702180297
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: NHL In Hampton Roads
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 163 lines
Hampton Roads' hopes for a National Hockey League team got a boost Monday on the eve of a critical NHL meeting when Raleigh withdrew its bid for an expansion team.
Charlotte businessman Felix Sabates said he pulled the plug on his Raleigh bid because he was unable to negotiate a lease with the Centennial Authority, which is building a 21,000-seat arena.
The NHL will begin discussing expansion today when the 11-man executive committee holds a closed meeting at NHL headquarters in New York. It will be the owners' first meeting on expansion since they heard presentations five weeks ago.
Sabates said he needed to provide a lease to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman by Monday afternoon. Without the lease, he said, continuing the expansion bid was ``just a charade.''
``It's a crying shame for the whole region,'' Sabates said. ``If we didn't think we a had 50-50 chance or better, we wouldn't have done this. But we needed the lease by this afternoon and did not get one.''
NHL officials likely will decide today on an expansion timetable and on criteria the expansion cities must meet. Those decisions probably will be announced Wednesday.
Newspapers from Toronto to Nashville quote NHL sources as saying they hope today to cut the list of prospective expansion cities from eight to five - four for expansion teams and one site for the Hartford Whalers to relocate. NHL owners would then be dispatched to each finalist for an inspection of arenas or arena sites and to meet with local political and business leaders.
A final decision on expansion could come as early as March or as late as June.
Raleigh was considered Hampton Roads' chief NHL expansion rival, as the NHL would not award franchises to both regions. But even with Raleigh out, Hampton Roads remains a longshot.
Most speculation has the NHL expanding by four, with Atlanta and Houston as shoo-ins and Nashville, Tenn., a strong third. That would leave Oklahoma City; Columbus, Ohio; St. Paul, Minn.; and Hamilton, Ontario, battling Hampton Roads for the fourth spot.
It could come down to Oklahoma City vs. Hampton Roads.
Hamilton's chances are considered remote: it has no ownership group and is too close to existing NHL franchises. St. Paul's bid is shackled by an arena provision - a rent payment of $3.9 million per year - that some NHL sources say is unacceptable.
Columbus is coveted by the NHL, but won't have approval on arena funding until late spring, which may be too late for expansion. Plus, Columbus is widely believed to be the likely relocation target for Hartford.
Oklahoma City is the smallest and economically poorest of the expansion candidates, but made such a generous lease offer - the NHL team would run the arena and keep all arena revenues - that USA Today says the city is now the favorite for the fourth spot.
Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn has signed an agreement with the Hampton Roads Partnership for a $143 million, 20,000-seat arena that would be built in downtown Norfolk only if he lands an expansion team.
Shinn is among those who think Bettman's recommendations will carry enormous weight today. Bettman, former general counsel to the NBA, has earned the confidence of most owners by improving the NHL's balance sheets.
Bettman successfully pushed for arena deals in troubled franchises such as Florida, Tampa and Ottawa, ended the league's labor troubles and has negotiated lucrative novelty and TV contracts. Corporate sponsorships have increased from $20 million per year three years ago to $200 million under Bettman.
This round of expansion is widely seen as a way for the league to expand its television base, especially in the South, as it prepares to negotiate a new national TV contract for the 1998-99 season.
``I bet you Gary Bettman already has a list of the cities he wants to go to,'' Shinn said last week. ``I would if I was him.
``I don't know what they're going to do, but I'll bet they'll announce the markets they want to go to and start sending people out to those markets. I think things will move quickly.''
Shinn and an entourage from Hampton Roads made a formal presentation to NHL officials on Jan. 14 in New York. Since then, season-ticket and luxury-suite sales for the Hampton Roads Rhinos, as the team would be called, have basically been dormant.
The expansion process began more than a year ago when the NHL said it would accept expansion applications through Nov. 1, 1996. Shinn secretly began negotiations last spring with both Hampton Roads and Raleigh before casting his lot with Raleigh last October.
However, on Halloween, the day before the NHL's application deadline, Sabates signed an agreement with the Centennial Authority and Shinn hurriedly reopened negotiations with Hampton Roads. After a quick visit to Norfolk, he jetted to New York with regional officials and made his application.
Hampton Roads' hopes for a National Hockey League team got a boost Monday on the eve of a critical NHL meeting when Raleigh withdrew its bid for an expansion team.
Charlotte businessman Felix Sabates said he pulled the plug on his Raleigh bid because he was unable to negotiate a lease with the Centennial Authority, which is building a 21,000-seat arena.
The NHL will begin discussing expansion today when the 11-man executive committee holds a closed meeting at NHL headquarters in New York. It will be the owners' first meeting on expansion since they heard presentations five weeks ago.
Sabates said he needed to provide a lease to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman by Monday afternoon. Without the lease, he said, continuing the expansion bid was ``just a charade.''
``It's a crying shame for the whole region,'' Sabates said. ``If we didn't think we a had 50-50 chance or better, we wouldn't have done this. But we needed the lease by this afternoon and did not get one.''
NHL officials likely will decide today on an expansion timetable and on criteria the expansion cities must meet. Those decisions probably will be announced Wednesday.
Newspapers from Toronto to Nashville quote NHL sources as saying they hope today to cut the list of prospective expansion cities from eight to five - four for expansion teams and one site for the Hartford Whalers to relocate. NHL owners would then be dispatched to each finalist for an inspection of arenas or arena sites and to meet with local political and business leaders.
A final decision on expansion could come as early as March or as late as June.
Raleigh was considered Hampton Roads' chief NHL expansion rival, as the NHL would not award franchises to both regions. But even with Raleigh out, Hampton Roads remains a longshot.
Most speculation has the NHL expanding by four, with Atlanta and Houston as shoo-ins and Nashville, Tenn., a strong third. That would leave Oklahoma City; Columbus, Ohio; St. Paul, Minn.; and Hamilton, Ontario, battling Hampton Roads for the fourth spot.
It could come down to Oklahoma City vs. Hampton Roads.
Hamilton's chances are considered remote: it has no ownership group and is too close to existing NHL franchises. St. Paul's bid is shackled by an arena provision - a rent payment of $3.9 million per year - that some NHL sources say is unacceptable.
Columbus is coveted by the NHL, but won't have approval on arena funding until late spring, which may be too late for expansion. Plus, Columbus is widely believed to be the likely relocation target for Hartford.
Oklahoma City is the smallest and economically poorest of the expansion candidates, but made such a generous lease offer - the NHL team would run the arena and keep all arena revenues - that USA Today says the city is now the favorite for the fourth spot.
Charlotte Hornets owner George Shinn has signed an agreement with the Hampton Roads Partnership for a $143 million, 20,000-seat arena that would be built in downtown Norfolk only if he lands an expansion team.
Shinn is among those who think Bettman's recommendations will carry enormous weight today. Bettman, former general counsel to the NBA, has earned the confidence of most owners by improving the NHL's balance sheets.
Bettman successfully pushed for arena deals in troubled franchises such as Florida, Tampa and Ottawa, ended the league's labor troubles and has negotiated lucrative novelty and TV contracts. Corporate sponsorships have increased from $20 million per year three years ago to $200 million under Bettman.
This round of expansion is widely seen as a way for the league to expand its television base, especially in the South, as it prepares to negotiate a new national TV contract for the 1998-99 season.
``I bet you Gary Bettman already has a list of the cities he wants to go to,'' Shinn said last week. ``I would if I was him.
``I don't know what they're going to do, but I'll bet they'll announce the markets they want to go to and start sending people out to those markets. I think things will move quickly.''
Shinn and an entourage from Hampton Roads made a formal presentation to NHL officials on Jan. 14 in New York. Since then, season-ticket and luxury-suite sales for the Hampton Roads Rhinos, as the team would be called, have basically been dormant.
The expansion process began more than a year ago when the NHL said it would accept expansion applications through Nov. 1, 1996. Shinn secretly began negotiations last spring with both Hampton Roads and Raleigh before casting his lot with Raleigh last October.
However, on Halloween, the day before the NHL's application deadline, Sabates signed an agreement with the Centennial Authority and Shinn hurriedly reopened negotiations with Hampton Roads. After a quick visit to Norfolk, he jetted to New York with regional officials and made his application.
KEYWORDS: NHL EXPANSION FRANCHISE ARENA