THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702210807
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 84 lines
George Shinn rolled the dice in November when he kicked off a campaign to sell 10,000 season tickets for a proposed National Hockey League expansion team.
It was a risky gamble that failed, says Charlotte-based sports consultant Carl Sheer, and it may have been a key reason why the NHL rejected Shinn's bid to get a team for Hampton Roads on Wednesday.
Scheer, a former NBA general manager and leader of Raleigh's recent effort to land an NHL team, says the goal backfired on Shinn when the would-be Hampton Roads Rhinos sold only 5,700 season tickets in three months.
``I think the season-ticket sale hurt,'' said Scheer. ``If you set a goal, you'd better top it. If you do anything less, it hurts you.''
Scheer, who was president of the Charlotte Checkers minor league hockey team last year and was once general manager of Shinn's NBA Charlotte Hornets, said he always felt Hampton Roads' bid was a long shot based on his discussions with NHL owners.
``There was just not a great feeling, no passion, for Hampton Roads,'' he said. ``Certainly the community was more supportive of the effort than in Raleigh-Durham. But I think the size of the market, the location and the lack of corporate support were problems.''
Shinn said the season-ticket sale was designed to help overcome the region's shortcomings and its lack of name recognition.
``Without a season-ticket sale, we didn't have a shot,'' he said. ``I was negative on the fact that we had not sold more season tickets. But if we'd sold 10,000 or 12,000, it would have been much, much harder for the NHL to turn us down.
``It was something we had to do.''
The ticket campaign peaked early. Nearly 5,000 season tickets were sold in the first month, less than 1,000 in the final two months.
Tom Ward, who led the season-ticket and luxury-suite sales for the Rhinos, said 51 percent of tickets were purchased by individuals. More than 70 percent of Hornets' tickets are purchased by corporations.
``We were disappointed by the corporate sales,'' Ward said.
Shinn set a goal of 40 luxury-suite sales, but received commitments for only 25.
Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim also was disappointed in the corporate support, but said the region did well under the circumstances. Hampton Roads had 3 1/2 months to put an arena deal together and sell tickets. Nashville and Oklahoma City, which are among six cities still in the running for expansion teams, had worked for years lobbying the NHL, putting together ownership groups and planning arenas.
Nashville's arena is open and comes with a $20 million bonus to the first team to move in. The city has been courting the NHL for three years.
Oklahoma City's arena will soon be under construction and will be rent free. The city has been seeking an NHL franchise for nearly two years.
``The region should be proud of what it did in such a short time,'' Fraim said. ``But there just wasn't an opportunity to create all the networks that were needed. There was no truly organized effort in the business community.
``There wasn't time to create a consensus with local politicians and business and civic groups. With more time, we could have really tried to engage more people in the process.''
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman noted the region's small TV market, its political fragmentation and its location on the East Coast - close to many other NHL teams - as negatives.
Ward said he heard a fourth reason in discussions Thursday with NHL officials, whom he wouldn't name.
``They viewed it not as one community, but as a series of communities connected by tunnels and bridges,'' he said. ``I know that's an inaccurate perception, and had we made the cut, we would have been able to set the record straight.
``I'm disappointed we didn't get the chance.''