THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 21, 1997 TAG: 9702211007
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY HARRY MINIUM, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 34 lines
George Shinn says he will end his bid to move an existing National Hockey League team to Hampton Roads if NHL commissioner Gary Bettman tells him he opposes putting a team in the region.
Tom Ward, who led Shinn's unsuccessful effort to land an expansion franchise, said Shinn will travel to New York to meet with Bettman within the next two weeks.
``If he's told absolutely, positively `No' when he meets with the commissioner, George said that we'll have to fold it up,'' Ward said. ``George told me this morning we have to have his cooperation for it to work.''
After being told on Wednesday that the NHL had rejected his expansion application, Shinn, who owns the NBA's Charlotte Hornets, vowed to buy an existing team and move it to Hampton Roads. He said he told Bettman he would do so even if the league was opposed to such a move.
But Ward acknowledged Shinn can't succeed without Bettman's cooperation. The NHL can't block a franchise from moving from one city to another, but three quarters of the owners would have to approve the sale of a club.
Bettman has enormous influence over NHL owners, whom Ward acknowledged would not approve the sale of a team to Shinn without Bettman's blessing.
``If I buy a team, everyone will know what I plan to do with it,'' Shinn said Wednesday. He was unavailable for comment Thursday.
Bettman was less than complimentary about the region's hopes of landing a professional team during a press conference Wednesday. Said Bettman: ``We're not in a position to deal with a market that size at this time. . . . But at some point, maybe way down the line, Hampton Roads might be an attractive locale.''