DATE: Saturday, October 4, 1997             TAG: 9710030013

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B8   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   50 lines

1998 AAU JUNIOR OLYMPICS ONE SWEET DEAL

In less than six hours, the leaders of Hampton Roads' seven largest cities put together a deal that the Amateur Athletic Union couldn't refuse.

It's an amazing story of rapid regional cooperation that ended with the announcement this week that Hampton Roads will host the 1998 AAU Junior Olympics and can host the same event a second time, in 2000, 2001 or 2002, if it wants.

This is big. From July 28 through Aug. 8, 13,000 competitors and 30,000 additional visitors are expected to spend $35 million to $40 million at the games. The same amount of bucks will come calling again if the region hosts the games a second time, which surely it will.

That's money and visitors the region would not have attracted if its leaders had not come together, because no single Hampton Roads city has all the necessary athletic venues for such a big event. Many of those visitors will be here for their first time, and some surely will return in future years as tourists.

Pilot staff writer Harry Minium reported that Bobby Dodd Jr., executive director of the Amateur Athletic Union, ``profusely praised the region's seven largest cities'' for their cooperative efforts. At the announcement ceremony, he was surrounded by the mayors of five of the cities and representatives from the other two cities' councils.

Dodd's site-selection committee was inspecting Hampton Roads athletic facilities last week when it received word that a check from Norman, Okla., scheduled host of the 1998 games, had bounced. By that evening, Hampton Roads leaders had confirmed that nearly two dozen venues would be available for the 1998 games, and the seven cities had agreed to fund the games' estimated $1.5 million budget.

Dodd had never witnessed such speedy cooperation from so many localities. Neither had anybody here.

Much of the credit for landing the games goes to the staffs of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach tourist bureaus. They realized that inter-city cooperation would be needed to attract big events like the Junior Olympics. They laid the groundwork.

But the city leaders had enough trust in one another to close the deal quickly. Opportunity knocked. Together, Hampton Roads leaders opened the door. There was no time for quibbling.

The region has cooperated on several other amateur sports events, including an AAU national girls basketball tournament coming to Virginia Beach in 1999 and the 1998 McDonald's All-American boys basketball game and a regional USA Track and Field meet this summer, both in Norfolk.

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