Area Leaders on Landing a Pro Team: You Gotta Believe

Memphis Did It. So Did Jacksonville. And Charlotte. Twice. A Big-League Team for Hampton Roads Is Within Reach, Officials Say, But First the Region Needs to Pump Up Its Self-Esteem

July 29, 2001

By Harry Minium, Staff Writer

When prominent Hampton Roads business and political leaders gathered in downtown Norfolk two years ago to discuss how to put the region in the major leagues, they agreed one obstacle had to be overcome before all others.

It wasn't political fragmentation, relatively low incomes or the lack of facilities.

It was low self-esteem.

"So many people here simply don't believe it can be done," said James L. Eason, the former Hampton mayor who is president of the Hampton Roads Partnership, the group trying to bring Major League Baseball here.

Eason said the response - from newspaper columnists to radio disc jockeys to shipyard workers - was predictable when reports recently surfaced that a Major League Baseball consultant had said Hampton Roads is on a "short list" of areas being considered as relocation sites.

The disbelief and ridicule came quickly.

Nor was it limited to Hampton Roads. Sportscasters on Fox's cable network poked fun at the "Norfolk area," as most outsiders refer to Hampton Roads. But they weren't as clever as Thom Loverro, a columnist for the Washington Times, who wrote:

"New York - large market.

"Kansas City - small market.

"Hampton Roads - mini market."

Rick Horrow, a nationally renowned sports development consultant working to help the partnership lobby Major League Baseball, has seen the same reaction elsewhere. He worked for the NFL or local groups in bringing major sports franchises to Charlotte, Jacksonville and Columbus, Ohio - all regions smaller than Hampton Roads. He recalls that when Charlotte went hunting for an NBA franchise, one big-city columnist opined that the only franchise that city would ever lure was one featuring golden arches.

"In each case," Horrow said, "the most difficult threshold issue was overcoming the presumption of failure, the psychological albatross that that particular region wasn't big enough or good enough or ready enough.

"Memphis recently overcame it. I believe Hampton Roads can as well."

Memphis may indeed offer the best example of how a small but emerging market can become a major league town. With 1.1 million residents, Memphis is smaller than Hampton Roads (1.6 million) and has nearly identical income levels.

Unlike Hampton Roads, Memphis had been seeking major league sports for 36 years.

"Memphis had gotten over it, had given up hope," said Geoff Calkins, a columnist with the Memphis Commercial-Appeal. "There had been so many disappointments that you didn't hear people talk about it any more."

But last month, after a whirlwind three-month courtship, the city that gave us Elvis and "The Firm" became home to the NBA's Vancouver Grizzlies.

Eason says what happened in Memphis may be a lesson for Hampton Roads.

The process there began a year ago, when a small group of wealthy business people led by Memphis native J.R. "Pitt" Huge III decided that in spite of its failures, Memphis had what it takes to become a major league town.

Months later, when it was learned the Grizzlies were looking to leave Vancouver, the Memphis group pledged to invest more than $100 million in the NBA team, then waged a relentless public relations campaign to win over the populace and owner Michael Heisley.

Meanwhile, the political leadership put together a plan to build a plush, $250 million arena without a property tax increase.

"I think the key was a very committed and determined group of business people who decided to do it," Calkins said. "They did it very quietly. They . . . made it happen.

"That's what you need: someone who is powerful and someone who thinks it's important."

That kind of private-sector leadership, combined with a united front by politicians, has also been a common factor in most other cities that have evolved into major sports towns. Charlotte acquired the NBA Hornets on the strength of local businessman George Shinn, who at times seemed alone in proclaiming Charlotte worthy of a major league team.

The NFL Panthers later came to the Queen City because of the backing of Charlotte-based NationsBank and businessman Jerry Richardson, who bankrolled both the stadium and franchise. The governors of North Carolina and South Carolina both lobbied for Charlotte.

Jacksonville's business and political leaders similarly touted the NFL at a time when Baltimore was considered the expansion leader. Some in Jacksonville wondered aloud why a region with less than a million residents was bothering to try.

Jacksonville nonetheless was awarded an NFL franchise and the Jaguars have been catalysts for a downtown revival.

That kind of leadership has not yet emerged in Hampton Roads. Gov. James Gilmore has lobbied baseball on behalf of Virginia, but the business community here has been largely silent. Eason has responded only reluctantly to media questions and no effort has been made to rally citizens.

That is by design, Eason said.

"From the start, Major League Baseball has made it clear they want this to be low-profile," Eason said. "They're not even sure if they're going to relocate teams."

"It's not yet time for brass bands," Horrow added.

Yet, if major league sports is to come to the region, the bands must start playing, said Arthur L. Collins, executive director of the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. He said what the region lacks is a "champion," someone to make the case for a major sports team like Huge did in Memphis.

Eason agrees, saying a group of business people will emerge to lead the call for baseball.

"We'll need to get some very prominent people out front to beat the drum and really go after it," he said. "It's easy now for people to take shots at us because no one is out there making the case for baseball.

"That will change, but the time is not right."

The time probably won't be right for several months. Baseball has five franchises in some degree of financial trouble and has begun studying relocating or folding some. But it must first get a new labor agreement before deciding whether to move franchises for the first time since 1972.

The Montreal Expos, the prime target for Hampton Roads as well as a group in Northern Virginia, seem certain to move or fold. Oakland, Minnesota, Florida and Tampa Bay are also at risk.

If baseball announces it will relocate a franchise or two, then Eason must begin marshaling political and business support. He said he already has commitments from local businessmen to invest as minority owners in a baseball franchise.

"What we've done so far has been easy," Eason said. "If we go to the next step, then things will get more difficult."

That may be an understatement. Eason said there must be broad support for baseball from citizens and leaders and that the region must agree on a stadium site and a way to fund it.

Fractured among 17 jurisdictions, Hampton Roads has a history of striking out on regional projects. The cities have battled over water, light rail and highways.

Horrow was hired by the partnership in 1998 to try to convince regional leaders to combine resources on a series of regional projects, including a convention center in Virginia Beach. Though his approach has worked in other areas, such as Oklahoma City, he has so far been unsuccessful here.

The region's political fractures may have doomed the region's only serious effort to land a major sports franchise. That came in late 1996 and early 1997, when Charlotte's Shinn tried to bring an NHL expansion franchise here and call it the Hampton Roads Rhinos.

He cut a deal with the partnership, which was representing the region's cities and counties, to build an arena in downtown Norfolk. Although the agreement did not call for a tax increase, the cities and counties declined to vote on it until after the NHL made a decision on expansion. That cast doubt on whether the facility would ever be built.

Moreover, some suburban politicians publicly criticized the effort, something NHL commissioner Gary Bettman later told Shinn was noticed by league owners.

Predictably, Hampton Roads was eliminated in the NHL's first cut. It was a humiliating rebuke that still echoes today.

The Rhinos' process left the region with a bruised ego, but also with a new tool to attract major league sports. Political leaders had for the first time designated an organization to speak for the region when it came to major league sports: the Hampton Roads Partnership.

Many assumed that the partnership, a private group composed largely of area business and political leaders, would step back for several years, then pursue an NBA franchise. That was considered a less-difficult challenge than the NFL or Major League Baseball.

But when the partnership's executive committee took up the issue in 1999, it agreed with Eason to explore baseball first.

In mid-1999, the partnership asked Brailsford and Dunlavey, a Washington consulting firm, to assess the region's ability to support a major sports team. It concluded the region could.

Eason then began traveling to meet with baseball officials and dispatching others to baseball meetings. On Sept. 7, 2000, Corey Busch, the consultant hired by baseball to study potential relocation markets, made his first visit to Hampton Roads. He returned on Jan. 8 and is to make a third trip here later this summer.

Gabe Paul, the former Milwaukee Brewers executive hired three years ago by a group in Northern Virginia seeking baseball, acknowledges that Hampton Roads is a legitimate contender for the Expos.

"Major League Baseball doesn't waste its time," said Paul, whose group has long been the favorite in the race for a baseball relocation.

"He (Busch) wouldn't be going there if baseball wasn't taking Hampton Roads seriously.

"The only problem with Hampton Roads is size. It's a good market, but it would be the smallest market in Major League Baseball."

True, but so would Las Vegas, Nashville, and Charlotte, other cities seeking baseball franchises often touted as legitimate candidates.

Hampton Roads is also larger than New Orleans and Louisville, strong candidates for NBA relocations. Eason has said the partnership likely would pursue an NBA franchise if the baseball effort fails.

Marc Ganic, president of SportsGroup Ltd., a Chicago sports investment firm, said there's a reason major leagues are looking at smaller markets like Hampton Roads. "All the great markets are taken," he said. "We're talking about markets that all have downsides, so you have to look at the markets with the fewest warts."

For now, political strife is not one of those warts. The region's political leaders seem united in supporting Eason and the partnership.

Norfolk Mayor Paul D. Fraim has long been a proponent of the NBA and a downtown arena. Yet, he supports the baseball effort, even though the stadium could be on the Peninsula.

"I enjoy the NBA, but I'd be happy with either baseball or basketball," said Fraim, who added that Norfolk would support a stadium outside its borders as long as the site was chosen by the franchise owner.

That sentiment was echoed by Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera E. Oberndorf, who says the region's largest and richest city may not have a suitable site for a stadium or arena. "If we were to participate (in funding a stadium), our citizens would need to know that there would be benefits for them," she said.

Eason said the benefits probably wouldn't be financial, that the point in going after a major league team is to improve the quality of life and the region 's image, not making money.

"We've never tried to sell this as an economic development tool," he said. "This is a quality of life issue, an image issue. Improving the image of Hampton Roads is one of the most important things we can do.

"Major League Baseball would raise the bar of expectations for Hampton Roads."

And perhaps strengthen its wobbly self-esteem.