Roanoke Valley: Suddenly a Minor League Sports Mecca?

Editor’s Note: Enjoy this look back at minor league sports in the region from our July 1995 issue.

Hey, all of a sudden we have four pro sports teams here. The Salem baseball franchise — now called the Avalanche — has flourished for many seasons, and the Express for the last two. Now the soccer RiverDawgs and football Rush are entering the market, looking to tap into the same good-family-fun audience base.

The baseball Avalanche holds the pro baseball record for consecutive years of attendance increase. The hockey Express pulls ’em into the Roanoke Civic Center even on weeknights. And with the soccer RiverDawgs and the football Rush getting into gear, we might just be in for a new era in sports.

In a way, it’s a natural for the Roanoke Valley. Our reputation is for being a family kind of town. a wholesome place with strong traditional values. And if you ask the area’s minor league sports general managers what it is that gives their products appeal-what puts the feet under the seats-they talk about those very things.

Sam Lazzaro, GM of baseball’s Salem Avalanche, a Class A team whose editions have increased their attendance for a pro-baseball-record 12 consecutive years: “People are looking for good, clean, whole­some family fun at affordable prices.” 

Pierre Paiement, GM of the Roanoke Express, an East Coast Hockey League team that this season averaged 5,600 fans per game: “Everything we did addressed affordability and family entertainment. Our objective is to make everyone feel owner­ship in the Roanoke Express.” With the semi-pro Roanoke RiverDawgs underway with a pay-to-get-in soccer season at Cave Spring Junior High and the Roanoke Rush football team about to kick off a six­game season (plus potential playoffs) at Vic­tory Stadium, you begin to wonder: 

• Has the Roanoke Valley at last awak­ened to sports? 
• ls this the same market that has had a hard time filling the Roanoke Civic Center when Virginia Tech and Virginia come to town to play basketball? 
• ls this the same market that has let die or slip away a baseball franchise, a semi­pro football team and for several years held onto a hockey team only by a thread from Henry Brabham’s pants pocket?

“Our minor league sports people are doing a great job,” says Mac Macadden, a Roanoke City councilman and sports enthusiast who helps to bring athletics to the valley. “They’ve shown how the valley is a draw area. They can put people in the seats when it’s marketed properly.”

Indeed. Minor league baseball has been in the valley since the 1890s and in Salem since 1939. Although the games were not so well attended in the ’60s through the early ’80s due to other entertainment diversions, such as the shopping mall boom and televised major league games, the Salem franchise’s attendance records have been set against the backdrop of generally losing teams.

“Winning is nice, but it’s not everything in minor league baseball,” says Lazzaro. What is everything, however, is that family atmosphere that surrounds every Avalanche game. Plus affordability. General admission tickets are $3 each, and the best seats in the house go for $6. For those prices, fans have a chance to win a multitude of prizes, from T-shins and caps, to lunch at Mac ‘n’ Bob’s to an airline tick­et to Denver to see the Colorado Rockies.

“Marketing is important,” Macadden stresses. “And it’s great to have many fans supporting a team who are just happy to see a team there. This is where season ticket holders develop loyalty.” 

The Express is another example of smart marketing. In their first year, 1, LOO season tickets were sold; last season, 1,500 season tickets sold; for the upcoming season, Paiement hopes to sell 2,000 season tickets.

“We’re providing entertainment,” explains Paiement, who played for the ’72- ’74 Roanoke Rebels. “People are willing to come night after night to see something dif­ferent and commit for the season. They’re assured of seeing a good show every night and don’t mind investing their money way ahead of time.”

Of course, there are other advantages to holding a season ticket: you don’t have to wait in line for tickets, you’ll sit in the same seat each time, and special privileges, such as invitations to penalty box parties, await those who commit for the entire season. In addition to increased season ticket sales, the overall average attendance rose from the Express’ first season: 5,591 com­pared to 4,632. 

Many factors figure in for why the rExpress has enjoyed a successful fist two seasons. For one, the move to the more cen­trally located Roanoke Civic Center from the LancerLot in Vinton has played to the Express’ advantage. Secondly, it goes back to keen marketing strategy. “We’re getting rid of the image that hockey is a violent sport,” Paiement says. “And we’ re recruiting players to abolish the number of fights so we can provide good hockey without violence. 

“We’ve made hock­ey appealing to families. We have a great security system, and we don’t allow pro­fanity or fighting in the stands. This provides a good comfort level for parents.” 

Concerning affordability, Express man­agement did its homework on what some­one would be willing to spend to go to a minor league hockey game in the valley. College students, for example, said they’d spend the same amount it would take to see a movie on the weekend, roughly $5. Tick­ets this past season were $4 for age 12 and under; $5 for students; $6, $7 .50 and $8.50 for adults.

Naturally, having a competitive team su·engthens both fan loyalty and the quality of the overall product. Placing fifth out of 18 teams in the East Coast Hockey League, the Express finished second in its division last season, behind Richmond, which won the league championship.

Promotions, giveaways and special events between periods contribute to the family fun outside the game itself. These range from souvenir prizes (key chains, mugs, scrapers, etc.) to mini-hockey games with the media to autograph sessions after the game.

That is the team “ownership” Paiement talks about.

The valley has two new teams they can feel like owning-if they’re marketed in the same vein as the Avalanche and the Express, according to Macadden. At presstime, the Roanoke RiverDawgs just kicked off their first season (with a win) in the United Systems of Independent Soccer Leagues (USISL).

A little background on soccer in the United States: Although soccer is the largest participation sport in the world, there is no true professional soccer league in the country, in the same sense as there is the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, etc. An agreement involving the United States as the site of the World Cup changed that, however, and by next summer, Major League Soccer will be underway, with 12 cities participating initially. The largest organization for soccer in the country, the USISL, started in 1986 with 89 professional and amateur teams. With major league soccer on the imminent horizon, players now have a higher goal of playing professionally in the country-just as a player for the Avalanche, for example, hopes to play one day for the Rockies or another major league team.

The RiverDawgs are an amateur team, but they do compete against professional USISL teams. Although there’s no paycheck, players-many of them local stars-play for the sheer love of the game and for the hope of one day playing in major league soccer. “Before we bought the franchise, we did a lot of research and called about 30 teams in the league,” says Doug Fonder, one of nine members of the board of directors. “We asked them, ‘Are you making it?’ ‘How are you doing?'”

Fonder learned that the successful teams were just that due to three reasons: 1) they were funded by backers with a tremendous amount of money; 2) they ran successful soccer camp programs; and 3) they put forth aggressive advertising.

Strong financial backing was not avail­able, but Fonder and the other owners decided to set up Top Dawg Soccer Camps run by RiverDawg players and do some advertising in order to meet their goal of 1,000 spectators per game paying $6 and $4 for admission.

“Youth is our market,” Fonder explains, “that’s the group that knows about soccer.” 

The geographi­cal market for the RiverDawgs, Fonder says, reach­es Martinsville to the south, the New River Valley to the west, the western half of Lynchburg to the east and up north to Lexington. 

Back to the youth factor, the Roanoke Valley Youth Soccer organization should prove to be instrumental in the River­Dawgs’ success on the field, as it is a direct link to kids who are actively pursuing soc­cer. Because of their amateur status, the RiverDawgs must carry at least three developmental players under 19 on the league roster, which gives the top kids in the valley an opportunity to practice with the top team in southwestern Virginia, according to Fonder.

“It’s something for all kids who play soccer to strive for,” Fonder says. “In the valley, there are about 4,000 kids who play soccer on some level.”

Some of the finest collegiate soccer teams can be found along the East Coast from Maryland to South Carolina, a win­ning situation for the RiverDawgs, which is conveniently located right smack in the middle of them. The University of Vir­ginia, for example, is a four-time national soccer champion.

The RiverDawgs current roster. by the way, includes five All-American players and one Olympian. “Roanoke, itself, has a history of having really good players, great players through college, which adds a tremendous local fla­vor to our team,” he says. A few of those players include Grayson Prillaman, an All­American at Roanoke College and Old Dominion University Player of the Year; Dustin Fonder, an All-American at Roanoke College and National Division Ill Player of the Year; Lang Wedemyer, most valuable defensive player at Virginia Tech; and Aaron Ewert, first team All-American at Roanoke College.

Finally, a little background on the RiverDawgs’ name itself: the River is after the Roanoke River as the team, in the beginning, planned to play at River’s Edge Sports Complex, which is situated next to the Roanoke River. Although the team’s home games were moved to Cave Spring Junior High School, team owners decided not to change the River part of the name. However, they soon learned of the Charleston Riverdogs, so they changed dogs to dawgs.

“It’s not named after me,” says Nick Rush, Montgomery County Supervi­sor and an owner of the Roanoke Rush, the valley’s new football team. “We like the way it sounded. You can do a lot of things with it, such as a Rush Hour Tailgate Party. Our cheerleaders are the Gold Rush.” 

The Roanoke Rush starts its first season-as one of 28 teams in National Minor League Football, a developmental league designed to give up-and-coming players another chance to make it in the profession­al ranks. Players-many of whom were overlooked in the NFL draft or attended a small school and were thus not picked up by a pro team-will have the chance to improve their skills, showcase their talents and mature a bit overall. Other players may have been injured and can’t quite pass the NFL physical. Although not affiliated with the National Football League, National Minor League Football teams play by NFL rules.

“Roanoke is the perfect area for a foot­ball team,” says Rush. “We’re going to offer family entertainment at an affordable price. It’s an opportunity to come out and enjoy yourself in a family atmosphere to watch a good show.”

That good show will appear at Victory Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 22,000. Rush, along with co-owner and for­mer Virginia Tech standout Donald Wayne Snell, hopes to fill up about one-fourth of the stadium-5,000-6,000 fans-per game. Tickets are $8 for adults, $4/$5 for children, $40 for season ticket (six home games) and $82 for a family package (two adults and up to three kids for six home games). 

“Victory Stadium is adequate to play in,” Rush says. “It’s not state-of-the-art, but I personally believe it has a lot of class.”

Macadden says routine spruce-ups will be made during the summer to ready the stadium for the fall, and a study conducted by the city was underway at presstime to determine what should be done to improve the 50-plus-year-old stadium. The Rush practice at Addison Middle School.

“Minor league sports in general, in a city the size of Roanoke, is good for economic development and the quality of life,” Rush says, adding that the Rush will not play a home game when Virginia Tech has a home game. “The city increases its visibility and tax base as it brings people in from outlying areas to spend their money there.”

In early June, the Rush held tryouts for its roster of 45. Some of the players who make the team will be paid; others will not. The league, headquartered in Charlotte, hopes to develop into a fully paid league in a few years. Denny Marie, most recently assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Kent State, is the Rush’s coach.

“The important thing is to put out a good product, the whole product, from putting on a good program to having a good football team to being a class act,” Rush says. 

Salem Stadium: Build It and They Will Come

If pouring millions of dollars into top­ notch baseball and softball facilities isn’t evidence enough that Salem is striving to become the sports center of southwestern Virginia, then perhaps the high-quality tournaments and athletic events that come to Salem are.

Take, for example, the Stagg Bowl, scheduled this year for December 9 at Salem Stadium. Or the NCAA Division III men’s baseball championship at Salem Municipal Field and the NCAA Division II women’s softball champi­onship at Salem’s James I. Moyer Sports Complex, both held in May. Ifs only fitting that the $9 million baseball stadium, which was scheduled to open for the Avalanche’s home games in mid­-June, is named Salem Baseball Stadium.

“Salem doesn’t get involved in any­thing unless it’s first class,” says Avalanche General Manager Sam Laz­zaro, who back in May was receiving phone calls from fans as far as I 00 miles away who wanted to know when the new stadium would be open.

“It’s a phenomenal facility, which will not only bring out more local people to the games, but also will make the Roanoke Valley and Salem a much more regional attraction for baseball.”

Now in its fourth season, the $2 mil­lion Moyer Sports Complex is quickly earning that same reputation for softball, from collegiate competition to church leagues. Last year, some 1,500 games of all levels were played on the complex’s four diamonds.

“We all feed off the mayor’s attitude and leadership, which is to keep the ball bouncing and to keep the kids playing,” says Bob Ayersman, Moyer Sports Complex manager. “It’s our job to pro­vide them with the facilities because sports are very beneficial to kids.”

Salem recognizes the economic impact on the city when out-of-towners come there to play ball. “We actively pursue them to come here,” says Ayersman, citing Carey Har­veycutter’s and others’ efforts to bring the Stagg Bowl to Salem, which won out over Bradenton, Fla., and explaining the same is true for baseball and soft­ball.

“If you build a field, they’II come, and here they are.” -KLN

How Do We Compare? 

If you look in “Places Rated Almanac” for population figures and the metropolitan statistical areas closest to Roanoke (229,186 people) in size, you find: 

• Lubbock, Texas. 228,584. 
• Fayetteville, Ark. 228,335. 
• Portland, Maine. 226,296. 
• Boulder, Colo. 232,137. 

Check with the chambers of com­merce and you find out those MSAs are a mixed bag when it comes to minor league sports, but that none has the pro-sports diversity of Roanoke right now, with its pro or semi-pro teams in baseball, hockey, football and soccer.

Fayetteville and Boulder have no pro teams at all, though the presence of the Colorado Buffaloes undoubt­edly does lots to fill the sports niche in Boulder.

Lubbock has a Class AA baseball team just starting its first season. The Lubbock Crickets, by the way, take their name from some famous Lub­bock natives-Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

Portland boasts the AA-level base­ball Seadogs, now in their second year and drawing about 5,000 fans a game; and the hockey Pirates of the Ameri­can Hockey League, who also draw well. A spokesperson for the Seadogs makes the point that attendance for both teams is aided by the relative iso­lation of the town: no baseball from there to Boston and “not much else to do here in the winter.”

So Roanoke stacks up pretty well to its size peers. Unless, of course, you want to compare it to one market that’s even a bit smaller. Green Bay, Wisc. is listed at 201,263 for population, and they have this pro football team that plays in a league several steps up from the one the Rush is in. -KR