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Football: Sportsplex was a turf sell

By Chic Riebel, The Virginian-Pilot - 10/22/2009

VIRGINIA BEACH
There will be no high school football at the Sportsplex on Friday night.

Before this year, that would have been no surprise. Beach District schools routinely turned down the opportunity to play regular-season games at the city-owned, $10.4 million stadium.

From 2004 to 2008, only seven games were scheduled for the facility, built in 1997 with the false hope of luring pro soccer to the region.

This fall, games have been scheduled for nine of a possible 11 weekends.

What’s suddenly made the Sportsplex so attractive?

“The artificial turf,” said Bruce Phelps, the student activities coordinator for Virginia Beach public schools. “It’s always been the key. When it was grass, people were afraid of scheduling a game, then getting bumped by the weather.

“Now with the new turf, it’s not an issue.”

In August, $800,000 worth of Sportexe synthetic turf – the same surface used at the University of Alabama and the Superdome in New Orleans – was installed without costing city taxpayers a dime.

Businessman Chuck Thornton and his Hometown Sports Management group, which signed an agreement with the city in May to manage the Sportsplex, raised the money through private investors.

“Everyone wanted soccer to be the savior, but high school football can get us some of the biggest crowds,” Thornton said. “The Sportsplex was always a neat place to play. But if it was going to be used for multiple events, you need turf. And if you’ve got a pro-style stadium, it might as well be used by the high school kids.”

Athletic directors sweating out weather postponements were not the only fans of bringing in the turf.

“For sure I love it,” Landstown running back Jordan Broadnax said. “It has a lot of grip, and it helps me on my cutbacks … especially on a rainy night.”

Turf might have been a key, but concessions revenue also caused schools to think twice about games at the Sportsplex. When the city’s Parks and Recreation Department ran the facility, concessions were contracted with a vendor, causing booster clubs to suffer when a home game was moved to the Sportsplex.

“Chuck Thornton has been sensitive to that issue and has offered opportunities to get involved with his concession sales for a share of the money,” Ocean Lakes athletic director John Williams said.

Basically, Hometown Heroes provides the food, and schools provide volunteers to work the concession stands. In return the school groups receive 10 percent to 20 percent of the revenue.

“That way they’re not totally losing out on the revenue they’d get from a home game,” Phelps said.

Melissa Lampe, in charge of fundraising for the Ocean Lakes band parents, said her group can easily make $2,500 to $3,000 on concessions at a home game. When the Ocean Lakes band parents manned the Sportsplex concessions for a game in August, they left with about $200. But Lampe wasn’t upset.

“We didn’t have to do anything but show up and help,” she said. “No running around to Sam’s Club, picking up chicken sandwiches or going a hundred other places.”

On a rainy night, a booster club can actually save money working the Sportsplex.

“Our boosters didn’t make much because the weather was bad both times we were the home team,” Bayside athletic director Lisa Corprew said, “but on the other hand, they didn’t lose money like they might have at our stadium, because they weren’t buying the food.”

With the turf and concessions issues resolved, the Sportsplex is earning stellar reviews from fans, coaches, players and administrators.

Three spectators at Friday’s rain-soaked Salem-Landstown game gave it a thumbs up. They all said they would rather see a game at the Sportsplex than in their home stadium.

Salem fan James Rogers said he loved the chair-back seating – versus the usual aluminum bleachers – and thought the lighting and security were good. Robert Klass, a Landstown supporter, liked that there were more concession stands. Steven Roldan, another Landstown fan, said he felt he was watching the game in a “real stadium.”

Their main complaint was having fans from both schools sitting together – there is seating on only one side of the field.

“That’s still a negative,” Phelps said. “But we’ve been able to put up permanent signage so the fans know where the home and visitors fans are supposed to sit.”

Bayside linebacker Henry Coley doesn’t care if the fans are all sitting together. He said the Sportsplex is a great place to play, period.

“It gives you a different atmosphere,” he said. “It’s big-time. If you’re going to the playoffs, it helps you get ready. All the fans together, the turf field, the carpeted locker room … it’s great. The fans seem more into it than when we’re at home, too.”

Bayside coach Darnell Moore, whose team has played three games at the Sportsplex this year, said it’s a good experience for the players, and he likes knowing that the turf will provide solid footing in any weather.

Moore isn’t concerned about losing a home-field advantage.

“I’m not sure the home field means all that much,” he said. “If you have 800 fans and the other team has 300, I don’t think it is much of an advantage.”

As for staging a game at the Sportsplex, Hometown Sports Management provides event staff and has the field ready to play. Schools provide ticket takers and a public address announcer. That’s it.

“It’s way easier than doing a game at home,” Corprew said. “They do all the work.”

The school division pays for cleanup and event staff. Phelps said that runs about $600 a game. Security is done through a contract with city police.

There’s one other perk that comes with a football game at the Sportsplex: It’s aired live on 102.1 FM as the Game of the Week. The winner gets a team dinner from Thornton and a football autographed by Heisman Trophy winner Herschel Walker, one of Thornton’s business associates.

Thornton packaged the turf, the new concessions policy and the Game of the Week concept and pitched it to school division officials.

Phelps came up with a tentative schedule that included every team, then passed on the details to the schools.

“We didn’t make anyone do anything,” he said. “But some schools didn’t want to lose a home game, so we wound up with nine of the 11 schools playing there.”

Kempsville and First Colonial are the only teams not making an appearance at the Sportsplex. Athletic directors at both schools said they receive a lot of community support at home games and don’t want to give that up.

No problem, Phelps said.

“The feedback has been great from the teams that have played there,” he said. “I can see us doing more next year.”

Thornton is looking forward to it.

“Our goal is to get the foot traffic out there, get people excited about high school football, get them coming to the Sportsplex again,” he said. “We’re hoping the buzz gets up to, 'Hey, what are you doing tonight? I’m going to the Sportsplex to watch football. They’ve got the Game of the Week out there.’”

Correspondent Scott Baxter contributed to this report.

Chic Riebel, (757) 446-2367, chic.riebel@pilotonline.com