By Bruce Rader
Bruce.Rader@wavy.com

The Olympics are behind us, the football season is still a few days away, but today is Opening Day for a new sporting event of sorts in Hampton Roads. The race to build an 18,000 seat arena in Virginia Beach anchored by a major league sports team.

Don’t get too excited this afternoon when the president’s of Comcast-Spectacor and Live Nation Arenas go before the Virginia Beach City Council and as ask to start a conversation regarding building a arena in the resort city.

All they are going to ask to do is start a conversation.

There will be no announcement of an arena, there will be no guarantee that the Sacramento Kings or any other NBA or NHL team has agreed to move into the arena. If fact, it will probably be made very clear by everyone that today is just a day to get the conversation started and that there a lot of steps to go.

In our “lay everything on the table today and let’s take a vote mentality”, this will be disappointing to many who have heard the leaks, and have already started to debate the pro’s and con’s of the potential project, going so far as speculating on a name for Virginia Beach’s new NBA team.

Contrary to what some businessmen close to the project say, sources tell me neither NBA Commissioner David Stern or anyone else in his office has been to Virginia Beach. The NBA owners do not like moving teams around, and there is a very formal process that has to go through involving all the owners before the OK is given for a team like the Kings to leave Sacramento and go to Virginia Beach or any other city. And the process won’t even begin until the city agrees to build the building, and the owners of the team file a relocation application.

Comcast-Spectacor, which owns the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia and ironically the food service company Ovations, has close ties to professional sports team, and wants to manage the new Virginia Beach arena if it is built. The Mayor of Virginia Beach, Will Sessoms told me last week Comcast-Spectacor guaranteed a “major league sports franchise” as the main tenant if Virginia Beach builds the building. But I don’t think Comcast-Spectacor is ready to go public with that today.

By the way, if the food service company Ovations sounds familiar, the Comcast-Spectacor owned company is led by, who else, company founder Ken Young the principal owner of the Norfolk Tides and Norfolk Admirals.

As far as today’s presentation, don’t expect anyone to leave too many cards on the table. Comcast-Spectacor and Live Nations, and even Warren Harris, the director of Economic Development for the City are just going to inform council that the two sides want to start talking, and more information will be forth coming. In fact, I would assume there won’t be a final proposal until sometime in October. In the perfect world a final decision may be reached by mid November but may linger on until the end of the year.

So don’t expect any bomb shell announcement’s today, in fact don’t be surprised at all if the words “Sacramento Kings” don’t even come up.

A project like this will involve long negotiations, a lot of time and a lot of political posturing.

And as for today, Let the Games Begin.

Tuesday is building up to be a big day in Virginia Beach, as two of the largest entertainment companies in the world pitch the city to build a new Arena with the possible guarantee of bringing to the beach an NBA team as the building’s anchor tenant.

It is now official, Peter Luukoo, the president and CEO of Comcast-Spectacor along with Michael Evans, president Live Nation Arenas and Wilson Howard, president of Live Nation’s southeast division have crunched the numbers and are ready to convince the City Council that Virginia Beach can make more than enough money to pay off the debt if the city builds an 18-thousand seat arena near the city’s Convention Center.

And to sweeten the pot, Beach Mayor Will Sessoms told me Thursday Comcast reportedly made a deal with a “major league sports team” to sign a 25 year lease and become the building’s main tenant. Although no specific team has been named, the consensus is that team is the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. Unhappy in Sacramento, the Kings have explored moving to several different markets and it’s believed team co-owner Joe Maloof has already visited the beach.

Of course neither the Kings nor the NBA will comment on the report, the Kings moving to Virginia Beach would depend on if the city builds the arena. It would seem silly for them to comment on a deal that hasn’t even been presented to the council. That is not how big business works, and this is big business.

So why would the Kings want to move to Virginia Beach?

The answer is Comcast, the $100 billion dollar entertainment giant that owns a huge cable company, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Wells Fargo Arena in Philly, and NBC–one of the four largest TV networks in America.

Comcast also manages arenas, their smaller company Global Spectum runs the Constant Center at Old Dominion. They can promise the Kings a new arena, a market with no major league competition, and a television deal. The city builds the Arena, Comcast-Spectacor runs it, and the Kings sign a 25 year lease.

According to a story by Bob Fernandez in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Comcast and the Sacramento Kings would not be strangers. Comcast carries Kings games on its CSN California regional sports network. An NBA franchise in Virginia Beach could be shown on a separate Comcast-owned regional sports network, SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.

But the Sacramento Kings TV rights would not automatically transfer, an official said.

Hampton Roads, would not be the smallest NBA market. New Orleans, Memphis, and Oklahoma City are smaller, said sports consultant and former NBA executive Ed Desser.

The arena, built to NBA specifications would cost about $350 million; Virginia Beach with its high bond rating could easily get that money in a 25 year loan.

Live Nation, which also owns Ticketmaster, is the world’s biggest concert promoter and ticket seller, is losing money in financially strapped Europe, but is making big profits in Hampton Roads.

The Virginia Beach Amphitheater, which Live Nation manages, is one of the top 5 most profitable venues in the 112 Live Nation stable of venues. The company feels it can make even more money for itself and Virginia Beach if it can bring its big acts to a new arena 12 months a year. Among the acts Live Nation books include Eric Clapton, Radiohead, the Jonas Brothers, Kayne West and the Police. The company has a complete country music division led by Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and Rascal Flatts.

Although they will not comment until an arena is built, officials from the ACC and NCAA have made it known that both an ACC basketball tournament and NCAA Regional Tournaments would be good possibilities for a new arena.

But starting Tuesday comes the hard part.

Comcast and Live Nation have to convince a majority of the council that they can generate enough money with concerts and sporting events to play off the loan the city would have to borrow to build the arena.

Oklahoma City went another route–adding one penny to the sales tax for five years paid for their new arena which is the home of the Oklahoma Thunder.

Virginia Beach would borrow most of the money for the project, but I would assume they would at least ask for some financial help from the companies involved and the state. Gov. Bob McDonnell has already endorsed the concept, and his office recently gave Redskins owner Daniel Snyder more than six million dollars to keep the team from moving their headquarters to Washington, DC. Income tax from just a team of NBA players alone would provide Virginia with almost $1.5 million dollars a year. Not to mention coaches, and other staff members. Plus the Governor would love to have an NBA team in the Commonwealth.

After Tuesday’s presentation the council will have about 2 months to make a decision–right around election time.

By the way, this is a blog. Not a television story, not a newspaper column it is a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections and comments. Don’t shoot the messenger, read it for what it is. Get involved in the discussion or don’t.

Bruce Springsteen started his latest concert tour tonight with a show in Boston, and is coming to Virginia on Tuesday October 23rd.

Unfortunately, when “The Boss” visits the Commonwealth he will stop in Charlottesville and not Hampton Roads. Granted, C’ville is a great college town, even though its population is only 196,000. Hampton Roads on the other hand is home to more than 1.5 million people.

So why pass on a market with so many more music, sports and circus fans? Charlottesville has something we don’t have. An indoor arena that seats more than 14,600 people.

Gabby Douglas and her USA teammates start their American tour next month with 40 stops including Des Moines Iowa, where Gabby has lived the past two years. Not on the list?

You guessed it, Hampton Roads.

The Wells Fargo Center in Des Moines doesn’t have an NBA team or an NHL team, or even an AHL team, but it does have over 16,000 seats and is connected to their convention center by a shared parking lot? Sounds a little like Virginia Beach if you ask me. Enough seats to welcome Gabby back to her second home.

By the way, the population of greater Des Moines is just under 600,000.

The Sprint Center in Kansas City doesn’t have an NBA or NHL team as a tenant, but is also hosting Gabby and her teammates, as well as an NBA game with Lebron James and the Miami Heat taking on the Washington Wizards, Joel Osteen, the NY Rangers against the Colorado Avalanche, Bruce Springsteen and did I mention, Justin Bieber. All over the next couple of months.

By the way the population of the Kansas City metropolitan area is a little over 2-million people.

Who says you need an NBA or NHL team to make it worth your while to build an arena?

NCAA officials have told me Hampton Roads would almost certainly get a first round basketball tournament weekend, if the area had a new arena. ACC folks have said many times, putting their famous basketball tournament in a neutral market like Hampton Roads with plenty of empty hotel rooms, would make fans from non-Carolina schools happy, and would be a nice midway point for the conference schools located from Syracuse to Miami. Tickets would sell like hot cakes; the host city would make a mint in taxes, not to mention hotel rooms, restaurants and stores. But don’t even start talking until a new arena is built.

Is Hampton Roads ready for an Arena, and are there city leaders out there with the guts to make it happen?

What do you think? Comments are welcome.

By the way, this is a blog. Not a television story, not a newspaper column it is a Web site that contains an online personal journal with reflections and comments. Don’t shoot the messenger, read it for what it is. Get involved in the discussion or don’t.

She flew out of nowhere, all 4 feet 11 inches of her. Few around the country even knew her name four months ago when as an alternate she beat Jordyn Weiber at the America Cup.

But as it is at the Olympics stars are born and raised in mere “days”, and now fans around the world know the name Gabby Douglas, who on Thursday became the third American woman in a row and first African American to win the prestigious All-Around gymnastics title at the London Olympics.

Gabby Douglas, who until she was 14, grew up in Virginia Beach learning gymnastics from Coach Dena Walker at Excalibur Gymnastics. Two years ago, she moved to Iowa to train under Liang Chow.

We will never know if Gabby would have progressed enough at Excalibur to get this far. She doesn’t think so. She told Mark Emmert of the Indianapolis Star, “I don’t think so. I’m not trying to put bad on them, but you know … I just want to thank them, too, because they took me so far.”

It is interesting how Gabby met Chow, he came to Virginia Beach to give a clinic at Excalibur. He says he didn’t even notice Douglas and that she and her mother Natalie Hawkins virtually showed up on his doorstep one day asking him to take Gabby on. Chow says he almost tried to talk them out of it, saying he wasn’t sure he could prepare young Gabby for London in just 24 months.

Coach Walker was undoubtedly shocked. Her girls had made several national teams, including Randy Stageberg now at the University of Florida. None had made an Olympic team, and a gold medal winning Gabby Douglas would have put Walker and Excalibur on the map.

Gymnastics is not cheap; I have two seven year olds (boys) that went once a week this summer and it’s not free. Coach Walker told Chris Reckling Ms Hawkins didn’t pay, or maybe wasn’t expected to pay for gym time and lessons and was even advanced or given thousands of dollars that was expected to be repaid later.

Ms Hawkins reportedly denied this to Mr. Emmert.

It is not unusual for parents of young athletes to move them away from home in hope of giving them the opportunity to earn elite status in whatever sport they excel in. Andre Agassi, Maria Sharapova, the Williams sisters, Pete Sampras and Bjorn Borg were sent to Florida by their parents to be trained under coach Nick Bollettieri.

Mary Lou Retton, Kerri Strug and Nadia Comaneci are among nine Olympic champions who moved to Houston to learn gymnastics from Bela Karolyi.

So where does Gabby go after winning Olympic gold?

The 16 year old will most likely lead her teammates on a nationwide tour, tickets will be sold, and Olympians will be paid.

And by the way, just two weeks ago, she signed her first sponsorship deal with Procter & Gamble.

That’s Covergirl makeup, tooth paste, shampoo and even paper towels.

Will Gabby Douglas ever return to Virginia Beach, and if so is the now public “she said, she said” statements made by Coach Walker and Ms Hawkins enough to keep the Olympic champ and her mother away from Excalibur? If so, that’s too bad. Young girls who have spent their days at the Virginia Beach gym have experienced some special days. Knowing one of their own has become the most decorated athlete in the world, and getting a chance to see her where it all happened would be a good deal for everybody.

Left guard Kory Lichensteiger and linebacker Jonathan Goff may not be the household names that Chris Cooley, Santana Moss and Robert Griffin III are, but may have a big impact on the Redskins this season.

The reason is, they are hurt. And hurt early in training camp.

Lichensteiger is, or rather was, the starting left guard, next to Trent Williams the starting left tackle, the side that is expected to protect the Redskins’ most valuable assest RG3.

Kory had arthroscopic surgery yesterday on his right knee and probably will miss the entire training camp and all of the preseason games. If he is lucky he will be back for the season opener September 9th in New Orleans against the Saints.

He will be replaced by another guy you have probably never heard of Maurice Hurt, who actually started half of last season on the offensive line when Lichtensteiger got hurt last year. Also this is a good chance for the coaches to check out a rookie, offensive lineman Josh LeRibeus from SMU who was selected in the third round of the NFL draft. His rookie contract is worth $3 million dollars so much is expected from him in the future. And the future may be now.

Goff, who played for the Giants last year, was hurt all last year and has injured the same right knee again. He is out for the season, and you wonder if he will ever play in the NFL again. The Redskins hope so, they like the guy.

Fullback Darrel Young hurt his hamstring yesterday, he thinks he will be OK, left tackle Willie Smith the backup left tackle twisted his knee and former Va. Tech wide receiver Josh Morgan had muscle cramps. None of these injuries seem to be particularly worrisome but with all of the optimism at Redskins training camp, injuries are already starting to become a story line.

Stay tuned.

My observations after two days of Redskins Training Camp.

As good as Robert Griffin the 3rd may be as a quarterback, everybody realizes he is not expected by himself, to take the Redskins to the playoffs for the first time in 5 years.

What other positions does Coach Mike Shanahan have to improve on to help this team return to the postseason?

Quarterback, well on it’s way–Shanahan traded away two first round picks for Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin the third who everybody on this team, even the older guys, feel is the real deal.

But Griffin can’t perform if he isn’t protected–former pro bowler Jammal Brown is still nursing a bad hip, Will Montgomery, Kory Lichtensteiger and Chris Chester are not household names, so a lot will be expected of former first round draft pick Trent Williams, who was suspended for part of last season for failing a drug test.

The additions of wide receivers Pierre Garcon, at 42 million dollars and Josh Morgan, 12 million, are expected to make life easier for both Griffin and veteran Santana Moss.

Second year pro Leonard Hankerson, coming off an injury gives the receivers a new young look this year.

The strength of this team is it’s 3-4 defense, Barry Cofield, Stephen Bowen, Adam Carriker along the front, and don’t forget last year’s training camp star Jarvis Jenkins is coming back from his injury.

Linebackers, London Fletcher, Brian Orakpo and last year’s rookie sensation Ryan Kerrigan are as solid as they come.

That leaves the defensive secondary, Josh Wilson and DeAngelo Hall from Chesapeake will man the corners, with free agent Brandon Meriweather as the team’s top safety. DeAngelo told me everything will be fine.

Of course this is only the second day of Redskins Training Camp, and we have a lot to learn before the first preseason game. But with no controversies, and no real worrisome injuries, so far so good.

Even though I spent the day here at Redskins Park yesterday, today was the first day of training camp. Things were a little different, they now have an indoor dome like practice facility and Coach Mike Shanahan decided to have the morning practice there. It is air conditioned, and considering temperatures reached 100 degrees today it was nice to get a little break.

Chris Cooley said he didn’t care where they had morning practice, he hates morning practices because it means he has to get up early.

As usual, all anybody was talking about was new rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III, even the veterans. But I have never heard any young player get such high marks from his older teamates, and I don’t think these guys are just towing the company line. They really seem to like RG3 and really seem to be impressed with his ability. Still, lets see how he does in a game before we induct him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

And regardless of how good he is, he and the team will only be successful if the offensive line can protect him and if his wide receivers can get open, something neither group was very good at last season.

The defensive players seem to love this, nobody is paying them any attention. But I will tomorrow, keep an eye on the 6pm Sportswrap on WAVY and the FOX 43 Sportswrap at 10:45 when I will talk with DeAngelo Hall and second year defensive lineman Ryan Kerrigan about the “D”.

Speaking of DeAngelo, there are now two former Virginia Tech Hokies on the team, Hall and wide reciever Josh Morgan who grew up in Washington, DC. Morgan spent the past four years with the San Francisco 49ers, I have to ask him tomorrow how happy he is to be back home, and playing with one of the hottest young quarterbacks in the league.

And young is an understatement. Coach Mike Shanahan and general manager Bruce Allen have worked hard to make this Redskins team a young team, looking ahead to the future.

More from Redskins Park tomorrow, and as always if you have any questions, email me at Bruce.Rader@wavy.com, or follow me on Twitter, BruceRaderSport.

Is he bigger than the team itself, well at least we know he’s the biggest story at Redskins Training Camp this year.

Welcome to the year of the III, RG-3, Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin the III, the only player I can ever remember who had a press conference the day “before” training camp started.

He is only being allowed to talk to the media six times between now and the Redskins opening game against the Saints, and the local reporters don’t like the idea that he isn’t giving any one on one personal interviews. Maybe this is Coach Mike Shanahan’s decision to keep his 22 year old star focused on football. It is a much different game than Robert is used to in college, much faster, much harder to understand, a lot more pressure.

Griffin used his speed and his smarts in college to re-write the Baylor record books. Head Coach Mike Shanahan and his son, offensive coordinator Kyle, will rework the game play to allow RG3 to shine.

There is no question, Robert is Shanahan’s quarterback–no controversy here.

But what do his veteran teammates like DeAngelo Hall from Chesapeake think of the 21 million dollar rookie? I’ll be asking those questions as the week goes on.

If you have any questions send them to me at Bruce.Rader@wavy.com

I think I am ready to jump on the Washington Nationals bandwagon, in fact I think I already have jumped on the Nationals bandwagon. What’s not to like, a local guy Ryan Zimmerman (from Kellam High School in Virginia Beach) at third base. The hottest rookie to come along in years, 19 year old Bryce Harper. Two All-Star pitchers Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez combining for over 20 wins, and Jordan Zimmerman may be their best pitcher of all.

They have more wins than any other team in the National League, and the second most wins behind the Yankees in all of baseball.

They play in a new stadium, a few hours drive away from Hampton Roads, and have a shot, a real shot at the World Series.

I think I am riding the Nationals bandwagon, lets see where it takes me.

More bad news for fans of the United Football League.
Today, two key members of the league’s front office gave up, the league’s media director, and more importantly Commissioner Michael Huyghue.
Huyghue admits the owners have a lot of financial problems; the league has lost more than $150 million dollars over the past three years.
Last year, the UFL’s four teams, including the Virginia Destroyers, played only four games with no national television contract.
The owners says they are not ready to give up yet, hoping to add two more teams, get a TV deal, and play a fall schedule starting in September.
I know this is tough news for those of you that went to Destroyers games, supported the team and are looking for another season at the Virginia Beach Sportsplex.
There are indications that people who worked for the Destroyers here in Hampton Roads were not paid what was owed them, we also don’t know if coach Marty Schottenheimer or his staff received their entire salary.
My guess is, the league owners will give it a few more months with hopes of paying off their bills and getting new investments–and if that doesn’t work out, they will fold their tents.
Stay tuned.