April 27, 2004

Horrow show

They're baaack! Those 26-year-old ex-stockbrokers, William Somerindyke Jr. and Jason Osborne, are again wooing the media with their pitch to bring the Montreal Expos to Norfolk, and this time they've brought a friend: consultant Rick Horrow, the man who's previously pitched his much-derided MAPS plan for a 1% sales tax hike to fund stadiums to second-tier cities across the country. (Norfolk and Birmingham turned him down; Oklahoma City went for it, with mixed results.)

Somerindyke says he and his partner plan to launch sales of season tickets and corporate luxury suites next month: "We think we'll have enough support to go to New York, and we can put the numbers on Bud Selig's and Bob Dupuy's desk and say, 'Here, now just give us the franchise.'" The man leading the sales effort? Dave Iwans of DIA Marketing, Advertising and Public Relations, which the Virginian-Pilot notes encouragingly is "the same group that tried to sell Hampton Roads on major league hockey in 1996-97." When asked about how much tickets would cost, and how much of a deposit would be required, Iwans replied, "There's still a lot to be decided." Yeah, that should go over really well with Bud and Bob's desk.