THE TRIANGLE SCORES BIG.

• Author: Manuel, John
• Position: Statistical Data Included

Strap on your blades. Get ready to crash the boards. The Canes are in town, and they're playing a fast-paced game in the state's most comfortable arena. On Oct. 29, the Carolina Hurricanes, Raleigh's National Hockey League franchise, faced off in their inaugural game at the new Raleigh Entertainment and Sports Arena, next to the state fairgrounds. The Hurricanes hope to set a standard for professional sports in the Triangle, and they expect the economic repercussions to be far-reaching, as well.

The Carolina Hurricanes are the Triangle's first major-league professional franchise--long overdue in some people's minds, though premature in others'. For years, Triangle leaders have argued over whether the region should invest in a facility to support a major-league franchise. With three Atlantic Coast Conference universities fielding some of the best teams in the nation, the Triangle's focus has long been on college sports. But as the region has swelled to more than a million in population, and with many new residents having no connection to the local colleges and universities, the need for professional teams everyone can rally around has grown.

The history of professional sports in the Triangle dates to 1902, when the Durham Bulls took the field in the North Carolina State Professional Baseball League. The team went through various incarnations over the years, securing an affiliation with the Atlanta Braves in 1980 under owner Miles Wolff. In 1988, the Bulls gained national fame with the release of "Bull Durham," a movie about a minor-league catcher starring Kevin Costner, Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins. The film was shot in Durham at its beloved, but aging, ballpark. Wolff urged Durham to build a 10,000-to- 12,000 seat stadium to help win a Triple-A franchise. Voters rejected a bond issue to finance the ballpark.

In 1990, Jim Goodmon, president of Capitol Broadcasting Co., bought the Bulls. In 1993, the Durham City Council voted to build a stadium using "certificates of participation" rather than bonds, avoiding a referendum on financing. The $16 million Durham Bulls Athletic Park opened in April 1995 and won praise as one of the finest minor-league parks in the country.

Now a Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, the Bulls won the International League South Division in 1998 and 1999. The team has sent a long list of players to careers in the major league, including Andruw Jones, David Justice, Ryan Klesko and Javy Lopez. Annual attendance averages between 400,000 and 500,000, 12th among...