A Phila. effort to counter the departed Dad Vail

In a conference call scheduled for 8 a.m. today, Mayor Nutter, U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, and athletic directors from local colleges with crew teams will discuss the possibility of boycotting the Dad Vail Regatta when it moves to Rumson, N.J., in 2010.

The annual rowing competition has been a May tradition in Philadelphia since 1953. Faced with financial hardship, the Dad Vail Association elected to move the event to the central Jersey Shore town, which pledged $250,000 to help defray costs. Officials in Philadelphia have complained that they were never given a chance to counter that offer.

"They said they were having problems raising money from corporate sponsors, but never gave us a chance to raise it ourselves," said Brady (D., Pa.), who has spearheaded drives to raise money for the Mummers Parade and other cash-strapped Philadelphia traditions.

"We want to find out how many schools would rather stay in Philadelphia," said Brady. "We'll do our own Philadelphia Regatta if we have to."

Brady said he had spoken to some area athletic directors who told him they would not be able to send as many athletes to the Dad Vail next year because of the increased cost of traveling to Rumson.

He said he had heard through the grapevine that schools as far away as Indiana are not happy with the change of venue.

"We're hoping that schools in the region and outside it hang tough and say, 'We want to go to Philadelphia,' " said Brady.

Temple University athletic director Bill Bradshaw will participate in the conference call. In an interview last night, he said the move to New Jersey "is going to cost us upward of $15,000, depending on what boats we take and how many participate."

Financially "and in other ways," he said, "there are concerns about leaving Philadelphia," but he added no decision had been made about participating in New Jersey.

"We have such a sterling record in the Dad Vail over the years, it will be difficult not to want to go over there," he said. "We're going to do a lot of listening. . . . If a number of the local teams stay in Philadelphia, it may influence other institutions inside and outside of Philadelphia. . . . I believe people will be undecided until they see where the real competition is going to be."

Nutter's spokesman, Doug Oliver, said the call, which will not include Dad Vail officials, is part of an effort "with our local rowing community to do everything we can to see that the regatta is here in Philadelphia."

"This doesn't mean we won't continue to reach out to Dad Vail as well," said Oliver. "This isn't an anti-Dad Vail effort. It's a discussion about rowing alternatives."

Dad Vail Association chairman Jack Galloway, who rowed for La Salle College in the 1950s, said, "I would hope that nobody would try to engineer a boycott of something as good as the Dad Vail Regatta. . . . I think we will have our usual group of 36 or so top schools. . . . I just think it is going to be as it has been, and maybe a little better."