Courter: Pavilion the key to Finley success

Last week I wrote about the recently announced change in management of Finley Stadium and First Tennessee Pavilion. Merrill Eckstein will officially take over from Frank Burke at the end of May.

I promised that I would offer some completely unsolicited suggestions on ways to utilize the properties.

First, it should be noted that Eckstein will be the first manager since Rick Linio whose sole role is to manage the stadium and the pavilion. That should be an advantage. He will be there full-time to answer the phones and return messages and pursue events.

Secondly, it is important, I believe, to realize that there are two facilities involved here. Booking large events at the stadium will not happen overnight and they will take a large amount of resources, which I don’t believe are in place just yet. They are risky also because of things like weather and attendance.

The pavilion, on the other hand, offers a good deal of immediate opportunity. Chattanooga Market has proven that people will come to the Southside facility on a regular basis.

Nightfall was started in 1991 for the purpose of bringing people downtown. It has worked, though it took time to catch on. Over the years, some have argued it has served its purpose and could be moved to the riverfront or to First Tennessee to do the same thing there. I’m not ready to move Nightfall, but it, or something like it, is needed in the pavilion.

With the ample parking, wide-open spaces and even the commercial kitchen inside the pavilion (something that is rarely talked about), there is opportunity to produce events that will generate money, which then can be used to fund other, larger events and needs.

Maybe a country music series would work. Partnering with people in town also would be helpful. There is space enough to allow vendors to set up in and around the pavilion and generate more revenue. The key is that it has to be a regularly scheduled event. Weekly is best. The beauty, and lesson, of Nightfall is that people know it’s every Friday and that the music will be good.

Recently, we published the 2009 edition of Chattanooga Now. Included was a partial list of radio stations in our area. The complete list is too large to include everyone, so many stations were left out of the printed list. (You can see the full list of stations online at timesfreepress.com under the Chattanooga Now link.)

For example, WDYNFM 89.7 and WNOO-AM 1260 were left out. Both are staples in the local radio community and have been for decades.

WDYN, home to Earl Freudenberg, broadcasts religious programming, including locally programmed Southern gospel music and nationally syndicated talk programs.

WNOO also broadcasts gospel music, as well as programming from several area churches.