Skyboxes a sellout at Finley

In another sign University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football may be bucking some forgettable seasons as well as the sluggish economy, all 32 of Finley Stadium's skyboxes could be filled for the upcoming year.

"Provided that nobody fails to renew, all of our skyboxes are gone," Finley Stadium executive director Merrill Eckstein said this week. "I think there is a great deal of excitement surrounding the UTC program right now, thanks to Russ Huesman coming in. I think people believe like I believe that we've got the right head coach to turn this program around.

"Then there is a buzz about (quarterback) B.J. Coleman choosing to leave Tennessee and come to UTC. Those two factors have translated into people who might not otherwise be interested in a skybox saying they would like one."

The heightened demand for skyboxes is accompanying an increase in season-ticket requests. UTC media relations director Jay Blackman announced Thursday that more than 1,000 season tickets have been sold, a figure that wasn't reached last year until Aug. 15.

UTC wound up selling 1,271 season tickets a year ago.

Last season, 30 of the skyboxes were occupied, an achievement in its own right considering how little was expected of the Mocs. UTC went 1-11, with its lone win coming against NAIA member Cumberland University.

All skyboxes are leased from Aug. 1 to July 31 at $300 per seat, so the 26 boxes with 12 seats go for $3,600 annually and the five 24-seat boxes go for $7,200. The Scrappy Moore box contains 48 seats and is reserved for the university chancellor.

Eckstein is operating out of one of the 24-seat skyboxes, which he said is rate negotiable.

"If I can rent it to somebody for $5,000 for the championship game, then I'm out of here," he said, "but I'm not going to rent it to somebody for $500."