Wiedmer: Is Chattanooga Classic on the endangered list?

The sun was slowly setting over Black Creek early Sunday evening. The temperature was 67 degrees. The sky mostly blue. The trees surrounding the golf course just beginning their annual art class in leaf painting.

And up the road in Nashville, the NFL's Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts were still more than three hours from kickoff, which was surely part of the reason for the biggest crowd of the weekend ringing the 18th green for the final round of the Chattanooga Classic.

"How better to sell Chattanooga than this?" asked Ruth Obear, one of the city's biggest cheerleaders. "We just have to find a way to keep this event."

The Nationwide Tour has made the Classic part of its schedule for seven years now, the tournament rotating from its inaugural date in August of 2003, to May the following year, then June, June again, then the past three years in October, smack dab against college and pro football.

The contract is over, however. There is no guarantee that the PGA Tour -- which oversees the Nationwide circuit -- and the Classic directors will reach an agreement over a 2010 tour date. There is less certainty over when that date might fall.

"Our first goal is to try and find a title sponsor," said tournament executive director Chip Baker, repeating a familiar theme. "We also would love to get on the Golf Channel next year. You reach 120 million homes worldwide and 80 million here in the U.S. That wouldn't just help the tournament, it would help the whole community."

Obviously, the number of businesses capable of forking over roughly $300,000 for a title sponsorship and another $275,000 for Golf Channel coverage is small. Maybe five or six maximum. Should neither of those possibilities come true, the odds on the Classic returning are said to be no more than 50 percent.

Facing such an uncertain future, the Volkswagen Classic sounds better every day.

Yet to listen to Baker is to feel confident that some version of one or both is eminent.

"We're looking at a date for late summer or fall next year," he said. "It depends on the Golf Channel schedule. Fall is a great time for the Golf Channel."

Fall is a great time for sports. Period. Football is in full bloom. Baseball is staging its Octoberfest. Basketball is about to tip off. Hockey, too.

And on those autumn days that mimic Sunday's sun far more than Friday's floods, the golf isn't bad, either.

"It's perfect," said Chattanooga's Luke List, who tied for 19th, six shots off winner Chris Baryla's 19-under-par 269. "You've got guys who are trying to wrap up their (PGA) Tour cards. Guys who are just trying to win. I like this time of year."

The argument has been that the fans wouldn't like this date because of football. Previously played on the weekend of the Alabama-Tennessee game, this year's event butted heads on Saturday with Georgia-Tennessee up the road in Knoxville, as well as the usual overflowing schedule of SEC games. At least resurgent UT-Chattanooga was playing at Samford instead of Finley Stadium.

But a quick survey of golfers noted that our city's own residents aren't the only ones torn between football and golf this time of year.

Kentucky native Josh Teater, who finished three strokes behind Baryla, admitted, "I definitely watch it, more college than pro. I've always followed Kentucky. I wouldn't say it's distracting, but I keep my phone out until I tee off. And I try to keep up with the score, then ask somebody in the crowd for a score now and then."

Then there's List, the Vanderbilt grad.

"A little bit, yeah," he said when asked if he keeps up with the Commodores. "I heard Tennessee put a whipping on Georgia while I was out there. I was probably more interested in the big game (Saturday night) between Florida and LSU."

Asked his reaction to his Commodores' surprising loss at Army, List said, "That's the price you pay for going to a school like that. You look forward to basketball season."

Even Baryla -- who had never won on the Nationwide Tour before Sunday -- made sure to catch alma mater Texas-El Paso's upset of Houston last weekend, flying to the Lone Star state after missing the cut at the Soboba Classic in California.

So if Black Creek was slightly less full of spectators than it might have been on a non-football weekend, the golfers completely understand.

Understanding is not the same as embracing, however. Seven years along, it would seem that something must change regarding the city's financial commitment to the Classic if it is to keep the PGA from punting Chattanooga.