All signs are pointing to more revenue at Finley Stadium, but can it be done tastefully?
The increase in signage at the 20,668-seat facility was discussed during Tuesday’s gathering of the Stadium Corp. board of directors. Finley Stadium executive director Paul Smith reported that projected signage revenue for the 2016-17 fiscal year is $50,000, an increase from $37,500 this past year, and he said more opportunities exist everywhere from suite levels to elevator doors to parking lots.
Bud Light, Erlanger, EPB, Food City and Zaxby’s are among the advertisers with prominent signage for spectators seated on the home side during University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football games.
“You have to be careful about tricking it up too much,” board member Ryan Crimmins said. “Maybe you need a committee on this thing.”
Board chairman Bryan Patten asked members Jerre Haskew, Tim Kelly and Bobby Stone if they would be willing to comprise a committee to study signage, and each agreed.
Smith recently visited Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas, a 20,500-seat venue that houses the FCS championship game that Finley hosted from 1997 to 2009. He said Finley has minimal signage compared to that and to other facilities of similar size.
“There is a lot of opportunity for revenue,” Smith said.
Other items discussed during Tuesday’s Stadium Corp. meeting include:
* UTC is two games into its six-game home football schedule, and Smith said there already has been an uptick in alcohol sales. Alcohol always has been sold in the Stadium Club but now is being offered in the area overlooking the end zone that is across the street from the First Tennessee Pavilion.
“The fan reaction has been tremendous,” Smith said. “It’s not overly popular, but it’s a nice feature. The Stadium Club revenue has decreased by about a third, but overall we’ve probably had about a 40-percent increase considering now we have two locations to offer it.”
* Finley Stadium wound up having a $192,000 surplus for the 2015-16 fiscal year. Smith had projected a $191,000 surplus during the last meeting in June.
* Smith said he is going to meet soon with Chattanooga Football Club general manager Sean McDaniel to work out a contract. “We will sit down and hammer out all the details of our future together,” Smith said. “We think that good faith and cooperation will rule the day.”
Smith hopes to have the deal in place by the next Stadium Corp. meeting in November.
* Board member Mike Davis received the go-ahead to install sliding windows in two of the skyboxes. The windows are $27,000 per skybox, and that expense will be paid by each skybox owner who wants them.
Davis said the sliding windows are scheduled to be in the two skyboxes before UTC’s regular-season finale against Wofford on Nov. 12.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.