There once was an era in which Finley Stadium’s finish to a fiscal year was highly uneventful.
This is not that era.
The vibrancy of the Chattanooga Football Club soccer team and the Chattanooga Market at the neighboring First Tennessee Pavilion is resulting in smiles and satisfaction from Finley Stadium executive director Chris Thomas and Stadium Corp. board members.
Through three quarters of the current fiscal year, Finley Stadium has amassed $1,336,320.68 in total revenue and $1,183,933.48 in expenses for a net income of $153,387.20, according to numbers provided Tuesday by Thomas.
“We’re running at 100% efficiency right now,” Thomas said. “The highest food and beverage events we’ve seen in my two years (as executive director) have been the last three CFC games.”
The first of those three CFC matches occurred last July, and the past two – exhibitions against Comunicaciones FC on March 23 and Detroit City FC on April 6 – produced a combined crowd of nearly 11,500.
CFC has five home matches between now and June 1, with the most intriguing of those being a friendly with Real Betis of La Liga on May 25. Real Betis is located in Seville, Spain, and will be visiting the United States for the first time.
“La Liga is is arguably the best league in the world along with the English Premier,” CFC president Sheldon Grizzle said Tuesday. “This is big for us. The profile is huge. They have more than a million followers on Facebook.
“This is also a significant investment for us.”
Tickets for CFC’s friendly against Real Betis are $30 until the day of the match, when they bump to $40, and Grizzle said the break-even attendance number will be between 6,000 and 7,000.
The Chattanooga Market, which was founded in 2001, is scheduled to open next weekend and will run through late December.
“I can’t tell you how much we value these partnerships,” Stadium Corp. chairman Gordon Davenport said. “They’re part of the community.”
Board member Ryan Crimmins said the objective for Finley Stadium at its 1997 inception was “full-utilization community engagement,” and he is thrilled to see that taking place throughout the fiscal year. Crimmins also pointed out the potential for a very strong start to 2019-20, given an extended CFC season that includes the National Premier Soccer League’s inaugural Founders Cup and a pair of Thursday night University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football games.
“The fact we’ve gone nine of the last 10 years operating in the black is amazing,” Crimmins said.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524.