There are three main revenue sources for the Finley Stadium Corporation - 30 percent from UTC, 28 percent from CFC and 41 percent that comes from all other partners throughout the year, said Executive Director Chris Thomas at the Finley Stadium board meeting on Tuesday. Spring in Chattanooga is partially defined by CFC soccer and opening of the Chattanooga Market, said Chairman of the Board Gordon Davenport. Sheldon Grizzle, co-founder and general manager of CFC, and Melissa Lail, director of marketing and public relations for the Chattanooga Market, were both invited to give overviews of what is to come for their organizations.
CFC has already had two major exhibition games this spring, one against Guatemala and the other against Detroit City, both with big turnouts that pleased the organizers, said Mr.
Grizzle. These games served as try-outs, but now players have been signed. They are in Chattanooga and are moving into apartments. Two more exhibition games are planned before the actual season kicks-off on May 11. It will continue through July. He said, "If you can see only one game, to choose the one on May 25 against Re’al Betis of Seville, Spain."
"It is a big deal that they are coming here to play," said board member Tim Kelly. More than half of those expected to attend that game will come from outside of Chattanooga, he said.
An “ownership initiative” for CFC is taking place and now has 2,500 individual owners across the U.S. and some worldwide. Support can be shown by buying season passes and by business owners becoming a sponsor, said Mr. Grizzle.
The CFC is actively involved with the community. Participation includes Chattanooga Sports Ministry that concentrates on five tough neighborhoods, Open Road, which gets children in elementary schools, and 15 rec centers involved in soccer in order to help disadvantaged youth. Playing soccer is also taking place at Highland Park Commons where many nationalities come together to play the game.
The first half of the season will have five home, five away games and a playoff through July. Aug.10 is when the kickoff for the professional part of the season - the drive for the Founder’s Cup - begins. The first game at the pro level will be against the well-known N.Y. Cosmos. This series, too, will have five each of home and away games plus a two-day playoff. Mr. Davenport commented that holding a season ticket, which gives admission to all games, is a tremendous value. It was noted that all games this year except one will be on Saturdays.
The last weekend in April, between 10,000-15,000 usually show up for the opening of the Chattanooga Market, which is a two-day event to help spread out the crowd, said Mr. Davenport. Large numbers keep coming through August. Over 700 events were planned last year by the market organizers. There are several two-day weekends planned for the Chattanooga Market at the pavilion this year, said Ms. Lail. That includes the opening weekend, a street food festival in May, and Oktoberfest in October. It will be open every weekend in December. There will be several new themed days this year - Wilderness Day with Reflection Riding, Team Spirit Day celebrating all Chattanooga sports clubs and The Grateful Gobbler.
Some other weeks will focus on food, with The Ice Cream Social, The Five Star Food Fight, Lodge Cast Iron Cook-off and Beast Feast BBQ Festival among others.
And the vendor base continues to grow, said Ms. Lail, adding that the economic impact to the city has risen from $7,000-$8,000 when the Stadium took over management 12 years ago, to about $40 million annually today.
Mr. Davenport said that the stadium corporation values the long-term partnership with the Chattanooga Market. “It’s hard to imagine Chattanooga without that Sunday party,” he said.
In a financial report for the first three quarters of the year, Chris Thomas said that parking revenue has increased substantially. Republic has collected $14,000 on behalf of the Stadium. Without having Republic as a partner, he said that ordinarily, only about 40-50 percent of that amount would have been collected. Some special events drove the increase in March, but money is coming in every day of the month with increased development in the area around Finley Stadium. Parking revenue is now coming from restaurants, The Signal and apartments as they are being leased.
A 10-year profit/loss statement put together by Mr. Thomas shows trends of the stadium during that time. He used key metrics such as labor costs, security and utilities to measure performance and he said they look good.
Total revenue of the last full fiscal year was $2,025,000 compared to $675,000 in 2009-2010. Expenses have also doubled during that time, he said. The stadium drives 70 percent of the revenue, parking accounts for five percent and 25 percent comes from the pavilion. “The stadium is running at 100 percent efficiency now,” he told the board. He said that meets the goal. Board member Ryan Crimmins said that there has now been nine-10 years of operating in the black with full utilization.