Proponents of a new stadium at the Wheland/U.S. Pipe site say Lookouts games are expected to only account for about 20 percent of events hosted at the new mixed-use facility.
Lookouts officials said, "Modern minor league stadiums are essentially designed from the beginning to be a flexible venue for non-baseball events as well as baseball games. The Lookouts’ primary owner and operator, Hardball Capital, built stadiums in Fort Wayne and Columbia very similar to this one in terms of the mixed-use, multi-purpose aspects of the facility.
"In fact, the stadiums in Columbia and Fort Wayne each host an average of more than one non-baseball event per day, including ticketed and free concerts (i.e. Florida-Georgia Line, Nelly, Darius Rucker, Zach Brown Band), high school and college athletics (i.e. baseball, football, soccer), holiday events and parties, a New Year’s ball drop, youth events (i.e. Halloween Fright Night, back-to-school gatherings, Scout sleepovers), on-field yoga, charity fundraisers, weddings, business meetings, and church services.
"The South Broad stadium is being designed to serve the community as a multi-use venue in the same way. On average over the past 19 seasons, more than 110,000 people have attended non-baseball events each year at each stadium at Hardball’s two other stadiums (excluding the COVID lockdown years of 2020 and 2021).
"When Chattanooga’s stadium is not being used for events, it will be open to the public as a park connected to the Tennessee Riverwalk so that residents can freely walk the concourse, eat at the stadium’s restaurants (open not just when games are being played), and enjoy fresh air.
"Another aspect to note is that AT&T Field wasn’t designed with any of this in mind because it was designed and built as cheaply as possible for one purpose - to hold baseball games. This new stadium is a completely different asset which will be owned entirely by the city and county via the Sports Authority."
On whether the stadium would compete with the nearby Finley Stadium, officials said, "While there is always the possibility of an event here or there that could be choosing between places, the answer is extremely rarely.
"Very little of what we are looking to do are things that Finley does much of. Virtually every minor league market has other stadiums and arenas and they can all be successful.
"For example, in Columbia, we have at least two significant indoor concert venues (Colonial Life Arena and the Township), a successful football stadium (Williams-Brice), and one of the most successful college baseball stadiums in the nation (Founder’s Park), but our ballpark there is still successful and has catalyzed over $700 million of development in just seven years.
"Each venue has its niche. But our ballparks are designed not just to draw fans and events but to be integrated with and encourage development. So all these venues are successful in Columbia, but ours has more development around it than the others combined."