Image Credit: Chattanooga Lookouts / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Adelia Kirchner] –
Three years ago, Tennessee lawmakers passed legislation allowing the Chattanooga Lookouts to move into a new stadium and retain a previously existing sales tax deal where the Lookouts kept 5.5% of the state’s 7% sales tax for sales at the stadium.
It was reported at the time that the Southern League MLB team, a Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, was considering building a new $86.5 million park on the 141-acre Wheland Foundry/U.S. Pipe parcel in the South Broad District.
Sen. Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga-District 10) stated in early 2022 that Chattanooga could potentially form a sports authority for this new stadium and that the sales tax deal was meant “to offer tax increment financing in the city and county wants to do a stadium for the sports authority.”
Since the buzz around a new stadium began, the media and Tennessee taxpayers have been repeatedly fed the narrative that a new stadium was non-negotiable for the MLB and without it the Lookouts could be nixed from the equation.
“MLB has made it very clear that if the local governments can’t figure out how to provide new facilities for the Lookouts, MLB stands to pull the Lookouts from the market,” then Senior Advisor for Mayor Tim Kelly, Jermain Freeman, said in July 2022.
Lookouts owner Jason Freier even specifically went on record saying, “We need to get this done; staying in the existing stadium is not an option.”
However, an email recently provided to The Tennessee Conservative implies that while massive improvements did need to be made to the existing stadium, they were in fact, “manageable” at one point.
This email, between Freier and Marv Goldklang, majority owner of the Charleston RiverDogs, tells a different story and provides a glimpse into discussions that were being had about the new Lookouts stadium as far back as 5 years ago.
In the January 2020 email, Freier shares with Goldklang that MLB Deputy Commissioner Dan Halem had a “nice conversation” with former Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke.
Freier then details a phone conversation between himself and Berke, writing that “Apparently Halem promised [Berke] that there would be affiliated baseball in Chattanooga beyond next year and into the future. He said that would be the case with or without a new ballpark.”
In the email, Freier notes that Halem’s reassurance that affiliated baseball would continue in Chattanooga with or without a new stadium was “both a good and a bad thing for the mayor to hear” as it removed some sense of urgency from the new stadium effort.
“Halem told Andy that the Reds needed improvements to the ballpark, but that they were manageable,” writes Freier. “Andy also said that Halem told him that MLB/the Reds would help us on that front if a new ballpark didn’t come (not sure what he meant by ‘help’).”
Freier goes on to explain that he told Berke “not to feel to safe just yet” because the MLB had been making lots of promises that he wasn’t sure would be kept.
“I suggested that, while we be very careful with the rhetoric so as not to alienate anyone, we continue through the Task Force to press the case that preserving Minor League Baseball in all markets is important,” Freier states. “He agreed to do so.”
According to Freier, he also told Berke that the level of changes needed to get the existing ballpark up to par for the Reds and MLB standards would cost “millions and millions” and that those changes would only be improving the player experience, not necessarily the fan experience or the recurring maintenance issues.
“So I suggested that the new stadium effort remained essential,” Freier concludes. “That is about as much as I know.”
More recently, in February of last year, Lookouts President Rich Mozingo told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that MLB will “demand” the Lookouts go elsewhere if a new stadium isn’t constructed.
“It’s a foregone conclusion that MLB would move the Lookouts elsewhere if a new stadium isn’t constructed in Chattanooga,” said Mozingo.
According to Mozingo, the 2022 sales tax deal approved by state lawmakers factors into their new stadium deal with the city and county quite a bit.
The Lookouts have agreed to pay rent, stadium operations and maintenance, contribute cash for upfront costs and cover any costs of the project that exceed the budget.
The city and county have given up the selection of and revenue from the naming rights partnership according to News Channel 9.
“You just can’t have it both ways,” said Mozingo. “You can’t get the highest rent and then other parts of the deal as well. So it’s going to be funded by as many hot dogs as we sell, and tickets we sell, and sponsorships we sell. And the naming rights will be part of that. The naming rights sponsorship is a really important part of the business model.”
About the Author: Adelia Kirchner is a Tennessee resident and reporter for the Tennessee Conservative. Currently the host of Subtle Rampage Podcast, she has also worked for the South Dakota State Legislature and interned for Senator Bill Hagerty’s Office in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Adelia at adelia@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
One Response
Lucifer’s cities, always trouble and expense.