NCAA's Poppe visits Finley Stadium

[chattanoogamocs]

Watching the NBC affiliate, the sportscast had a sotry on Dennis Poppe and other IAA committee members getting a tour of Finley Stadium

(also in attendance, SoCon interim commish Geoff Cabe, Sports Committee President Merrill Eckstein, UC officials, Mayor Ron Littlefield, and Finley Stadium "overseer" and Chattanooga Lookouts owner Frank Burke)

Poppe seemed very happy with not only the field, but the overall improvements to the stadium since Burke had taken over day to day management (100K in basic improvement, out of his own pocket...and a soon to be installed "world class video scoreboard provide by Coca-Cola").

Burke is an efficiency freak (I mean that as a compliment)...he literally times how long it takes for people to move thru the line, then goes to the drawing board for ways to improve it (tickets and concessions). They have establised a wireless network for ticket sales and have rovers to sell to people in line. Its seems to have worked...last week for a high school game, he reported that they had 2,200 walk up tickets sold and no one waited more than 4 minutes (but he said "I know we can do better" ..nothing like a pefectionist :))

Burke also apparently has some interesting things he wants to add to the NC game (like a parade, etc)...for those who don't know, he owns a couple of minor league baseball teams so events and promotions is his forte.

While Poppe was a little more guarded in his public statements (quote from the ABC affiliate, NewsChannel9 website "Poppe wouldn't say for sure if the NCAA will decide to keep the championship in Chattanooga, but he said negotiations are going very well."), GCSEC President Merrill Eckstein felt that a long term deal (similar to the baseball championships in Omaha) was now a good possibility.

I know some on here will be happy...and some will whine...so either way, have at it! :)

[Hansel]

Watching the NBC affiliate, the sportscast had a sotry on Dennis Poppe and other IAA committee members getting a tour of Finley Stadium

(also in attendance, SoCon interim commish Geoff Cabe, Sports Committee President Merrill Eckstein, UC officials, Mayor Ron Littlefield, and Finley Stadium "overseer" and Chattanooga Lookouts owner Frank Burke)

Poppe seemed very happy with not only the field, but the overall improvements to the stadium since Burke had taken over day to day management (100K in basic improvement, out of his own pocket...and a soon to be installed "world class video scoreboard provide by Coca-Cola").

Burke is an efficiency freak (I mean that as a compliment)...he literally times how long it takes for people to move thru the line, then goes to the drawing board for ways to improve it (tickets and concessions). They have establised a wireless network for ticket sales and have rovers to sell to people in line. Its seems to have worked...last week for a high school game, he reported that they had 2,200 walk up tickets sold and no one waited more than 4 minutes (but he said "I know we can do better" ..nothing like a pefectionist :))

Burke also apparently has some interesting things he wants to add to the NC game (like a parade, etc)...for those who don't know, he owns a couple of minor league baseball teams so events and promotions is his forte.

While Poppe was a little more guarded in his public statements (quote from the ABC affiliate, NewsChannel9 website "Poppe wouldn't say for sure if the NCAA will decide to keep the championship in Chattanooga, but he said negotiations are going very well."), GCSEC President Merrill Eckstein felt that a long term deal (similar to the baseball championships in Omaha) was now a good possibility.

I know some on here will be happy...and some will whine...so either way, have at it! :)

Videoboard will be a nice addition, didn't know how much I liked seeing replays until the FargoDome installed videoboards, now even when I am at a high school game I catch myself trying to find a replay screen (to no avail of course)....but thank goodness they got some turf in there :)

[arkstfan]

Very good news.

NCAA championship events for the most part have always been of interest to the participants, some fans of the sport and the local community.

The Final Four really didn't become a mega-event until the 1980's. The College World Series has only recently become a major draw.

Having a promotions minded person who is respected in the community pushing the I-AA Championship might be the burst of energy needed to make the I-AA title game a bigger event.

[dungeonjoe]

I heard the temp on the field last Saturday was over 120 degrees; glad they play in Chattanooga in December!

[chattanoogamocs]

I was down on the field at halftime, you could feel the heat, but it wasn't that bad (if you are used to summers in the South :))

They haven't had much of a problem when they play games at 7pm...but they had that game early because of homecoming.

...and your right, later in the year it is not an issue...November home games are at 2pm.

I wonder how JSU is doing with their new rug, heat wise? ...they are nearly 3 hours further south.