From the frontpage of the Monday morning Times-Free Press...



‘Promotion and commotion’ to bring Southside stadium alive
By Bob Gary Jr. Staff Writer

Frank Burke hasn’t taken over operation of Max Finley Stadium yet, but that hasn’t kept him from scribbling a to-do list.
"I’ve got to get a big ladder and climb up on the goal posts," he said. "I want to see if we can shoot fireworks out of the tops of the posts.
"If we can’t, I’m sure we can from the top of the scoreboard," he said.
The Stadium Corp. voted March 30 to give Mr. Burke, the Bell-South Park and Chattanooga Lookouts owner, a contract to manage the Southside stadium, which lost nearly $1.2 million during the last four fiscal years.
Stadium Corp. Chairman Ryan Crimmins said lawyers for his board and Mr. Burke are doing detail work on the contract, which should be final by summer.
In his presentation to the Stadium Corp., Mr. Burke said he would assume 100 percent of the financial risk. He proposed splitting profits equally, if and when profits are realized, and he pledged never to ask the Chattanooga or Hamilton County governments for extra money. Extra money from the county was once a way of life at the $28.5 million stadium, where an overflow crowd of more than 22,000 watched the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s football team christen with a win over Tennessee State in October 1997. But UTC’s football program struggled, and so have the stadium’s finances. Hamilton County’s government chipped in with an extra $1.35 million in hotel/motel tax money from 1999 to 2003, but County Mayor Claude Ramsey said in September 2003 that he would recommend no further funding of that type for the stadium.

(full article can be read at Mocfans.com)
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