Coastal89
August 25th, 2005, 03:19 PM
to play 1 game at Bristol Speedway
By DAVE HOOKER, [email protected]
August 25, 2005
Bruton Smith has never been afraid to put his money where his mouth is. The combination of the two has the University of Tennessee interested.
The chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports is trying to jumpstart an old idea: a football game between UT and Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway. Why might it succeed now when it failed before? The stakes have been raised.
"Twenty million to each team," Smith said. "Universities always want money so that would be $20 million for your university (UT) and $20 million for Virginia (Tech). That would be a pretty big financial day for them."
UT has long resisted moving a home game to Bristol. However, that was when the speedway had offered UT approximately $3.5 million in 1999 to play a regular-season game on the infield of the .533-mile, high-banked oval track.
UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that the
university clears approximately $3.25 million in profit for a home game at Neyland Stadium.
"Twenty million is a bunch of cash," said Hamilton, who will
coincidentally attend a NASCAR race at Bristol for the first time Saturday. "If he's talking about $20 million, obviously, I'm listening.
"You're always going to be looking for the next opportunity from a revenue perspective that has the least amount of negative impact on your fan base. If you can come up with additional revenue that doesn't have a direct hit on your fan base, that's always something you're going to have to take a look at."
Smith likely sees an opportunity to rekindle serious talks of the project with Hamilton replacing Doug Dickey as UT's athletic director in July 2003. Dickey was a strong opponent of the idea before he retired.
Providing UT with a substantial profit is not the only issue that must be overcome to finalize a deal among the three parties. Hamilton is quick to point out that the financial impact on the city of Knoxville is a key factor if UT is willing to move a home game to Bristol.
"We don't want to give up a home game, but if something ever happened where the money was significant enough that it was equivalent to or better than a home game, we'd have to at leastconsider it," Hamilton said. "The other factor in the whole deal is that you have some obligation to the community of Knoxville. It's a huge economic impact for our city. That has to be considered."
Hamilton said some of that impact on Knoxville would still be felt if a home game was moved to Bristol because many fans would likely book hotels in the Knoxville area and drive to the speedway. Bristol is about a two-hour drive from Knoxville and Blacksburg, Va., the home of Virginia Tech.
Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam said after learning about the offer from Bruton that he wouldn't stand in the way if UT decides to play in Bristol.
"Obviously we hate to lose a football game," Haslam said "but what is good for the University of Tennessee is good for the city of Knoxville."
Scheduling is another concern. UT's schedule is booked solid until 2008. In 2002, Virginia Tech was reportedly willing to offer a three- game series with one game each to be played in Blacksburg, Knoxville
and at BMS.
Smith said Virginia Tech still supports the concept. Representatives from the school could not be reached for comment.
Recent renovations would provide a new challenge for Smith. Bristol recently added a new building in turns three and four.
"I'll scrap them," Smith said. "I'll take them all down. We'll level the whole place. We'll put in the Astroturf, and we'll do it all."
Smith has never been afraid to think big, as evidenced by the towering, bowl-shaped architecture at Bristol. Smith bought the track in January 1996 and has since added nearly 100,000 seats, turning the track into one of the favorites among NASCAR fans. Smith owns six motorsports facilities that host NASCAR events.
Bristol had 71,000 seats in 1996. The facility can now seat 160,000 for a race. Smith said 10,000 seats could be added for a football game. Neyland Stadium seats 106,000.
"He's an out-of-the-box thinker and always looking for the next best thing to do for his tracks, and I think that's great," Hamiltonsaid.
Bristol's NASCAR date in August could put a red flag on the concept. The necessary football renovations would have to be complete in order to play the game within three months. The weekend would also have to coincide with an open date for UT.
"I've always said that for us to do that thing at Bristol, the starshave to be aligned," Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the potential publicity of the game is appealing, especially given the dollar figures that Smith promised.
It's hard to imagine a football game at BMS being a financial windfall for Speedway Motorsports with a $40 million overhead just to secure the two participants. Smith is confident that it would still be profitable, if, UT decides to take the green flag at BMS.
"They hold the keys to the whole thing," Smith said. "If they decide that they want to do it, Virginia (Tech) will be aboard. I can commit now. Bristol Motor Speedway is aboard. It will be a big day for the state of Tennessee."
By DAVE HOOKER, [email protected]
August 25, 2005
Bruton Smith has never been afraid to put his money where his mouth is. The combination of the two has the University of Tennessee interested.
The chairman and CEO of Speedway Motorsports is trying to jumpstart an old idea: a football game between UT and Virginia Tech at Bristol Motor Speedway. Why might it succeed now when it failed before? The stakes have been raised.
"Twenty million to each team," Smith said. "Universities always want money so that would be $20 million for your university (UT) and $20 million for Virginia (Tech). That would be a pretty big financial day for them."
UT has long resisted moving a home game to Bristol. However, that was when the speedway had offered UT approximately $3.5 million in 1999 to play a regular-season game on the infield of the .533-mile, high-banked oval track.
UT athletic director Mike Hamilton said Wednesday that the
university clears approximately $3.25 million in profit for a home game at Neyland Stadium.
"Twenty million is a bunch of cash," said Hamilton, who will
coincidentally attend a NASCAR race at Bristol for the first time Saturday. "If he's talking about $20 million, obviously, I'm listening.
"You're always going to be looking for the next opportunity from a revenue perspective that has the least amount of negative impact on your fan base. If you can come up with additional revenue that doesn't have a direct hit on your fan base, that's always something you're going to have to take a look at."
Smith likely sees an opportunity to rekindle serious talks of the project with Hamilton replacing Doug Dickey as UT's athletic director in July 2003. Dickey was a strong opponent of the idea before he retired.
Providing UT with a substantial profit is not the only issue that must be overcome to finalize a deal among the three parties. Hamilton is quick to point out that the financial impact on the city of Knoxville is a key factor if UT is willing to move a home game to Bristol.
"We don't want to give up a home game, but if something ever happened where the money was significant enough that it was equivalent to or better than a home game, we'd have to at leastconsider it," Hamilton said. "The other factor in the whole deal is that you have some obligation to the community of Knoxville. It's a huge economic impact for our city. That has to be considered."
Hamilton said some of that impact on Knoxville would still be felt if a home game was moved to Bristol because many fans would likely book hotels in the Knoxville area and drive to the speedway. Bristol is about a two-hour drive from Knoxville and Blacksburg, Va., the home of Virginia Tech.
Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam said after learning about the offer from Bruton that he wouldn't stand in the way if UT decides to play in Bristol.
"Obviously we hate to lose a football game," Haslam said "but what is good for the University of Tennessee is good for the city of Knoxville."
Scheduling is another concern. UT's schedule is booked solid until 2008. In 2002, Virginia Tech was reportedly willing to offer a three- game series with one game each to be played in Blacksburg, Knoxville
and at BMS.
Smith said Virginia Tech still supports the concept. Representatives from the school could not be reached for comment.
Recent renovations would provide a new challenge for Smith. Bristol recently added a new building in turns three and four.
"I'll scrap them," Smith said. "I'll take them all down. We'll level the whole place. We'll put in the Astroturf, and we'll do it all."
Smith has never been afraid to think big, as evidenced by the towering, bowl-shaped architecture at Bristol. Smith bought the track in January 1996 and has since added nearly 100,000 seats, turning the track into one of the favorites among NASCAR fans. Smith owns six motorsports facilities that host NASCAR events.
Bristol had 71,000 seats in 1996. The facility can now seat 160,000 for a race. Smith said 10,000 seats could be added for a football game. Neyland Stadium seats 106,000.
"He's an out-of-the-box thinker and always looking for the next best thing to do for his tracks, and I think that's great," Hamiltonsaid.
Bristol's NASCAR date in August could put a red flag on the concept. The necessary football renovations would have to be complete in order to play the game within three months. The weekend would also have to coincide with an open date for UT.
"I've always said that for us to do that thing at Bristol, the starshave to be aligned," Hamilton said.
Hamilton said the potential publicity of the game is appealing, especially given the dollar figures that Smith promised.
It's hard to imagine a football game at BMS being a financial windfall for Speedway Motorsports with a $40 million overhead just to secure the two participants. Smith is confident that it would still be profitable, if, UT decides to take the green flag at BMS.
"They hold the keys to the whole thing," Smith said. "If they decide that they want to do it, Virginia (Tech) will be aboard. I can commit now. Bristol Motor Speedway is aboard. It will be a big day for the state of Tennessee."