Fight for Fort Finley frames future for franchise

Chattanooga’s reputation as an outdoor destination is well-known and welldeserved.

And to borrow a phrase as old as the riverfront, our journey toward the goal of being the “Boulder of the East” has exceeded almost every expectation.

Well, now everywhere we look, there are growing conversations and some growing frustrations about green spaces. No, not those green spaces.

The green spaces covered by cleats — be they for baseball, football or soccer — and the green spaces that generate a lot of greenbacks.

Across Chattanooga, prominent sports teams are wondering what their futures may hold and where their future mail could be sent.

We know the Chattanooga Lookouts owners have made it very clear they want something newer and flashier than AT&T Field. Those conversations have already started. And while we believe John Woods does not want to move the team, we believe emphatically that Hardball Capital bigwig Jason Freier will have absolutely zero problem picking up and moving the Lookouts some place — any place — else for a new ball park.

And there is no doubt he will make that fact very clear to the folks holding the purse strings in Chattanooga and Hamilton County.

This brings us to the potential shake-ups that emerged from TFP reporter Gene Henley’s front-page story Wednesday about the folks running Finley Stadium, the teams playing at Finley and the future for each.

From his story, we learned the following:

UTC is well beyond the “Hey, maybe we could do this?” phase in terms of building a new football stadium that also would host its women’s soccer team. UTC athletic director Mark Wharton even mentioned a possible location — the site of the legendary Engel Stadium — and some possibilities to honor the baseball legacy of the facility near Erlanger.

Yes, for many years the UTC athletic department has had champagne dreams on a PBR budget, but Wharton has delivered a jolt of fundraising prowess, and the fact that UTC is about to break ground on the Wolford Family Athletics Center supports that.

As for the soccer folks involved, they would be happy kicking more than soccer balls, if you know what I’m saying.

The Chattanooga Football Club has been at Fort Finley for a decade. A collection of homegrown folks with familiar names in a slew of Chattanooga circles started the FC and it flourished. A spat and eventually a split with general manager Sean McDaniel led another league — a professional league known as the United Soccer League — to come calling.

Both look to be playing at Finley, along with UTC, although it’s a pretty safe assumption all three groups are willing to explore all of their options.

Here’s a thought: How long before the soccer folks line up wanting a couple of pulls off the taxpayer teat to build some new facility?

If the Lookouts owners can start issuing clear smoke signals about their intentions and expectations, who’s to say whether the kick-ballers won’t try to kick the cost to you, me and all the other taxpaying folks in town?

And to be fair, here’s saying that a complete soccer facility with youth-tournament-hosting capabilities and, say, a 5,000-seat centerpiece would be a better idea than a baseball stadium for private investors.

Yes, the soccer teams are privately owned too, but the truth of this matter is clear: Youth tournaments bring way more visitors to this town than minor league baseball. And I am a go-to-the-park, love-the-Lookouts member of this community. But for public money to be used, it has to have impact on, you know, the public.

Yes, the Lookouts add to the quality of life in our town. But a soccer complex, complete with the ability and accoutrements to host a couple of soccer and/ or lacrosse tournaments a month, would be a tangible economic engine, friends. Heck, Tim Kelly, the chairman of the Chattanooga FC, said Wednesday on Press Row on ESPN 105.1 the Zone that his group has had talks “for six or seven years” of a similar soccer complex, and he mentioned that facilities with both soccer and baseball availability have had success recently.

Now, if we only knew of someone looking to deal some land near downtown or maybe next to one of the interstates who might be interested. Hmmmmm, let’s think on that one for a little bit. It may be a while before an answer could be found(ry).

Does this help UTC and its future? Not particularly, but I am confident Wharton will handle this navigation ably, whether it leads back to Fort Finley or back to the future with a new chapter for legendary Engel Stadium.