City should give U of M control of Liberty Bowl

CONGRATULATIONS, University of Memphis! You’ve made it into the Big East!

As a special reward, a token of our admiration, the citizens of Memphis would like to give you a gift . It’s a big gift , too. Bigger than a bread box. We couldn’t begin to find enough wrapping paper for the thing.

So, close your eyes. Don’t peek. Ready? Yes, it IS the Liberty Bowl!

Another year, another

Liberty Bowl debate. This time, inspired by the Big East news.

The stadium tenants have given the city a list of needed improvements.

It’s hard to quibble with any of it.

The place needs an actual jumbotron. It needs a new press box and new turf. It would be nice if the elevators actually worked. The luxury suites should be totally redone.

All true. All absolutely necessary. But why exactly should the city be paying for it?

Let me confess, right up front, that I was one of those in favor of an on- campus stadium. I thought — and still think — that the Liberty Bowl is too big for the university. I thought — and still think — that it would be great to bring throngs of happy people back to the campus for games.

But as much as any of that, I wanted the city out of the football stadium business. It’s bad for the city, which doesn’t have the cash. And it’s bad for the university, which has to rely on the city to operate its stadium.

Why would anyone think the city could operate a stadium? Have you been paying attention the last few years?

There’s a reason the governor got stuck in the elevator. And it has less to do with the elevator than the fact that nobody’s really responsible for whether the elevator — or anything else over there — works.

The city operates the Liberty Bowl but doesn’t really use it. The University of Memphis uses it but doesn’t really have control. The Southern Heritage Classic and the Liberty Bowl game each use the place for one game a year. As long as the elevators work those days, they’re cool.

Small wonder the place is a mess. Small wonder they’ve had a miniature jumbotron for so long.

So now the tenants are back at City Hall, like unhappy renters demanding that the landlord fix up their place. But the landlord doesn’t have the same incentives as the occupants. He just wants to keep the costs low.

“It costs a lot of money to operate a stadium the way it should be run,” said city council member Jim Strickland. “We don’t have that kind of money.”

Mind you, Strickland is a season-ticket holder at Memphis. He’d love for the place to be redone. But he also understands this cold, hard truth: “The city doesn’t have the money to operate the Liberty Bowl as a firstclass facility.” Bingo. Strickland proposes that all three tenants levy a $2 per ticket surcharge and throw that in the capital improvement pot. The proposal makes real sense. If someone has to pay for upgrades, why shouldn’t it be the people who use the stadium?

But Strickland’s plan wouldn’t correct the current messed-up incentive structure, The way to do that would be to give the stadium to the university. And before you dismiss the idea as kooky, look around this town.

What works in the city? What’s really, really great?

The zoo is fantastic. The Greenline is fabulous. What else? The Botanic Gardens? Shelby Farms?

None of those places are run by the city. As opposed to say, the alleged Fairgrounds development, which is.

Isn’t there a lesson in all this? The same lesson that’s now been applied to Overton Park?

If you want something done right, take it out of public hands. Not because the city is necessarily incompetent. Because the people who will do something the best are the people who care about it the most.

So give the Liberty Bowl to the University of Memphis. Nobody cares more. To sweeten the pot, pledge to continue to fund the operations budget at the current level into the future.

The university may resist, of course. Why buy the cow when you’ve been getting the milk for free, and all that?

Answer: Because the milk tastes sour. Because as long as the city is in charge of the Liberty Bowl, it is never going to be what it should or could be. Let the Tigers go wild with the place. Let the new athletic director sell all the signage and naming rights. And then, if the elevators break, we’ll know exactly whom to blame.

Except they won’t break, of course. Just like they don’t break in Oxford or Knoxville or Tuscaloosa. Ole Miss, Tennessee and Alabama all have complete control over their stadiums. They seem to do OK.

So enjoy the new stadium, Memphis. It’s got some age on it, but the bones are good.

Paint it blue if that’s what you please. After all, it’s yours. To reach Geoff Calkins, call (901) 529-2364 or e-mail calkins@commercialappeal.com. Visit his blog at geoffcalkinsblog.com .