Marshall Brock with Trustee Bill Hullander, County Commission Chairman Sabrena Smedley and Juvenile Court Clerk Gary Behler
Marshall Brock, one of the owners of the Chattanooga Lookouts, said a new stadium for the local minor league affiliate could also serve as a soccer field.
The Chattanooga Red Wolves, a new pro soccer entry in Chattanooga, recently announced that it will build its own stadium.
Mr. Brock told members of the Pachyderm Club that no talks have yet taken place between the Lookouts and the Red Wolves and a joint stadium.
He said a new stadium built by the ownership group at Fort Wayne, Ind., is hosting 700 events a year. In contrast, he said AT&T Field is dark for much of the year.
Mr. Brock said the owners tried to hold concerts there - one country and another rap - but he said the stadium does not work well for concerts.
He said the new owners have spent $1 million upgrading AT&T Park, including remodeling suites, a larger digital board and improved concessions and merchandise areas. He said, "But it hard's to tell where we spent the million."
The speaker said a new stadium could help revitalize an area, such as the Wheland Foundry site, and also bring new tax revenues. He said he often returns to town going by dilapidated metal buildings at Wheland/U.S. Pipe and said a new stadium would be a much more impressive entryway to the city.
He said it would also allow the Rivercity Company to put to a better use the club's current Hawk Hill site.
Mr. Brock said the ownership group includes 15 local investors, including some from the Lamp Post Group. He said one is John Woods, former Chattanoogan who now lives in Atlanta.