AD: Memphis expects to lose more than $750k in 2024 revenue because of stadium renovations

Memphis is expected to lose nearly $750,000 in ticket revenue this football season because of ongoing renovations to Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium, athletic director Ed Scott told a Board of Trustees committee on Wednesday.

The Tigers (1-0) kicked off their season with a 40-0 win over North Alabama, but they did so at a stadium that was at about half capacity. That’s because the athletic department moved forward this summer on a $220 million renovation project that will take about two years to complete. The renovation started with demolition of the west side of the stadium, which left a hole that fans got to see for the first time on Saturday.

It also leaves the stadium with about 25,000 fewer seats. Memphis announced a capacity of 25,849 on Saturday.

According to data Scott presented to the committee, the department is projecting a loss of 3,518 season tickets, which equates to $764,620 in loss revenue. There is also a loss of 144 parking spots, leading to $43,200.

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Scott also said he’s hoping to see an increase in single-game tickets. The department projected $900,000 in revenue from ticket sales, according to the data, but had made only $43,141 when the presentation was put together in August. The department had sold 10,181 season tickets, according to the presentation.

“The problem with single-game tickets is it’s hard to forecast. If you look at the North Alabama game, we had just about 26,000 folks, just under 26,000. Some of that is due to our opponent, and some of that is due to how we’re playing. My expectation is we’ll see an influx of single-game tickets as we move forward, especially as the product that we put on the field is really, really good right now.”

Scott said he’s hoping to see an uptick soon, starting with the Tigers’ game on Saturday (11 a.m., ESPNU) against…


Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/ad-memphis-expects-lose-more-014149422.html

Author : The Commercial Appeal

Publish date : 2024-09-05 01:41:49

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