Finley Stadium - History

History

In 1997, the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football program stopped using Chamberlain Field and started using Finley-Davenport. On Oct. 18, 1997, the Mocs opened up their new home, Finley Stadium Davenport Field, as an overflow crowd of 22,646 watched UTC defeat Tennessee State 28-7.

The 20,668-seat facility is part of the city's Southside revitalization project. A stadium project for UTC and Chattanooga had been talked about by city leaders for quite some time before it came to fruition. Chamberlain Field on the UTC campus, which opened in 1908, had the distinction of being the second-oldest on-campus stadium in the nation. Officials agreed that something needed to be done.

The $28.5 million project needed supporters to become a reality and got plenty of them. Donations from the private sector ranged anywhere from a 10 dollar bill to $1 million. In fact, nearly 40 percent, or $10.2 million of the project, came from private donations. The City of Chattanooga and Hamilton County contributed $13 million, the State of Tennessee gave $3.5 million and the University donated $2.9 million.

Ground breaking on the site that was once the Rock Tenn plant was held March 7, 1996. Seven months later, the Stadium Corporation named the facility Finley Stadium Davenport Field.

The facility, designed by Derthick, Henley & Wilkerson and built by C&I Specialty, both of Chattanooga, contains 32 luxury sky boxes and 3,465 preferred seats with chairbacks. The $350,000 scoreboard includes a giant matrix screen, and the Stadium Club can hold 250 for pregame or postgame functions. The press box can hold 60 media representatives, has three radio booths and a television broadcast booth. On either side of the pressbox is the stadium's "Wall of Champions", featuring a plaque celebrating each of the 13 NCAA Division I FCS teams to have won a championship here. Identical home and visitors locker rooms contain a separate training area and coaches locker room, as well as an extensive player locker area.

Adjacent to the stadium is the First Tennessee Pavilion. The old Ross-Meehan Foundry has been renovated into an open-air pavilion which has become a favorite for tailgaters, complete with food and beverage concessions and a children's area. The pavilion offers tailgaters a perfect atmosphere around the stadium while providing protection from the weather without being indoors.