Future
As of 2012, it is considered highly unlikely that there will be an NFL franchise in the stadium or in the city. The stadium is more than adequate for the Tigers, a team which is currently playing in one of the larger stadiums in its new conference, the Big East. The AutoZone Liberty Bowl game is well-attended and averages crowds just under stadium's maximum capacity. There are a variety of factors that play into the city’s prospects, including:
- Memphis, although it is the largest city in the state, is now considered to be in the Titans’ market under the current television agreements in the NFL. Also, while Memphis is the 18th-largest city in the United States, it is only the 44th-largest television market because the surrounding metropolitan area is not much bigger than the city proper. Its per capita income is far less than is customary for a market that is usually under consideration for expansion or relocation of an existing team.
- The league itself is not in the position to be considering expansion at this time, due to there being a balanced schedule in place. In addition, the city is located within 500 miles of six teams: the Titans, St. Louis Rams, New Orleans Saints, Dallas Cowboys, Atlanta Falcons, and Indianapolis Colts.
- The city, county and state have already pumped a large amount of capital into several other structures in the city. The Pyramid was completed in 1991 and has already been replaced. FedExForum, which replaced The Pyramid, and AutoZone Park were both completed in the first five years of the 2000s, and neither structure has yet to pay off any funds spent on its construction. Each of these venues cost several times more than has ever been spent on the Liberty Bowl.
- Finally, the stadium itself is considered obsolete by current NFL standards. It does not have many luxury boxes, and it does have a large number of backless bench seats, both of which are substantial drawbacks. Restroom facilities and concession stands seem relatively antiquated compared to those of newer facilities. The facility itself generally shows the nearly five decades of use and Mid-South weather that it has endured. Perhaps the greatest hindrance is the one thing about its design that originally had made it so attractive to many. The one-deck, open bowl design precludes the construction of true "club seats", the luxury seats located between the main lower and upper decks of most modern football stadiums which are a major source of additional revenues to ownership. Due to the factors listed above, it is highly unlikely that a major upgrade could be performed on the stadium.
- On January 1, 2007, then-Mayor Willie Herenton of Memphis proposed a new stadium be built in place of the old one. Some in the University of Memphis community prefer the construction of a smaller, on-campus stadium, but such a venue would almost certainly be inadequate for the Liberty Bowl game and the idea that there would soon be built both an on-campus venue for the Memphis Tigers and a new municipal stadium to replace LBMS is considered to be a near-impossibility due to fiscal considerations. Although this proposal did not move ahead, the future of Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium is currently unclear.
Read more about this topic: Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“The more we shelter children from every disappointment, the more devastating future disappointments will be.”
—Fred G. Gosman (20th century)
“Where have those flowers and butterflies all gone
That science may have staked the future on?
He seems to say the reason why so much
Should come to nothing must be fairly faced.....”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“One merit in Carlyle, let the subject be what it may, is the freedom of prospect he allows, the entire absence of cant and dogma. He removes many cartloads of rubbish, and leaves open a broad highway. His writings are all unfenced on the side of the future and the possible. Though he does but inadvertently direct our eyes to the open heavens, nevertheless he lets us wander broadly underneath, and shows them to us reflected in innumerable pools and lakes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)