January 6, 2001
ADELPHIA COLISEUM CLEANUP: Workers at Nashville's Adelphia Coliseum spent Thursday and yesterday scrambling to repair the damage from an estimated 30, 000 to 40,000 gallons of water that spilled from a burst pipe. Officials said the cleanup should be complete before tomorrow's playoff game between the Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens.
A pipe-fitting in the 2-year-old, $292 million stadium apparently gave way early Thursday after consecutive nights of temperatures near single digits. The leak was discovered by a security guard.
The biggest job yesterday was replacing drywall and ceiling tiles ruined by the cascade of water. The playing surface wasn't affected by the flooding.
ADELPHIA PLEASED WITH NAMING RIGHTS INVESTMENT
October 19, 2000
Copyright 2000 MediaVentures
Adelphia Communications officials say they are pleased with their $30 million deal to name the TitansÕ new stadium in Nashville. The company, which plans to expand
from 53 to 155 markets in the next two years, says it bought the rights to boost name recognition. The teamÕs recent appearance on Monday Night Football did nothing but
enhance that purchase. The teamÕs presence in the Super Bowl this year also gave it some extra exposure, although the game was not held in Nashville.
Officials say potential customers and employees recognize the Adelphia name and see the company as a major player. Adelphia provides telephone and Internet
services.
May 16, 1997
Copyright Nashville Banner 1997. All rights reserved.
OILERS NOW SEEK WAYS TO IRON OUT THE DETAILS
A lot of details and a short time to address them leave the Houston Oilers scrambling less than three months before the NFL
preseason begins.
The arduous process of leaving Houston a year early for Tennessee and then finally working out a lease to play home games at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis are just the beginning.
In the next few weeks, the Oilers will be finalizing and announcing several aspects of their operation in Tennessee.
``Naturally, we'll get everything done,'' Oilers Executive Vice President Mike McClure says. ``It's just that it would have been nice to have more time to do them.''
While the Oilers should have a resolution to the lease in Houston and a new deal with the sports authority in Memphis in time to report to the NFL owners next week in San Diego, behind-the-scenes deals are already in process.
Here are a few items on the Oilers' agenda:
* A mailer to permanent seat license purchasers should be
mailed within the next two weeks detailing ticket sales plans for
the Liberty Bowl.
* Opening a full-time ticket sales office in Memphis by
mid-June.
* An Oilers newspaper, which will be published weekly
in-season and monthly out of season, will be announced in June.
* Hiring of a radio play-by-play announcer and color
commentator.
Greg Pogue/Banner Sports Writer
mailto: gpogue@NashvilleBanner.com
March 26, 1997
Copyright Nashville Banner 1997. All rights reserved.
CONTROVERSY BREWS OVER WHAT TO CALL OILERS AFTER MOVE
What's in a nickname? If you're Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams or Metro Councilman Ronnie Steine, apparently a lot.
Steine has taken exception to the possibility that Adams might
retain the nickname Oilers permanently once the team moves to Tennessee.
And that's not what the Volunteer State was led to believe, Steine contends.
``I was very much under the impression that they were going to change their name,'' Steine said.
On Tuesday, Steine introduced a resolution to the Metro Council that requests the Houston Oilers change their nickname once they arrive in Tennessee, which will be no later than 1998.
``While I understand and respect that it is Mr. Adams' franchise and his decision on the name,'' Steine added, ``I just wanted him to know I believe that there are a lot of people in Nashville who would like to see the name changed.''
Should the team be released from the final year of its lease with the Astrodome, the Oilers will play this season in Memphis. It would be too late for the Oilers to change their nickname for 1997. But Adams has intimated that he would like to keep the Oilers' nickname permanently.
According to sources within the Oilers' organization, Adams fears a loss of tradition and recognition of past Oilers teams and
players since the franchise began in 1960.
In recent history, only one major sports franchise that changed cities -- the NFL's Baltimore Ravens, formerly the Cleveland Browns -- did not retain their old nickname.
Greg Pogue/Banner Sports Writer
mailto: gpogue@NashvilleBanner.com
February 7, 1997
Copyright Nashville Banner 1997. All rights reserved.
GROUP WORKS TO ENHANCE `INVISIBLE' RIVER'S LURE A river runs through Nashville, but it's easy to miss, some city leaders say. A group of architects, designers and city leaders -- called the ``Connecting With The Invisible River'' committee -- is exploring
ways to make the Cumberland River more of an attraction to locals
and tourists.
The committee of volunteers, appointed by the Nashville Downtown Partnership, is studying cities -- such as San Antonio, Texas, Chicago and Cincinnati -- that have successfully exploited their rivers.
``We've neglected the river as an amenity, and the (soon-to-be-built) stadium is making us realize there's something important here,'' says landscape architect Gary Hawkins, a co-chair of the committee.
``The stadium has made people wake up to the wonderful potential of the East Bank,'' he says. The downtown stadium will be home for the transplanted Houston Oilers football team.
``We've sort of turned our back on the river and haven't capitalized on the opportunities to make it more of a public zone,'' says architect Bob Oglesby, head of the public space
management committee, which oversees the Invisible River committee.
Through improvements like greenways, trails and outdoor art, the Cumberland could become a place for recreation for locals and tourists alike.
Elizabeth Pagano/Banner Business Writer e-mail: epagano@NashvilleBanner.com
December 24, 1996
Copyright Nashville Banner 1997. All rights reserved.
TSU, OILERS HOOK UP FOR SITE?
From Banner Staff Reports
The National Football League might just be in Nashville as early as next year.
Tennessee State University could be one step closer to being the summer home of the Houston Oilers.
Although no one in the Oilers organization has made an announcement, and officials at Tennessee State won't confirm it, reports suggest that the Oilers will use the TSU campus for their training camp next season.
Camp begins in mid-July and runs until the conclusion of preseason, usually at the end of August.
TSU officials refused to comment when asked this morning if anything had been worked out with the Oilers.
In addition to TSU, other sites the Oilers had considered were East Tennessee State, Vanderbilt, Tennessee Tech and University of Tennessee-Chattanooga.
The Oilers will play in Tennessee in 1998, either at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis or at Vanderbilt Stadium. Because of various delays, the new downtown stadium won't open until 1999. Right now, plans are for the team to stay in Houston next season.
