by Dennis Freeland
ast week, just a few days after former Pharaohs owner Kevin Hunter
was arrested on drug charges, the Memphis Business Journal reported
that construction on AutoZone Park had come to a complete standstill.
One day later, the Memphis RiverKings announced they were moving
to DeSoto County. Finally, to end the week on the dour note with
which it began, Tiger basketball coach Tic Price admitted to the
CA’s Zack McMillin that point guard Detric Golden would not be
eligible when practice opens in October.
There isn’t much new light to shed on the Hunter situation (beyond what we reported last week in City Reporter). The former Arena Football League owner is laying low, not returning calls. At the very least, the downtown episode which ended with Hunter being carted to The Med and then to jail should bring an end to the Memphis chapter of the Hunter saga. But, this being Memphis, you never know.
The continuing delay surrounding the construction of the Triple-A baseball stadium downtown is starting to look serious. We’ve been hearing for more than six months that the deal is almost complete, yet we are deep into prime construction time and there is no work being done at the corner of Third and Union. This much seems clear: Dean Jernigan’s definition of “guaranteed revenue” must differ from that of NationsBank.
Meanwhile, the Redbirds are probably looking at another year at Tim McCarver Stadium. And, while we know it is still early, and that school is still in session, actual attendance at Redbirds games has been disappointing. We attended a Redbirds game with Nashville last week and saw lots of positives: an attentive staff, a clean ballpark, and baseball that is noticeably better than the Southern League brand. But we also saw a nearly empty stadium (about 1,700 in attendance) that was reminiscent of recent Chicks’ efforts.
If a Triple-A baseball team in Memphis, locally owned and affiliated with the much-loved St. Louis Cardinals, is not successful, is there any hope for the future of sports in this town? We wonder.
The Memphis RiverKings have been surprisingly successful in their six seasons here. Now they’ve been lured to north Mississippi to play in a new hockey-friendly facility in DeSoto County. Just one year after signing a five-year lease to continue at the aging Mid-South Coliseum, the RiverKings say they cannot afford to stay at the Fairgrounds.
General manager Jim Riggs makes a persuasive case. He says the new arena, where the ’Kings will skate beginning in 2000, would have brought another hockey team there if the Memphis team had not relocated. Coliseum manager Beth Wade says she will find another team to compete with the RiverKings when they move. Either way, Riggs is facing a hockey war in a town with a limited hockey history, and at least this way, his team will have the better facility.
“We will have an eight-year hockey history with good fan, corporate, and media support,” Riggs says, looking ahead two years. “On top of that, we’ll be going into a brand-new facility. It should give us a leg up.”
For her part, Wade says her new tenant will market itself as Memphis’ hockey team. “They can call it what they like, but that ‘M’ now stands for Mississippi,” Wade says. “I think the fact that we will have the Memphis team along with the youth hockey contacts we have made leaves us in a good position. I am very comfortable with our position.”
Riggs says his staff should be able to work with Wade for the duration of the RiverKings’ stay at the Coliseum. He points out that cooperation is in the best interest of both parties since the arena gets all the parking and concessions revenue.
Wade seems a little less optimistic about the continued good will between the two entities. “The lame-duck status will make it difficult,” she says. On Tuesday, Wade said she had not been officially notified of the RiverKings’ intention to break their lease. Without that notification, she says she cannot negotiate with other teams. She does admit to having an interest in the East Coast Hockey League, where most teams are affiliated with NHL teams. Teams in the CHL do not have affiliation with the NHL. The difference could be big for the Coliseum, as it might allow the arena to apply to the state for a sales-tax rebate. That money in turn could be used to make the facility more hockey-friendly.
Meanwhile, on a completely different front, news of Golden’s ineligibility is discouraging. Several sources at the University of Memphis suggest that Golden’s academic problems – which had previously come up as conjecture in both radio talk and sports columns – might be symptomatic of a deeper problem at the school. All agree that Price and his staff do a good job of making sure their players go to class and study hall, but academic problems often start with recruiting. If the school recruits players who cannot reasonably be expected to succeed academically at a four-year university, both the school and the student will ultimately suffer.
The athletic administration at the University of Memphis was not
around back in the early Eighties when the academic shortcomings
of the Tiger basketball team became national news. Here’s hoping
that they read their history books quickly and don’t repeat the
mistakes of their predecessors. 