Tennessee's arena gets name change as partnership with Food City grows
Tennessee athletics director Danny White has plans to give Thompson-Boling Arena a facelift inside and outside. First it’s getting a new name.
White announced on Wednesday that Thompson-Boling Arena will be called Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center as the University through the Vol Network has reached a 10 year agreement paying the athletic department in excess over $20 million dollars.
“We are thrilled to partner with Food City on this transformative naming rights opportunity, the first of its kind for Tennessee Athletics,” said White. “Food City is a neighborhood partner who knows our state and region extremely well and has been a key partner for Tennessee Athletics for nearly 30 years. Food City is a valued member of our community and bleeds orange, and we look forward to taking this partnership to another level. I want to thank the Smith family, as well as the Food City team for this long-term partnership.”
Money from the partnership will go towards enhancing and upgrading the arena, which opened in 1987. It’s a renovation project that White believes can drastically change the student-athlete and fan experiences.
“I think the facility has great bones and can have a long shelf live for us, but it needs some work,” White told Volquest last month. “We have some work to do aesthetically with the exterior. There’s a huge opportunity with the unfinished part of the arena. I think it might be the only arena in the country where you can drive a TV truck into it which is not necessary. So that huge area on the riverside of the arena in the unfinished part behind the seats I think there’s a great opportunity to do some premium stuff there and create a better fan experience. Audio/visual like we have done in football, needs to get much better there. It’s on our radar. So there’s a lot of things we can do.
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“I’m excited about that project because I know the upside in terms of revenue and compared to football and baseball it will be way less expensive to do. Rebuilding that building would be an enormous number, but giving it a facelift, tweaking the experience for fans on the inside comparatively it will be pennies and the annual revenue will far exceed the expense to fix that building.”
Food City has been a long time supporter of Tennessee athletics. For nearly three decades the regional corporation, who has 152 stores throughout the south, has branded themselves closely to the Vols. The partnership not only brands themselves closer to Tennessee but to entire community with other key events held in the venue throughout the year.
“Food City is proud to be a long-time supporter and the official supermarket of the University of Tennessee Athletics. We’re excited to take our partnership to the next level with the naming of the Food City Center, which will serve as a hub for UT Athletics, as well as other key events within the Knoxville community,” said Steven C. Smith, Food City president and chief executive officer.
