The Memphis and Shelby County Sports Authority
yesterday approved a deal for the NFL Oilers to play the
next two football seasons at the Liberty Bowl Memorial
Stadium -- at no cost to the authority, according to David
Williams of the Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL. Under the
agreement, to be put in legal form and finalized by May 25,
the Oilers will assume terms of the lease originated in '91
with Memphis's NFL expansion drive. The Oilers will pay
rent of $1 per ticket sold while receiving the game-day
revenues, including ticket sales, skybox leases, parking and
concessions. The team will also make weekly charity
donations of $25-50,000, depending on attendance. Authority
Chair Avron Fogelman: "This is a much safer deal. It's what
the public wanted." The NFL must approve the Liberty Bowl
as a playing site, but Oilers Exec VP Mike McClure said that
he "doesn't expect any hitches." The "only other loose end
apparently is in Houston, where the Oilers are in the final
stages of negotiating an early exit from their Astrodome
lease." The team, called the Tennessee Oilers, will make
its Memphis "home" debut August 2 in an exhibition game
against the Saints (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 5/15). In
Memphis, Thomas Harding notes that Fogelman told the Oilers
that the authority could not grant the team's request for
the authority to pay for Oilers' travel from Nashville for
games each season (Memphis COMMERCIAL APPEAL, 5/15).
