The NFL Oilers are experiencing "slow" ticket sales in
Memphis, where they will play their first two seasons before
moving to Nashville, according to John McClain of the
HOUSTON CHRONICLE. The team has sold "only" 5,000 season
tickets, and "more than one-third of the 40 luxury suites in
the Liberty Bowl remain unsold." Oilers Owner Bud Adams: "I
think things will pick up as we go along. ... We were two
weeks late setting up the phones [in Memphis], and it didn't
go well, but we're up and running." McClain wrote that the
ticket problems "are not surprising," since neither "long-
time" team ticket manager Mike Mullis, nor his assistant,
Ralph Stolarski, are with the organization anymore. Adams
has hired Pepper Rodgers as his VP/Memphis Ops, and Rodgers
"is a colorful character and a popular figure in Memphis,
where he is under pressure to drum up support and help Adams
sell tickets and suites" (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/20).
PERCEPTION IS REALITY? McClain added that there is the
"perception, which Rodgers denies, that Memphis will not
support the Oilers the way the team hopes" because it "hates
Nashville and the NFL" and, "like Houston, doesn't want to
support a lame-duck team that will be gone after two
seasons." McClain added the team "might have been able to
avoid the Memphis problem ... if they had been more patient
with Vanderbilt in working out a deal to play there for two
years." Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville seats 42,000, and
could have been expanded to hold 52,000. However, it has no
luxury suites (HOUSTON CHRONICLE, 7/20).
