Tennessee is set to "earn no less" than $4M for its game against Virginia Tech on Saturday in the Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, according to a front-page piece by Grant Ramey of the Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL. UT earned a guaranteed payment of $4M for "selling out its allotment of 40,000 tickets for the game" at Bristol Motor Speedway. If the event is a "'grandstand sellout' both teams will earn an additional $300,000." BMS GM & Exec VP Jerry Caldwell "described 153,000 tickets sold --Bristol's capacity is 160,000 -- as a 'fair estimate.'" Caldwell said, "It will be a little bit more than that." Ramey notes the bonus for each school for 125,000 tickets sold "was $100,000, while 132,500 sold would've meant $200,000." Both teams "received 40,000 tickets," which UT "quickly sold out." Caldwell on Thursday said that UT was "given more tickets after the original allocation, but didn't give a specific number." Ramey notes each school was "given 1,000 complimentary grandstand tickets, including seats for each team’s marching band, 100 reserved parking spaces and 750 parking passes to be sold" with proceeds going to BMS (Knoxville NEWS SENTINEL, 9/7).
OPEN ALL WEEK: In Tennessee, David McGee in a front-page piece notes the BMS Speedway World gift shop "has been transformed, with racks and tables filled with gridiron gear replacing souvenirs of NASCAR drivers." BMS Merchandise Manager Greg Cole said, "The collegiate fans have been impressed; they didn't expect us to have this type of merchandise. We did our research, going to bowl games and other games just to get an idea of what college fans would want." McGee notes fans can "select from replica helmets and footballs, row upon row of caps, T-shirts, jerseys, jackets, cups, signs and nearly anything else that the game logo could be affixed to." There is also a "substantial selection of wearable merchandise for each school." Cole: "We went with the national championship game or Super Bowl level of items. We worked with the Nike distributor, which both schools are Nike. We had to pre-order that last December because it was the 2016 sideline line." McGee notes the store will "remain open all week, Friday night after the Kenny Chesney concert, and all day Saturday until kickoff." BMS also will "deploy 45 souvenir booths and trailers, including 32 inside the gates and 13 scattered across the property" (BRISTOL HERALD COURIER, 9/7).
PRIORITY LIST: Richmond Int'l Raceway President Dennis Bickmeier recently said that a "large-scale football game, or maybe a soccer game, at RIR hasn't been more than a thought and won't happen soon." In Richmond, Tim Pearrell reports Bickmeier and ISC officials are "in the midst of a master planning process to modernize the facility." They are "'wide open' to the possibility of being a multipurpose venue for sporting and other events, such as large festival-style concerts, down the road." However, RIR "faces obstacles to putting on a college football game that would be worthwhile financially." RIR "gets the coveted first weekend after Labor Day" with its second race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season. BMS "set aside almost three weeks after its Aug. 21 race" to convert the track into a football field. A three-week transformation time frame "would push the earliest football game at RIR into late September/early October" and in the middle of conference schedules (RICHMOND TIMES-DISPATCH, 9/7).
