Chattanooga City Meeting Summary: June 11, 2026 - Stadium Financial & Progress Reports
Chattanooga City Meeting Summary – June 11, 2026
The meeting of the Chattanooga sports authority board on June 11, 2026 focused on updates for the new stadium. The board received a financial progress report through May 31, 2026, a construction progress report from public works, and ratified an amendment to the brownfield voluntary agreement. No public comments were made.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes: The board unanimously approved the minutes from the April 9, 2026 meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- No members of the public spoke.
Discussion Items
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Financial Progress Report (May 31, 2026) – Presented by Josh Paction (filling in for the finance director). Key points:
- Balance sheet stable; construction costs nearing $100 million.
- Sources: TIF increment of $1.3 million over two years; interest on bond proceeds $3.8 million; first rent payment of $0.5 million received (another $0.5 million expected later in 2026); first sales tax check of $96 for March; preliminary April sales tax estimated at $130,000–$150,000; capitalized interest (borrowed) fully set aside but not fully drawn.
- Uses: bond interest payments and administrative costs. A debt payment of $2.2 million was made on June 1, 2026, not reflected in the presented report.
- Discussion: Board members questioned discrepancies between the financial report ($91 million total) and the public works cost tracking ($81 million). Staff explained that the $81 million excludes public infrastructure ($10 million) and intermediate financing ($3.3 million), but agreed to reconcile the numbers.
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June 2026 Construction Progress Report – Presented by a Public Works representative (referred to as Bill). Key points:
- All construction is complete. Punch list items were finished except three deferred items: drink rail revisions (to be done while the team is on the road), final fencing and gates (temporary fencing used for opening day), and outfield concourse benches (made from salvaged U.S. Pipe material, delayed due to fabricator priorities).
- Site preparation: 8.6 of 10 million dollars of developer escrow spent; remaining 1.4 million reserved for final disposal of stockpiled material from field lowering, subject to brownfield agreement with TDEC.
- Retaining wall between stadium and New City buildings: originally estimated at $600,000, now reduced to $382,000 due to design finalization. Additional fencing needed to secure events between stadium and buildings (cost $62,000). Staff will request authorization at the next regular meeting or a special called meeting.
- Contract tracking: stadium costs slightly above original projection but ahead of schedule. Total stadium costs (professional services and construction) not expected to exceed $86 million, triggering the cost overrun guarantee if exceeded.
- Team-supplied items: $19 million required; $15.5 million documented; remaining $3.4 million in process.
- Resolution SA 041 (from February) authorized $68,570.84 allocated to EPB; $238,915.49 remains for closeout.
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Brownfield Voluntary Agreement Amendment – Board discussed that the chair had signed an amendment to the Brownfield Voluntary Agreement with TDEC, required by June 1, 2026, to reflect completion of work on the stadium property. The amendment was necessary because the original agreement involved phased work by multiple parties. The board moved to ratify the chair's action.
Key Outcomes
- Brownfield Amendment Ratified: The board unanimously approved a motion to ratify the chair's signing of the first amendment to the Brownfield Voluntary Agreement with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
- Future Authorization Anticipated: Staff will return to the board to request approval for $62,000 in fencing costs related to the retaining wall between the stadium and New City buildings.
- Reconciliation of Financial Reports: Staff will provide a detailed explanation of the discrepancy between the financial report's $91 million total project cost and the public works report's $81 million stadium cost exclude infrastructure and interim financing.
Meeting Transcript
Morning. How's everybody doing? Morning. Great. Um, we'll move on to the approval of minutes for the April 9th, two thousand twenty-six meeting. All in favor? Any opposed. All right. Item number three, public comments. Is there anyone that would like to say anything? Okay. Move on to four. Uh presentation of financial progress report for May thirty first, two thousand twenty-six by finance. Good morning, everybody. Uh my name is Josh Paction. I'm filling in for Mr. Boylan today. He's and his wife welcomed their second baby girl. So he's at home enjoying some. Nice family time. Uh so today we've got the financial report through May. Um balance sheet has basically stayed the same. Mostly you got construction costs closing in on a hundred million. Um for our sources and uses, we've kind of switched been kind of the ever evolving uh financial report kind of move some things around right now. So we're showing um the full TIFF increment that we've received for the last two years, that one point three million. That's the uh parcels we've uh currently triggered. Um the interest is the interest on your proceeds, uh, three point eight million. Uh we got the team, we got the first rent check uh a couple weeks ago. Um so uh half a million dollars for the rent. We're expecting another half million later this year. Um sales tax, we got our first sales tax check in a whopping ninety-six dollars, but but no, that was for March. So, you know, uh stadium was still being constructed. I guess they were holding some events. Um we do have some preliminary numbers for the April sales tax. Uh, we're expecting roughly a hundred and thirty to a hundred and fifty thousand in sales tax for April. Um capitalized interest, that's you know, the money we set aside at the beginning to pay for the interest, um the interest payments while the stadium was being constructed. That's the full amount. We have not drawn that total, but that's that's what we have in the banks. So that's your total sources uh for our uses. You just got some interest payments that we're making on the bonds and some admin costs. Um also to note we you know, we did make another debt payment right after uh this report was um put together on 6.1 for 2.2 million. Um so any questions. That's the 2.2 is not reflected in these numbers, so but we just wanted to make a note of it. The projected sales tax for April is that in line with projections or uh it's I think it's probably a little bit more than what we were projecting. I mean it was opening week. Um yeah, great. Large crowds, so uh although it was only like I think a home stand and a half, so it wasn't even two full home stands in April. Um so yeah, but I think if it was more than what we were what we project. Okay, so this is really uh thank you guys for this revised presentation about it. The um increment this is since inception.
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