Tech President Oldham Asks Cookeville For Partnership On Stadium

Tennessee Tech President Phil Oldham asked the Cookeville City Council to consider helping with renovations to Tucker Stadium.

Oldham met with council members Tuesday during a work session to talk about stadium plans and entranceway plans for along Willow Avenue. Oldham said that the two projects are made-to-order as something substantial and worth a partnership.

“We always want to partner with the city of Cookeville and we’ve got a long-standing relationship that’s a productive relationship, a positive relationship, and we want to continue that,” Oldham said. “These two projects however have particular interest for the city. It’s where the city benefits substantially as well as the campus.”

Oldham said that $30 million Tucker Stadium upgrades would have a significant economic impact on Cookeville and the Upper Cumberland as a whole. He said that the stadium could be utilized for other events such as concerts or larger tournaments, as well as to continue being used for graduations or for high school gameplay.

Oldham said that the stadium is a “glaring issue” for the university right now. He said it was likely one of the factors in the Blue Cross Bowl’s decision to go to Chattanooga instead of Cookeville. He said that an old stadium of concrete and steel is bound to see effects from the elements. He said that it is a harder project for the campus to take on.

“We’re unable to access state funding directly to do a project like that so it has to be self-funded either through university funds, private gifts, or other funds.” “(…) I can come to you know because this stadium is going to happen, it’s going to take place. We’re going to figure out how to do this and I feel like we’re pretty close to that now.”

Mayor Ricky Shelton said that there is no doubt about the importance of Tennessee Tech not only to Cookeville and Putnam County but to the entire region. He said that he would love to continue having discussions about what the partnership will look like between the university and the city.