Blake’s Blog

That Jim Strickland is one audacious fellow.

On Tuesday, the Memphis City Council decided to spend $3.6 million for locker room improvements at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium.

But before the vote was taken, Strickland, the chairman of the council’s parks committee, had the nerve to suggest the Liberty Bowl’s tenants, particularly the University of Memphis football team, should pay a portion of the cost.

"This is a huge investment into the Liberty Bowl for, basically, items that the general public will never see," Strickland said. "If the (University of Tennessee) or Tennessee-Martin wants to build skyboxes or locker rooms, they have to build it themselves or get the state to pay for it; they don’t get the city to pay for it."

It’s true that the Liberty Bowl is a bit different from on-campus college football stadiums because the city owns the building.

But would it really be that crazy to ask tenants to pitch in for those kinds of improvements?

It seems to me like Strickland might have just been making a little bit too much sense.