$65 Million Bond Issuance for Knoxville Downtown Stadium

Client Type: Government

We represented the City of Knoxville and Knox County and served as bond counsel to The Sports Authority of the County of Knox and the City of Knoxville, Tennessee in connection with the development, lease and financing of a new multi-use stadium for the Tennessee Smokies, a AA affiliate of the Cubs, One Knox, a USL1 soccer team and other public events.  Our representation included negotiating the lease of the stadium, a turn-key development agreement for the stadium and the financing terms for the stadium.  The financing included the issuance of $65 million of bonds in May 2023 by the Sports Authority together with other sources of funding.  The financing culminates over three years of work for our team on this project.

The $114 million multi-use stadium will seat up to 7,000 and will be the anchor for a redevelopment project adjacent to Knoxville’s Old City that was previously occupied by a closed meatpacking plant.  The stadium is adjacent to the Austin Homes site, which is a mixed-income residential development of Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation, in which our public finance team represented KCDC.

The stadium project broke ground earlier this year and is expected to be completed in time for the baseball team’s season opener in 2025.

Read more about the deal at the links below:

We represented the City of Knoxville and Knox County and served as bond counsel to The Sports Authority of the County of Knox and the City of Knoxville, Tennessee in connection with the development, lease and financing of a new multi-use stadium for the Tennessee Smokies, a AA affiliate of the Cubs, One Knox, a USL1 soccer team and other public events.  Our representation included negotiating the lease of the stadium, a turn-key development agreement for the stadium and the financing terms for the stadium.  The financing included the issuance of $65 million of bonds in May 2023 by the Sports Authority together with other sources of funding.  The financing culminates over three years of work for our team on this project.

The $114 million multi-use stadium will seat up to 7,000 and will be the anchor for a redevelopment project adjacent to Knoxville’s Old City that was previously occupied by a closed meatpacking plant.  The stadium is adjacent to the Austin Homes site, which is a mixed-income residential development of Knoxville’s Community Development Corporation, in which our public finance team represented KCDC.

The stadium project broke ground earlier this year and is expected to be completed in time for the baseball team’s season opener in 2025.

Read more about the deal at the links below: