Parking Condo Tried Before in Fayetteville

South Carolina businessman Major Whisnant hopes to bring his company’s Gameday Park concept to Fayetteville, especially if additional ball games are scheduled on campus.

But one version of the company’s facilities has already been tried in Fayetteville by another businessman.

William Grisso says he lost “a fortune” on the concept a dozen years ago.

He had learned about the facilities in South Carolina and visited other campuses where parking condos were successful.

“I thought it was the best idea that ever had been,” Grisso recalls. “It cost me a fortune because it didn’t work.”

He hesitates to say why the Stadium Club, as it was dubbed, didn’t succeed and ultimately blames himself for not marketing it well enough.

Still, there were contributing factors. For one, there were just three Fayetteville games the year it opened. One of those games, against Tulsa University, was moved from 1 p.m. kickoff to 11 a.m.

Promoters agree that morning kickoffs are killers for any festivities because there’s simply no time to enjoy them.

Also, although the Stadium Club was a private club for people who purchased parking spaces there, it wasn’t the type of club that sold alcoholic beverages. Even so, it was difficult to escape that perception, and this was during the Kenny Hatfield years, from 1984 to 1989. Fans will recall that Hatfield had the same distaste for alcohol as he did for flashy offenses.

After one season and with only about 35 of the 120 spaces sold, Grisso recognized defeat. Those people who had purchased lifetime spaces got their money back and, ultimately, the Razorback Foundation ended up with the building and land. It is that location where the Foundation is located today.

Grisso says he still doesn’t know exactly why the concept didn’t work. Perhaps, he says, it was ahead of its time.