CHI Memorial Stadium (Finley Stadium)

East Ridge built its arena for one reason. Before CHI Memorial Stadium opened, Chattanooga football rented space at Finley.

The pitch itself tells the more interesting story. It opened with an artificial surface. Then, after the 2023 season, the club ripped it out. The club and USL Championship both wanted grass, NCAA Division I hosts wanted grass, and the players had been asking for it — so the turf came up and natural grass went down, backed by further investment in the following year that also reworked the locker rooms. Few grounds this new bother making that switch this early.

It has already carried weight beyond its own tenant. NCAA Division II football finals landed there in successive years, 2023 and 2024, a sign the venue reads as more than a club ground even this soon after opening.

Across town, Finley Stadium carries the history CHI Memorial hasn't had time to build. Twenty-three thousand packed it for an Appalachian State–Delaware FCS final in December 2007, a scoreline that still stands as its benchmark night. Off the field, Kane Brown's 2022 show outsold everything the stadium had put on before, enough that Hamilton County marked the date in his name. Lynyrd Skynyrd played there twice. It remains shared ground — UTC's Mocs and Chattanooga FC both call it home — which is precisely the arrangement East Ridge's stadium was built to avoid.