Why Food City's CEO was 'fanatical' about Thompson-Boling's name in deal with Tennessee

Tennessee Athletics has seen big wins on its courts, fields and diamonds in the last few years.

Those successes and a 25-year partnership between the University of Tennessee and Food City were crucial to securing a $20 million naming rights deal.

For the next 10 years, fans will file into Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center for basketball games, concerts and more.

For Food City President and CEO Steven Smith, committing to UT was an easy choice. Here's how the regional grocery store chain sealed the deal.

This story has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

Food City has locations in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia. That covers a ton of prominent athletic programs. Why were the Vols the right choice?

Smith: First and foremost, we're a regional company for sure. But the bulk of our stores are in the state of Tennessee. We've got 152 retail outlets and about 95 of them are in the state of Tennessee. We stretch all the way from the Tri-Cities to Chattanooga and we go as far west as Cookeville.

We date back to 1997 as a partner and supporter of UT athletics and work with the Vol Network.

We became the official supermarket of UT Athletics in 2019, which took it to a little bit of a different level. And it really just made all the sense in the world because, obviously, athletics has become more and more competitive, and universities are looking for ways to leverage relationships and sponsorships to be able to make sure that they enhance the fan experience and enhance the student athlete's experience.

They've just been a great partner to do business with. So that's really the emphasis of this relationship.

I've got to ask: Are you a Vols fan?

I am a Vols fan!

I didn't go to UT, I'll confess. I grew up in Virginia, so I'm a Virginia student, not University of Virginia, but James Madison University, but I have grown to be a Vols fan doing business in Tennessee for a long time and (from) relationships with the university.

Has Food City ever had a naming rights deal of this magnitude? What does this investment say about the state of your company?

I think it says that we really believe in the university's athletics program.

When you look at the number of applications from students across the state and the Southeast, and look at the success the athletic programs had in the last two or three years, I think things are going in the right direction. And I'm just real proud that our company can step up and say we're going to be part of the future for the Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center.

I really was pretty fanatical about making sure that we respected the Thompson and Boling families. They meant so much to the university, with Dr. Boling being president of the university for 18 years, and Mr. Thompson has been a big contributor and a big supporter. So I think it's a win-win for for all in the game.

More: Tennessee Vols fans OK with renaming Thompson-Boling Arena, but leave Neyland Stadium alone

Did you get input in the design of what new signs or logos will look like?

Our marketing team worked with the university. Discussions have been going on for maybe as long as a year.

I got involved in discussions last winter and met with some folks and just expressed how we'd like to see it structured and how we'd like to do the deal. The University of Tennessee has been great to work with; they're just really top notch folks, from the chancellor to the athletic directors and coaches.

Will Food City have any special presence inside Thompson-Boling during games?

We'll have some presence on the floor.

We'll have some signage that our marketing folks are working out with them. So I don't know that I can tell you the specifics, but I do know there's a there's a lot of signage that goes along with this, as well as outside the arena.

You touched on it earlier, but what made you want Food City to be associated with the Vols brand?

The thing that we like about being part of University of Tennessee athletics is, it's not just putting your name on something, but it's doing special things with them as well.

We've done the Food City tailgater, the game where we go around and look at the tailgates and we have special judges that come in and help us. One of the qualifications is they've got to have some Food City product there to make up their tailgate, but it's neat to see fans gather with their friends, with their families, and have a great tailgate experience.

We partnered with Eastman Chemical and Coca-Cola to do the Good Sports (recycling program) to encourage people to put their plastic bottles and plastic cups into recycling bins. We've been doing that for 30 years with the university.

So it's all of those things together. It's not just the big sponsorship or stuff like that. We just like to be a good partner, and a good community relations person with the university.

OK, this is an important question. Food City's logo is red and blue. Does this deal mean you'll be changing up colors to include Tennessee Orange?

Well I think we may need an orange and white logo with this sponsorship, and we're fine with that!

I think orange and white look good with that Food City logo.

Does this investment change your overall strategy for Knoxville or Tennessee stores?

Tennessee is one of our growth markets, and we're still looking at opportunities in Knoxville, for new stores and for expanding stores.

We're growing in Middle Tennessee, that's a great growth area for us. We're growing in other states as well, but Tennessee is really our main site. And we're going to continue to evolve as a company and give our associates opportunities to grow with the company as well.

Silas Sloan is the growth and development reporter. Email silas.sloan@knoxnews.com. Twitter @silasloan. Instagram @knox.growth.

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee basketball: Why Food City wanted on Thompson-Boling Arena