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There are actually several reasons Chattanooga is bitter over losing this game.
1) It has hosted the game for the past 13 years, taking over at a time when no one else wanted the game.
2) It has lost several other sporting events that it has helped to build up, only to lose to cities with deeper pockets. The TSSAA State Wrestling Championships and Spring Fling (Spring sports championships) are examples of this. Also, they just lost a bid to bring the state football title games to Finley.
3) A new record was set for local ticket sales for the Division I Championship Game in 2009. Any time the NCAA has raised an issue, the city has responded.
4) Chattanooga is still feeling the sting of the NCAA Women's Basketball Committee, which sent UNC-Chapel Hill and Purdue-West Lafayette to the Chattanooga sub-regional, resulting in an average attendance of about 50. Teams they could have set instead? Vanderbilt, Middle Tennessee, Tennessee-Knoxville, Georgia, Auburn. Any of those would have given a bigger crowd.
We'll see what happens in three years. Chattanooga is very bitter over this, though. I'm not sure they will bid on the game, or any other NCAA event, for that matter.
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