No green lights on SunTrust building

"Project Greenlight" looks like a no-go for Friday night.

Bulls fans on thebullspen.com message boards, remembering how Rutgers got the Empire State Building illuminated in red for an ESPN home football game last fall, brought up the possibility of illuminating one of the tallest buildings in Tampa's skyline for Friday's USF-West Virginia game, due for national broadcast on ESPN2. The movement got some legs, with USF officials, the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and Tampa Bay Convention and Visitors Bureau getting involved, but it appears the short timeframe isn't conducive to a green glow downtime.

"It's not going to happen," said Vanessa Roa, assistant to the property manager for the SunTrust Financial Centre, the 36-story building in downtown Tampa. "It's just a little bit of late notice."

Roa said she wasn't contacted until Friday about the possibility of lighting up the building, and such a request typically takes about four weeks to get the proper colored gels to put over external lights on the building. The cost of such a makeover is about $4,000, she said, though the logistical problems of getting the lights in time for Friday's game kept discussions from getting to the point of payment.

-- Demand for USF-West Virginia tickets continues to be high. An eBay auction for three club seats on the 45-yard line went for $635, and a pair of front-row seats were bidding at $215 on Tuesday morning.

Comments

[Lenny Lightbulb]

That sucks. It seems retarded. It takes 4 weeks to change a couple lightbulbs?

"How may Tampa govt. officials and tourism folks does it take to change a lightbulb?"

Sad they couldn't do anything meaningful in Tampa to celebrate this game. Greg, how about a small piece tomorrow about whatever cities/areas have done for ESPN broadcasts? Maybe ratchet up some public pressure a bit?

[Cee's Uncle Locked Up At the State Hospital]

See. I blame the CEO of Suntrust to not properly recruit the proper talent that could quickly turn the building green. Any other city can turn buildings what ever color they want but as long as Suntrust has the same CEO, this building will never be green enough in time. Morgantown has no problem turning their couches yellow.

[Alex]

Who paid for the Bucs and the Lightning to have their respective colors displayed?

[T]

C'mon Dan Mahurin - can't you do something to make this happen? It would be so cool to see the skyline of Tampa on ESPN showing the beautiful "Sun Trust" building lit up with green lights or green and gold lights. Please?

[Director of Marketing and Getting Down]

Seriously, isn't 4 grand worth it to have the name SUNTRUST show up on a National Broadcast reaching potentially millions of people.

But I guess old lady Roa ain't anybody's Vice President of Getting Things Done. SUNTRUST should get it done themselves just for the cheapo mention a few times during the game. Not to mention the fact it will play in the local papers for three days.

[Stephen]

You do realize that Suntrust does not own that building, right? They may be the major tenant in the building and pay for the naming rights, but is owned by a real estate company out of Chigago. It is okay, I will do the research since clearly NO ONE on this board can do that.

[Jeff]

During the Rutgers/Louisville, the lighting of the Empire State Building was one of the memorable moments in a very exciting game. Come on Suntrust at least coordinate spelling out U.S.F with office lights. After all, it is free publicity and a great community identifier

[G-man]

What about the Sunshine Skyway? The cables are already gold (kind of) and I know they can light up every other one green -- they did green and red at Christmas one year (must have been a good budget year).

Networks almost always show a shot of the bridge at some point during a broadcast game.

Wouldn't green and gold be awesome?

[Reality]

As long as th band doesnt act as gay as Rutgers band, then all is well.

[Velcro]

"I didn't have enough notice!"

Um... you live in tampa... that game has been a marked game since the schedule was released last winter. That isn't an excuse. Pay attention.

[Dave]

Good idea G-man. That would be pretty sweet, as well as less fradulent. The Empire State Building is just a little more impressive than the SunTrust, anyways. But the Skyway is probably the main human-built attraction in the area, and can be lit up pretty easily.

[Stephen's Conscience]

Key words being "major tenant".

Turns out when you are the major anything you should have some influence. They may not own the building, but they should have enough power to make it green for one night a year.

[Will Bill]

Strap a necklace of green Christmas lights on a chimp at Busch Gardens. That'd be something.

[Steve Stacy]

I say we add some cupric elements to our couches and set them ablaze.

A green flame is beautiful.
Hillbillies are not.
Our defense shall make us win.

[Ari]

How about changing the lights on the Mons Venus sign to greeng and gold..

What could be more Tampa than a stip club with some symbolic lights representing major public event.

I'm sure Joe Redner would go for it.

Let me know.

Ari

[BULLfreak]

I didn't hear about it until Friday heck we have been calling that place and everyone who could help since the off week.

Just BS

[Constance Rohde]

YAY!! The SunTrust building will be glowing GREEN and GOLD on Friday night ...
here is the link to the article:

http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2007/09/24/daily40.html