MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The city now has a $350 million state grant for sports facility improvements like for FedExForum, Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium or any City of Memphis-owned stadium. 

“We’ve gotten the check, it’s in a bank account,” Mayor Jim Strickland said.

But, in a resolution accepting the grant presented to the city council Tuesday, it does not allocate any specific amount of money to each stadium. As of now, it’s unclear when a deal allocating the acquired $350 million from the state will be fully hashed out. 

The outgoing mayor says the big priorities now will be keeping the Grizzlies in Memphis and helping the Tigers move to a different conference.

“My goal, either my term or the next mayor’s term, is we 100% must be committed to keeping the Grizzlies for another generation. But we also want to help the university improve their facilities to get in a Power Five conference,” Strickland said.

Before leaving office, Strickland still has some big projects on the table. He told us he was set to meet with mayor-elect Paul Young on Tuesday.

Strickland said he would give Young “a complete briefing on the negotiations so far, how we got the money, where the different funding streams are and then invite him to take part with us in the next two and a half months of negotiations so there is no, nothing missing.”

He said it takes time to build a team and get acquainted with the mayor’s role.

“I expect a really smooth transition,” Strickland said. “I really like how our system is made where we have two and a half months for transition. The mayor of Nashville had like two weeks.”

Strickland said he’s optimistic all parties involved will be satisfied.