Editing Sunsphere (section)

==Redevelopment==
In March 1991, officials from the [[Pensacola Tornados]] of the [[Continental Basketball Association]] were looking at Knoxville for possible location and said of the Sunsphere as potential office space, "What better place for basketball offices than a giant gold basketball in the sky."<ref>{{cite news |title=CBA team executives to pay visit |first=Jimmy |last=Hyams |newspaper=Knoxville News Sentinel |date=March 17, 1991}}</ref>

In March 1994 the World's Fair Park Development Committee sought to reopen the Sunsphere as a restaurant (similar to [[Seattle]]'s [[Space Needle]], which features a restaurant at the top): CEB Enterprises would have opened a casual dining restaurant called World's Fare Restaurant; Cierra Restaurant Group would have opened a fine dining restaurant. Both proposals failed.<ref name="April 1, 1994">{{cite news |title=Restaurant groups envision Sunsphere for 'high dining' |first=Jacquelyn B. |last=Dean |newspaper=Knoxville News Sentinel |date=April 1, 1994}}</ref>
[[File:Sunsphere night.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|left|The Sunsphere at night, with the Convention Center visible in the foreground]]

The Sunsphere was proposed to be included as part of the new [[Knoxville Convention Center]]. While not physically incorporated into the final design, the Convention Center was designed with an open curve along its north edge to allow access to the Sunsphere. During construction of the Convention Center, the observation deck{{snd}}which the city had briefly reopened, still sporting the original World's Fair-era displays and explanations of the panorama{{snd}}was closed while the tower was commandeered by the Knoxville Public Building Authority as offices for, quite literally, overseeing construction of the Convention Center.<ref name="January 21, 1999">{{cite news |title=Future of Sunsphere is up in air; Empty now, it may become function of convention center |first=Jim |last=Balloch |newspaper=Knoxville News Sentinel |date=January 21, 1999}}</ref>