The roof of a Toyota dealership in Knoxville, Tenn., became the temporary home of a local sports radio host last week.
At least he hoped it would be just temporary.
Tyler Ivens of station WNML promised to stay atop the store overlooking Interstate 40 until the University of Tennessee football team got its next win.
The Volunteers, just 1-4 on the season when Ivens started his test of endurance, were touchdown underdogs against Mississippi State on Saturday, Oct. 12. This week’s opponent is No. 1 Alabama.
Ivens has two tailgating tents set up on the roof of Toyota Knoxville, one to sleep under and the other to remotely co-host his daily morning show.
The dealership also drove a new Toyota 4Runner TRD up to the roof as extra shelter in case of bad weather or when noise from the adjacent highway gets too loud for his show.
Other local businesses have brought him food, a hammock and a cornhole set.
After Tennessee got blown out Oct. 5 by Georgia, and his co-host predicted that the team would lose every game this month, Ivens said he’d climb a building in town and stay until the next victory.
Toyota Knoxville’s general manager, Jason Carson, called in to the station to offer the store as a safe, high-visibility space for Ivens to make camp, The Athletic reported.
“I mean, it’s not the Ritz-Carlton,” Ivens said.
The dealership was enjoying the publicity that came with its new resident last week, posting daily updates on its Facebook page. “He’s going to be there quite a while,” one commenter wrote.