Who will be in charge of the lease and development of Nashville’s fairgrounds racetrack? Mayor and Bristol Motor Speedway release more details.

Nashville’s mayor and Bristol Motor Speedway are presenting their proposal to restore the city’s fairgrounds racetrack. It includes rebuilding the grandstand, adding a multipurpose event space and renovating the racing surface.

The Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway is 118 years old, making it the second-oldest to keep operating. 

Since the 1980s, the city has allowed a maintenance backlog at the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

In a 2011 referendum, Nashville voters decided to make it harder to close the track. That puts the city on the hook to operate a racing program and maintain the facility.

The mayor’s senior advisor, Ben Eagles, spoke to the Fair Board this week about where things currently stand.

“At this board’s request, we are currently undertaking a procurement to get an independent review of the facility,” Eagles said, “to determine what is needed to continue the program of racing here, to comply with the charter, to meet basic safety and ADA compliance standards.”

So far, he says there have been two bids.

Right now, the overall price tag for the project isn’t clear, but the project design is estimated to be up to $6 million. A $17 million grant from the state of Tennessee and $17 million from the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corporation are some upfront money, while Sports Authority bonds will be backed by annual rent payments, sponsorship revenue, taxes from venue patrons and event revenue outside of the four significant event weeks.

When it comes to addressing the community, motorsports event weekends will be maxed at 10 per year, practice days will be reduced from 25 to 20, and Metro guaranteed 50% noise reduction.

Last year, Mayor John Cooper agreed for Bristol Motor Speedway to lease and manage the facility for 30 years. 

In order to bring these ideas to reality, they must be approved by the Metro Council, Fair Board and Sports Authority.

This proposal announcement is on the heels of the Metro Council starting to dig into Mayor Cooper’s pitch to build a new domed Titans stadium. Both deals pitch beautiful transformations without taxpayers footing the bill, which raises the eyebrows of many critics.