Nashville’s mayor and the Tennessee Titans are announcing they’ve made a $2.2 billion deal for a new enclosed stadium.
Mayor John Cooper says Nashville residents won’t pay out of pocket to make the deal happen.
“This new stadium proposal protects Metro taxpayers by not spending a single dollar that could be spent elsewhere on our core priorities like education and public safety,” Cooper said. “Doing nothing was not a legal option for us, and renovating the current stadium proved to be financially irresponsible. So we are proposing a new stadium paid for by the team, the state, tourists and spending around the stadium — not by your family.”
The Metro Council will have to approve the deal before it’s finalized. If the new deal gets the green light, the Titans stadium would move east, closer to the interstate. Right now, that land is parking lots for the current Nissan stadium.
The city is working to transform this area with a new neighborhood along the east bank of the Cumberland River.
More: The mayor who ran on improving neighborhoods now wants to build a new one downtown
This is the mayor’s solution to honor a legal agreement that the team have a first class stadium until 2039. The Titans estimated the cost of maintaining the current stadium would be $1.8 billion. The Venue Solutions Group’s preliminary analysis for Metro government estimated the cost between $1.75 billion and $1.95 billion.
This splashy deal is rolling out as some councilmembers and economists raise questions about the economic benefits for Nashvillians.
The mayor says renovating the stadium the city already has would be “financially irresponsible.” The full economic impact report from Venue Solutions Group will be released by Nov. 1.
Until we get the full report with a reconciliation showing how $300 Million became $1.75 Billion to $1.95 Billion, it’s hard to take this “preliminary findings” one-pager too seriously. end/
— Bob Mendes (@mendesbob) October 17, 2022
When it comes to the money for building, the state of Tennessee has already put up $500 million for a new enclosed stadium.
The mayor’s office says the rest will come from football-related sources, a 1% hotel tax in Davidson County and money collected from the stadium campus. According to a press release, cost for infrastructure and demolition of the old stadium are built into the deal.
“Ultimately, it’ll be the team’s responsibility to be sure this building maintains NFL standards [and] is worthy of the world’s largest events,” Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill says.
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