The Tennessee Titans want a new stadium. Metro Government is conducting a study to find out if that’s a good deal.

The Tennessee Titans want a new home. Nissan Stadium was built in 1997, and the current lease means the city could be required to keep the building in first class condition until 2039. Titans’ officials say that would cost the city more than helping them build a new one. But now, the city wants to get its own estimate.

Burke Nihill, the president and CEO of the Titans, says Nissan Stadium is falling apart.

For instance, $12 million was just spent repairing concrete and expansion joints. Those millions come out of Nashville’s general fund. That’s money that could be spent toward other projects in the city such as infrastructure, education or affordable housing.

And Nihill says those costs are expected to keep going.

“We have estimates from Turner Construction and AECOM Hunt that, between now and 2039, there could be as much as $1.8 billion of tax payer money that needs to be invested in the building to maintain the lease standards,” Nihill says.

But Metrocouncilman Bob Mendes isn’t buying it.

“The claim that there’s 1.8 billion dollars’ worth of work that needs to be done on the stadium is ludicrous.”

Mendes chairs the committee responsible for reviewing the stadium proposal and related infrastructure projects.

So, to double check those numbers, the city is paying an upward of $200,000 to conduct a study to find out just how much maintenance would cost over the next 17 years. That study is expected to be done by early November.

Whatever number comes back, J.C. Bradbury, an expert on stadium economics at Kennesaw State University, believes it won’t be close to the Titans’ figure.

“Stadiums are often renovated but never for anything close to $1.8 billion. And you can even understand that right now when you look at a brand-new stadium the Buffalo Bills are building for $1.5 billion,” Bradbury said.

In other words, Bradbury is saying it’s ludicrous that it would cost more to renovate the stadium than to build a new one, but that’s exactly what the Titans are saying.

While the details of the new deal aren’t final, the city and state are expected to give the Titans $1.2 billion to build a new stadium and get off the hook for maintenance.

If that deal is sealed, it’ll break the record for the most public funding to go toward a stadium, which is currently the Buffalo Bills at $850 million.