There's a lot of energy and optimism surrounding Nashville's inaugural SportsFest, but will it score with fans?
by Terry McCormick
Anyone who has ever attended a car show or a home and garden expo knows the event's biggest selling point is that it brings enthusiasts, vendors and experts together under one big roof.
On Saturday, local sports talk radio station 104.5 The Zone will attempt to take that concept and apply it to the many sports that permeate Nashville and the Middle Tennessee area. Labeled as the inaugural SportsFest, this event — the brainchild of the show's host George Plaster — will run from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Nashville Convention Center. Admission is $5.
Plaster initiated the concept and with help from the station and others around town is making the idea a reality. His hope is that it can become an annual event.
"It kind of grew out of a couple of things," Plaster said. "The Chicago Cubs have done something like this for years. And then a while back, we did a remote at one of those hunting and fishing expos, and that sort of put all the bows together. I said, 'We need to do this.' "
Plaster thinks a SportsFest is good for the city. He thinks Saturday is a perfect date because downtown needs the foot traffic, especially with the Predators out on the Olympic break.
Speaking of the Predators, they will have a booth and an interactive slap shot contest for visitors to partake in. In fact, booths will be set up for the Tennessee Titans, Nashville Sounds, the Superspeedway and area colleges, including Vanderbilt, Belmont and Middle Tennessee State. Sponsors, including the main one — Ferguson Bath Kitchen and Lighting Gallery — also will have booths.
In those booths are players, celebrities and various games for "sports kids" of all ages. And there will be plenty for sale, so it will be interesting to see if the success of this first event is contingent on the number of $5 admissions sold or the untold numbers tied to sales of products and collectibles.
In addition to sea of booths spread out across the convention center floor, The Zone is hosting a guest speakers' series throughout the day. One of the highlights is the first reunion of the three primary participants in the Music City Miracle, the lateral play that propelled the Titans past the Buffalo Bills and eventually to the franchise's only Super Bowl appearance to date — 10 years ago.
Lorenzo Neal, who caught the kickoff, will be one of the speakers, along with Frank Wycheck, who took Neal's handoff, and Kevin Dyson, who caught Wycheck's lateral and scooted 75 yards down the sideline for the touchdown that beat the Bills.
"It's pretty cool," said Wycheck, who is now part of The Zone's morning show, the WakeUp Zone. "As much as everything has been kind of talked about ... we have never gotten together ... I'm sure we've got questions for one another because I don't think we've ever spent much time discussing it."
Other speakers include Blue Raiders coach Rick Stockstill, a Vanderbilt/Kentucky panel hosted by Plaster (with Drew Maddux and Matt Freije on board), and Alabama's influential radio personality Paul Finebaum.
Despite his obvious allegiances to the Titans, Wycheck said he is looking forward to seeing the whole of the Nashville sports scene represented under one roof.
"I think it's a great concept. It's very interactive, what's going on the with the SportsFest and the speaker series," he said. "You see a lot of auto shows and boat shows, but to have that concept with sports — with as many sports as there are in this area — it's a great opportunity for fans to interact."
The long-range plan is to expand the event over the coming years, according to organizers, to reach the attendance levels seen for similar events in Chicago, Atlanta and New York.
"This is going to be a yearly event, and we are going to considerably grow this event next year," Plaster promised.
Rick Regen, who was involved in the "Yes Nashville" campaign that brought the Titans to town and has worked with the Nashville Sports Council and in organizing other events, can see the possibilities of expansion as well.
"It's not so much an event where we're selling products and stuff, but it's for people who enjoy sports to come an interact with other people have some interactive games and have some fun," Regen said. "I can easily see next year it being a day-and-a-half or two days. I can see us doubling the size of the event."
For now, Saturday's event is something Plaster and The Zone are eager to see hatch from concept to reality and as something that can benefit Nashville.
"A good sports city should have one of these types of events, and if we can make it happen, so much the better," Plaster said.
For more on the event, visit www.1045thezone.com.
Email editor@nashvillescene.com.
Comments (0)