In the late 1990s, under then-Mayor Phil Bredesen, the city of Nashville signed a lease with the Tennessee Titans that offered to maintain a “first-class stadium.” Fast-forward to 2022, and as you can imagine, the Nissan Stadium building is showing considerable deterioration. With that understanding, the Metro Sports Authority requested an estimate for necessary upgrades from the Titans, and the team began looking at the costs of a renovation.
Under the current agreement, Nashville owns the stadium and leases it to the Titans. The city also agrees to keep the stadium in “first-class” condition. That term is based on what peer stadiums around the country have done. In other words, you could say we’re required to keep up with the Joneses.
And then those renovation estimates came in — and ouch! Based on the Titans’ estimates, Nashville’s potential cost for renovations would be an approximate $1.8 billion through 2038. According to the report, the city would need to spend $945 million in repairs and improvements through 2026. And from 2027 through 2039, another $894 million would be necessary just to maintain the stadium. According to Titans CEO Burke Nihill, “It’s about maintaining relevance to similar facilities, not just keeping the lights on.”
Seeing the renovation numbers, it became obvious that additional options needed to be examined. To me, logic says that if we’re going to spend this kind of money, why throw it at an old stadium? It would be more financially feasible to build a whole new stadium — one that is enclosed, so we can attract larger events like the Super Bowl, maybe NCAA Final Fours, the World Cup and more. Some estimates set the cost for a new stadium — with a dome — between $1.9 billion and $2.2 billion. And renovations to Nissan Stadium are at $1.8 billion? Incredible.
Understandably, discussions began regarding the possibility of building a new stadium, one that would have the team and not Metro paying for future maintenance and upgrades.
In a recent op-ed written for The Tennessean by Mayor John Cooper, the mayor said the city is “working on plans for a new stadium because doing nothing is not an option, and renovating the current stadium would be financially irresponsible.” He wrote that the current lease puts taxpayers “on the hook for tens of millions of dollars per year for stadium maintenance and improvements.” Of course, if we did nothing, and the Titans simply ended their lease without exercising their 10-year extension to stay through 2039, then we could find ourselves without an NFL team — which would not be good for business.
According to a May edition of the Nashville Power Poll, 70 percent of respondents say they are in support of a new stadium. If it transpires, the state has committed $500 million and passed legislation allowing an increase in the hotel-motel tax. The state will also put its share of the sales tax from in-stadium purchases toward the project. The Titans owners will throw in $700 million, leaving the city’s portion between $700 million and $1 billion.
Still, if this stadium becomes a reality, Cooper has promised us things that I believe he will stand by: that “tourists and spending around the stadium will pay for the project, not Nashville families”; that “under no circumstances will property tax or sales tax increases pay for stadium construction or future stadium maintenance or renovations”; that “the primary funding source for stadium construction will be the Titans and visitors to Nashville and the stadium campus”; that “taxpayers will be protected in the event of construction overruns.” He is asking the team to take the financial responsibility of maintaining the stadium, taking Metro off that “hook” we mentioned earlier. He, along with the Tennessee Titans, is exploring “all stadium options that make financial sense, provide benefits to our community, and keep the Titans in Tennessee for generations to come.”
I don’t know what every person in Nashville thinks about building a new stadium, but I do know that most of us enjoy having an NFL team and the reputation of being a progressive city with music and sports that knows how to take care of its people and its visitors. If we don’t make wise decisions now, we may not always have that reputation. Nothing is decided yet, but I praise the mayor and the Titans for trying to work something out that will benefit both Nashvillians and our beloved team. Because in doing so, the final result could be that both the city and the Titans score a win.
Bill Freeman
Bill Freeman is the owner of FW Publishing, the publishing company that produces the Nashville Scene, Nfocus, the Nashville Post and Home Page Media Group in Williamson County.
