Does Nashville want a new Titans Stadium?

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - The Tennessee Titans are hopeful they are closing in on a deal for a new stadium that President and CEO Burke Nihill suggested Friday would get Nashville a Super Bowl.

Nihill has said the cost of a new enclosed stadium would be between $1.9-$2.2 billion.

$500 million has been pledged by the state through revenue bonds, and the Titans ownership is committing $700 million.

Ten years ago, Nihill said, the price would be half that because of inflation.

“This is a genuine opportunity to take this city from a certain position, put it in another position to do bigger and better things,” Nihill said at a Friday roundtable hosted by the Nashville Business Journal.

The Titans estimate the price tag to maintain Nissan Stadium through 2039 would cost taxpayers $1.8 billion.

“It’s clear that this is an opportunity that we all should be running towards,” Nihill said.

Marshall Crawford, President & CEO of the Housing Fund, joined the roundtable Friday. His concern is that most Nashvillians will not benefit from a new stadium or significant events. Instead, he wants to see a direct revenue stream from the money and tax dollars raised by the stadium to go to things like housing and education.

“Where are the individuals who will work for the stadium? Where do they live? Those individuals can not afford to live in this city,” Crawford.

With Stream Realty Partners, Rob Lowe said all of Nashville benefits from tax dollars when the city invests heavily in the downtown core.

“It’s possible it makes economic sense; it’s possible the Super Bowl makes economic sense. It’s possible it doesn’t, and it’s just something we want, or it’s something we don’t want for our city. I think that is a completely valid set of things that policymakers need to be talking about,” policy expert with the Sycamore Insititute, Mandy Pellegrin, said.

Pellegrin claimed Friday that researchers and economists are in near agreement that public subsidies for stadiums rarely pay for themselves through the new economic activity they generate.

Nihill says with a new enclosed stadium; he projects having 15 ticketed events at the stadium during the winter. It could even put the city in consideration for mega sports events, like the Final Four, College Football Playoff, and Wrestlemania.

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