by Jon Styf
A new poll of Davidson County voters shows that they opposes the deal to give the Tennessee Titans $1.26 billion toward a new $2.1 billion stadium and oppose giving a potential Major League Baseball team public subsidies for a stadium.
The poll, paid for by the Tennesseans for Student Success, interviewed 500 Davidson County voters May 2-4 on a variety of topics.
The poll – from the coalition of teachers, parents, community leaders and volunteers – found that 56.9% opposed the stadium deal, 28.3% supported it and 14.9% are unsure.
The Metro Nashville Council approved the deal in late April for a new stadium, set to open in 2027, by a 26-12 vote. The deal includes a $3.1 billion tax capture that is set to pay $1.4 billion of debt service on $760 million in sports authority revenue bonds along with paying everything from future capital expenses to maintenance to infrastructure such as parking decks around the project.
The tax capture includes a year-round 1% Davidson County hotel tax, 100% of state and local sales tax for sales at the stadium, a $3 ticket tax for stadium events and 50% of state and local taxes in a 130-acre zone drawn around the new stadium. The deal also includes the demolition of Nissan Stadium, the Titans’ home since fall of 1999.
Meanwhile, the Nashville Stars have been working to bring an Major League Baseball team to Nashville, stating they would choose a site in North Nashville near Tennessee State University and use “almost all private funding.”
A recent poll from Vanderbilt says 52% of voters polled opposed the new Titans stadium, with support highest among Republicans and lowest among Democrats, with independents falling in the middle.
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square who has worked in Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Florida and Michigan in local newsrooms over the past 20 years, working for Shaw Media, Hearst and several other companies.
I think you meant to type stupid cooper
Agreed Mikey but the problem started WAAAAYYY. before him. Phil Bredesen started turning the ships wheel and steering the Metro Titanic toward a financial ice burg in the 90’s.. Since then, each Mayor has cranked up the speed and ignored all warnings, like having the city’s credit rating downgraded by Moody’s several times. They just keep spending, spending, spending…
Seems like time to change the Davidson laws to force a vote of the people to spend money on such boondoggles. But be careful. I lived in Houston several years ago when a vote to build a new stadium for the Astros was voted on. The problems was that the fine print included funding for a second arena. The vote was favorable and the citizens blew a gasket when they learned that they had been misled.
Reminds me of the lies the Tennessee state legislators fed us when they passed the IMPROVE gas tax. And some of them are still in office!!
The principle is simple: If someone owes you $10,000, he is in your debt; if someone owes you (or even owes someone else, but you are his legal guarantor, or if not legally so then effectively so) several hundred million dollars or more, YOU are in HIS debt. If THIS stadium project goes ‘bad’, the State of Tennessee will HAVE to pay the creditors ‘off’ because the State CANNOT allow its Capital City to suffer the kinds of severe financial consequences that such a financial failure would entail. {In the first instance cited above, the debtor’s failure to pay ‘makes’ you ‘mad’; in the second instance above, the debtor’s failure to pay ‘makes’ you ‘broke’.} In my opinion, the State of Tennessee should never have participated in this boondoggle because to do so just made the project feasible. Without the State’s participation, this stadium project would never have happened in the first place, and I think that would have been best.
(THIS is what I meant by my SARCASTIC comment to the earlier article a day or so ago about this subject. Maybe I should have noted my disclaimer to it then, and to those who did not recognize my sarcasm I apologize.)
Well that’s crazy. Democrats never pass on spending tax payer dollars. Nashville is mostly Democrat now.
Nashville voters lost their power when they voted in mandatory term limits on their Metro Council Reps during the First Titans stadium deal. Now when you elect a Council member, they are instantly lame ducks. All Power shifted to the Executive Branch (mayor).
Whereas, prior to mandatory limits, you could ask your Council member to fix a pothole or vote against paying billions for c a new stadium. But now, the Council has to call the Mayor & beg for assistance. This usually leads to I’ll help you if you help me in a vote to do something that may be harmful to your District.
DO AWAY WITH MANDATORY TERM LIMITS ON Metro Council members. If they underperform, we would have the power to FIRE them. This power would give Council members the incentive they need to perform well for their Constituents.
Right now they bend over backwards to please the Mayor, not you.
sorry, y’all voted for it when you voted in super cooper