Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed all-star panelist Clint Brewer in the studio to comment upon the taxpayer-funded Titans stadium deal.
Leahy: In the studio, our very good friend, all-star panelist Clint Brewer. Clint, all the smart people in town tell me the following.
Oh, you know that Titans deal, it’s going to happen. It’s $2.2 billion. And all these questions that you have, you’re not going to stop this deal.
Are the smart people right?
Brewer: Yes, I think they are. I think this is the question. I think it’s going to be difficult for the Metro Council to hold out indefinitely and be against the Titans deal. I think it’s a question of when they are given a version of it they can be for.
And that’s the issue. They have to be given one that they can be for. And it may not be this first draft. There may be any number of concessions down the road. I imagine what Councilman Mendes would like to do, is get this to a place where there’s more investment by someone other than the city.
That could be the Titans, that could be the state, that could be the NFL. We’re in an election cycle for Metro government.
Leahy: August of 2023 is when the mayor’s race is and the Metro Council.
Brewer: Everybody.
Leahy: Everybody’s up.
Brewer: You’ve got to be cognizant of that. It’s 2022, but we are effectively in an election year.
Leahy: Always in election years.
Brewer: I don’t know what the exact date is for petition filing to qualify for Metro Council, but it’s April, May, probably.
Leahy: March, April probably.
Brewer: It’s soon. It’s practically November now. It’s within the next six months. So whatever council does, whenever they do it, they’re going to vote on this thing sometime between now and then.
Leahy: The schedule, as delivered by the finance director, Kelly Flannery: Yesterday at this meeting, in this quarter, they’re holding meetings. The Sports Authority is scheduled to approve the term sheet on a preliminary basis. The team is going to commence design and predevelopment activities. And the council, this quarter, they want to approve …
Brewer: As in, before the end of the year?
Leahy: Yes, before the end of the year. They’re asking the council to approve a one percent hotel additional tax and approve the term sheet on a preliminary basis.
They want that to happen before the end of this year. That’s a pretty rushed schedule, when here we are, October 27th, and there are a whole bunch of questions.
Brewer: Curving the term sheet doesn’t I mean, I don’t know what that does in terms of binding the city to a committee.
Leahy: Doesn’t bind them, but it’s all about the idea of momentum.
Brewer: No, I agree.
Leahy: Then in the first quarter, they want the council to approve definitive documents and issuance of Sports Authority revenue bonds in the first quarter. That’s their plan.
And then in the second and third quarters, they want to have, as of 2023, the team to finalize the stadium budget, the team and state to secure the funding and to issue the Sports Authority bonds.
Brewer: And that’s what quarter?
Leahy: The second quarter up to the third quarter. So the second quarter begins on April 1st.
Brewer: April 1st.
Leahy: That’s appropriate. April Fool’s Day.
Brewer: If I’m a Metro council person in a district where people are making noise about running against me, I want to push off any significant vote and keep from committing my position on anything until after the filing deadline.
Leahy: That’s the filing deadline that is sometime in March, probably. March or early April. According to them, they want to have the Sports Authority bonds issued by September 30th of 2023. So they want it all done by then. At the latest.
Brewer: They’re planning on it running out until almost the end of next year. They’re looking at the third quarter of next year to get the deal done, when is just about when the election is.
Leahy: The election August 4th. Right. So we think this is a very bad deal. Very bad deal. And we know that the powers that be want to make this happen, but we are opposed to making it happen, and we will provide the evidence to support that.
Brewer: Obviously, with that timeline, they’ve come to grips with the fact they’re not going to get it done this year, which puts it in an election year, which is going to make it the front and center issue of the mayor’s race. It’s going to make it the front and center issue of most of the council.
Leahy: John Cooper, this is his deal. So now who will come out in opposition? We talked about Metro Councilmember At-Large Bob Mendes, who’s been rumored to be a mayoral candidate.
But he’s going to have to make a decision by March if he’s going to run. Now, the indications are the rumor is out there, but I don’t think there’s any other indication besides a rumor.
Brewer: Yes. Nashville is kind of at a tipping point, right? You’ve got a public school system that has struggled like it never has before.
Leahy: It’s a disaster.
Brewer: It was in a very difficult position before the pandemic. And since the pandemic, it’s been suffering from the same thing.
Leahy: The numbers are down, badly down.
Brewer: You have a lot of economic disparity in the city. A lot of areas are not enjoying in the success of Nashville. And that’s not necessary, but they don’t enjoy in the success of Nashville.
Leahy: It’s just how it turned out.
Brewer: There’s been no, from this mayor to the last there’s been no economic development agenda to see jobs driven to north Nashville or sites prepared for industry or offices.
Leahy: I don’t know if you saw Oracle, which got a special deal to come here, just announced layoffs.
Brewer: There are a lot of issues the city’s struggling with, and I don’t know where football fits in.
Leahy: Clint, on that note, I agree with you. I don’t know where a taxpayer-funded NFL stadium fits in.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
– – –
Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Taxpayer funded sports should be nowhere.