by Jon Styf
Tennessee voters were even on their opposition or support of publicly-funded stadiums in a new Beacon Center poll.
The nonprofit policy center that supports free market solutions to public policy polled 1,181 potential Tennessee voters and found that 35% support publicly funding stadium such as the Tennessee Titans and Minor League Baseball stadiums in Knoxville and Chattanooga. Another 34% oppose the funding with 22% saying they are neutral and 8% unsure.
East Tennessee voters showed more support for public stadium funding at 39% with those in Middle Tennessee at 35% support and West Tennessee at 30% support.
The Titans are scheduled to open a new $2.1 billion stadium in 2027 using $1.2 billion in public funding for construction and a $3.1 billion tax capture to pay of Nashville’s bonds and pay for future infrastructure and maintenance.
The state also approved tax capture deals for the Chattanooga Lookouts and Tennessee Smokies in Knoxville while Memphis is looking for more than $600 million in total to renovate stadiums while building a new soccer-specific stadium.
The poll also asked if voters approved of new name, image or likeness (NIL) college sports rules that allow athletes to get paid through sponsorships with 52% approving and 19% against the rules.
Of those showing interest in college football in the poll, 74% are Tennessee fans with 7% Alabama fans and 4% each fans of Georgia and Florida.
Voters with also asked which fanbases are the most annoying or obnoxious with Alabama leading with 30% and both Florida and Tennessee finishing with 18% of the vote.
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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.
Please, tell us how many were surveyed, how many actually responded, their generic city/county locations ,political parties, education levels. Then and only then can your survey be rated as to its’ actual validity.
Oh … if you include a metric for whether or not they depend on MSN for “fair and balanced” news, that will help with quick evaluation of your claims.
The news media large and small have made it clear to almost everyone that their “news” is biased and their conclusions are drawn before any actual data is gathered. Prove to us why we should trust anything you say.
Many things happen to people over the course of their lifetime that are beyond their control. I think that most Tennesseans are resilient. Somehow, Tennesseans usually find a way to carry on. But the self-inflicted and unnecessary injuries and losses, and especially the ones which were warned against and concerning which the warnings were ignored and disregarded, are the injuries and losses that are most galling.
Just let the national economy ‘crash and burn’ (like The Great Depression of the 1930s), and the members of the Tennessee General Assembly will quickly learn what these various poll numbers really mean. The 35% support value will probably plummet to 0% or close to it, and the 34% opposition value will likely skyrocket to 100% or thereabouts. And I assure you, there will be no 22% neutral value or 8% unsure value. And compound such a financial collapse with the fact that the aforesaid excessive and unnecessary spending, which the common folk of the State of Tennessee may/will be then be obligated to pay for, was for baubles and play assets owned by the obscenely wealthy, some of whom may not even be citizens of our State, well, in my humble opinion, THAT will be a recipe for political disaster and revolution the likes of which are rarely seen.
Lets raise the state sales tax by two cents and put the proceeds into a fund labeled “FOS”. That’s….. For Our Stadiums….
The survey question should have asked if the respondent was agreeable to increased taxes and lost capital project improvements in order to fund these venues. I do believe that the results would have been considerably different.
Essentially 76 percent of 1180 people do not understand or care how or why their money is taken by force to be given away to the friends, family, and people that did nothing to earn it. Stop wondering why our nation is in decline.