Tennessee Titans’ officials want to renovate Nissan Stadium, but those renovations would likely cost $600 million, and now people are talking about simply constructing another stadium altogether — possibly with money from taxpayers.
Nashville’s finances aren’t in the greatest shape.
Beacon Center President Justin Owen addressed the matter on Friday.
“Beacon has no objection to the Titans building a new stadium, but we have long opposed — and will continue to oppose — using taxpayer funds to build their stadium or any other team’s,” Owen said.
Beacon is a Nashville-based free-market think tank.
The Tennessee Star asked Titans’ spokeswoman Kate Guerra about the matter on Friday. The Star specifically asked whether team officials would take taxpayer money for any new stadium, and why Nashville — in debt — should possibly subsidize another facility?
Guerra said no Titans’ officials have opted to build a new stadium — yet. She also said she could not answer The Star’s specific questions.
Guerra then sent us a pre-written statement that said Nissan Stadium has more infrastructure needs than Titans officials originally thought. Construction crews, she said, built the stadium’s structural frame with concrete instead of steel. The mechanical, plumbing, and electrical systems need replacing.
“All of these new revelations are adding up and moving a renovation price nearly double what we initially anticipated,” according to the statement.
“When you consider the present and future needs of our current stadium, it’s possible that another path, such as a new, modern stadium that could better serve its community’s needs, might be a more responsible option to explore.”
The statement then said “with all this in mind, we need to take a step back and re-evaluate if a stadium renovation is the most responsible option forward and explore other paths.”
Staff for Nashville Mayor John Cooper did not return a request for comment Friday. None of the 41 Nashville Metro Council members responded to our questions about the Titans’ stadium either.
Council Member-At-Large Steve Glover said last November that Metro officials were increasing the city’s debt too drastically and that Nashville was “the number one city in America with the highest debt per capita of the population.”
Glover also warned of a “massive 26 percent to 34 percent property tax increase” within two to three years.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star and The Georgia Star News. Follow Chris on Facebook, Twitter, Parler, and GETTR. Email tips to [email protected].
Another sign that metro Nashville should split. The Davidson county residents need to be free of the Nashville city yoke.
it is like the nfl is an established religon.
Export the Titans. Other cities have said no and are better off. No taxpayer money for NFL!
Amen!!!!
How about taking it from the salaries of the people that actually USE the stadium? Mulit, multi, multi-millionaires want us taxed-too-much-already citizens of Nashville to pay for their stadium? Absolutely NOT! How much longer do we have to put up with the garden gnome?
Like it!
Does anyone believe that the construction methods used to build Nissan Stadium were just discovered thereby greatly increasing the cost of a very costly renovation? This is nothing more than a classic case of bait and switch.
Of course the football team expects taxpayer dollars to pay for them a new playpen. After all didn’t the useless soccer team get one built for themselves?
Tell the Titans to pound sand.
I commented about this problem last month. This problem is a big concern to me. I said then:
If worse comes to worst, and Davidson and Shelby Counties become unable to pay their bills, everyone knows who will have to pay their bills (i.e., it will be everyone else in the State of Tennessee). Both of these counties have demonstrated that they will not control their spending—massive spending. Perhaps the State should begin to think about (to the extent that it has not already done so) how it will legislatively impose some kind of fiscal discipline on local governments in Tennessee to guarantee the payment of their bills that will minimize that burden on other more responsible Tennessee local governments and their citizens.
This is an issue for people far more knowledgeable than me to weigh-in upon. But it needs to be done as soon as possible while the problem is still relatively manageable. Tennessee cannot just hope that the problem will go away, it won’t. If anything, this problem will only become worse over time. What is that old adage—the failure to plan is a plan to fail?
The people of a community will do what they want to do. So, if Metro Nashville/Davidson County wants to spend its limited tax revenue in the way stated in this news story, then that is their business if that is what they/their representatives want to do (however much I might disagree). But the people of Tennessee who live elsewhere (who have no say in the matter beforehand) shouldn’t be ‘stuck’ with the ‘bill’ when the time comes for Metro to ‘pay up.’ And THAT time will come someday.
Steve Glover please run for Mayor and clean up the mess created by the liberal swamp in Metro Government and send Commie Cooper packing! They increased property taxes and cannot even pick up trash and now they may want us to build the titans another stadium, tell the titans if they want it pay for it or the Titans can hit the road also, bye!
Not only no, HELL NO!!! #FJC and “Let’s Go Brandon”