Tennessee Titans Stadium Proposal Submitted to Metro Council for Approval

A final budget proposal for how the new Tennessee Titans football stadium will be funded has been submitted to the Nashville Metro Council by Nashville Mayor John Cooper and the football team.

The legislation will be subject to three readings, beginning at the council’s next meeting on March 7th. April 4th is the earliest possible date for the agreement to be finalized.

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John Fredericks Commentary: The Ghost of Sid Gilman

As a die-hard Titans fan, I have one thing to say: I love this team.

Not because we are overly talented or particularly fun to watch–we are neither. When we win, it’s some downright ugly football that usually includes seven 60-yard punts by our new phenom punter, at least one missed FG by fat Randy and a botched fourth and one on a dropped handoff off a silly trick play with Derrick Henry standing around in the backfield.

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Students Support Pro-Life Michigan Football Coach

University of Michigan-Ann Arbor coach Jim Harbaugh made several pro-life statements as a guest speaker at a pro-life event on July 17.

Harbaugh told those in attendance:

“I believe in having the courage to let the unborn be born. I love life. I believe in having a loving care and respect for life and death. My faith and my science are what drives these beliefs in me.”

Harbaugh then quoted the Book of Jeremiah, stating, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

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Metro Nashville Committee Won’t Seek Independent Review of Economic Numbers for Tennessee Titans’ New Stadium

Nissan International Stadium

Nashville’s East Bank Stadium Committee plans to parse information on a new projected $2.2 billion Tennessee Titans stadium deal once it’s announced, along with information on the city’s current lease obligations and a $200,000 stadium study the council has planned along with land-use requirements around Nissan Stadium.

But the group will not be producing its own economic impact and tax impact numbers related to the proposed project.

“I am guessing the council doesn’t have an appetite for spending $25M on its own professionals, or $5 million or $1 million or half a million,” committee chair Bob Mendes said in the group’s planning meeting. “So we’re, necessarily, going to have to rely on information from others on that. I assume we’re going to hear about that. When we’re going to get presented with an actual deal, there’s going to be a list of income streams and a look forward on what it generates over time. Sources and uses.

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Tennessee Legislature Approves $500M for New Titans Domed Stadium

LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee

The Tennessee Legislature approved $500 million of bonds for a new Tennessee Titans stadium as part of a record $52.8 billion budget on Thursday.

The Titans stadium funds were not initially included in budget appropriations passed by the Senate in the early afternoon after they were removed in committee on Wednesday, but later in the day the Senate concurred on the budget that the House had passed, including the Titans stadium funds.

The $500 million in bonds for the stadium will require $55 million in annual payments.

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They Took It: The University of Texas at San Antonio Abolishes ‘Come and Take It’ Football Chant

University of Texas at San Antonio Inaugural Football Game

The University of Texas at San Antonio is no longer using “Come and Take It” as a football chant.

In August, university President Taylor Eighmy expressed concern that “Come and Take It” is inseparably linked to political debates, including those over gun rights. 

The chant is emblazoned on a flag waved at UTSA’s football games and also used as a rallying cry during the fourth quarter. 

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Georgia Passes Bill to Let College Athletes Get Paid for Utilization of ‘Name, Image, or Likeness’

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Thursday signed legislation that will allow athletes at higher educational institutions to get paid for the utilization of their “name, image, or likeness.”

The bill, which is slated to go into effect on July 1, 2021, states that “participation in intercollegiate athletics should not infringe upon the rights of student athletes to have control over and profit from the commercial use of their name, image, or likeness.”

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Report: Former Tennessee Titans Great Eddie George Named Head Coach at Tennessee State

Tennessee State Tigers fans are abuzz with word from The Stadium Network that former Tennessee Titans great Eddie George will be taking over as the head coach of the FCS program after the end of the spring season this year.

Stadium reporter Brett McMurphy broke the story Sunday afternoon, tweeting, “Former Tennessee Titans RB Eddie George will be new coach at Tennessee State, sources told @Stadium. TSU, currently coached by Rod Reed, plays Southeast Missouri today in final game of spring. George, who has no coaching experience, is 1st major hire by AD Mikki Allen”

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Outbreak in the NFL: Three Tennessee Titans Players, Five Personnel Test Positive for COVID-19

The Tennessee Titans suspended in-person activities through Friday after the NFL says three Titans players and five personnel tested positive for the coronavirus, becoming the first COVID-19 outbreak of the NFL season in Week 4.

The outbreak threatened to jeopardize the Titans’ game this weekend against the Pittsburgh Steelers and posed the first significant in-season test to the league’s coronavirus protocols.

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High School Football Team Banned from Waving Pro-Police Flag After Online Backlash

A Florida High School has reportedly banned their football team from waving a flag meant to memorialize a police officer after critics said the display is racist.

The Fletcher High School football team had been running onto the field with the pro-law enforcement sign since last year to honor one of the player’s late father, a former cop who died suddenly in August 2019 after 29 years on the job. However the display was stopped this week after complaints, News4Jax reported.

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Michigan-Ohio State Finale Highlights Third Big Ten Schedule

The Big Ten’s third football schedule of the 2020 season is highlighted by Michigan-Ohio State on Dec. 12, the final day of the conference’s regular-season and the latest date the rivals have ever played.

The Big Ten released an eight-games-in-eight-weeks schedule on Saturday that will start the weekend of Oct. 24. Just three days ago, the conference reversed course and decided to play a fall football season after postponing on Aug. 11 because of concerns about COVID-19.

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Ohio School Bans ‘Thin Blue Line’ Flag

An Ohio county commissioner asked a superintendent on Tuesday to step down for banning thin blue line flags from “pre-game activities,” according to letters obtained by a local NBC affiliate.
Geauga County Commissioner Ralph Spidalieri criticized Superintendent Michael Hanlon Jr.’s announcement that thin blue line flags would be prohibited from school activities after members of the Chardon football team carried one onto the field before a Friday game, 3WKYC Studios reported.

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Texas Test Rate Drops as Schools Reopen, Prepare for Football

by Paul J. Weber   AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Anyone can get a coronavirus test at the CentroMed clinic in San Antonio, but on a recent day, the drive-thru was empty. Finally two masked people in a maroon SUV pulled straight on through with no wait. With hundreds of deaths reported each day, students returning to class and football teams charging ahead with plans to play, Texas leaders who grappled with testing shortages for much of the pandemic are now facing the opposite problem: not enough takers. “We’re not having enough people step forward,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott said. The number of coronavirus tests being done each day in Texas has dropped by the thousands in August, mirroring nationwide trends that has seen daily testing averages in the U.S. fall nearly 9% since the end of July, according to The COVID Tracking Project. The problem is dwindling demand: Testing centers like CentroMed are no longer inundated by long lines that stretch for blocks, or closing hours early because tests run out. The dropoff comes as the U.S. has surpassed 5 million confirmed coronavirus cases and is closing in on 170,000 deaths. It threatens to put the U.S. even further behind other countries…

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Players Unite in Push to Save College Season, Create Union

Michigan defensive back Hunter Reynolds saw the tweets from Trevor Lawrence and other college football players pushing for the opportunity to play this season despite the pandemic.

Reynolds, one of the organizers behind a players’ rights movement in the Big Ten, didn’t like the way some on social media seemed to be pitting Lawrence’s message against the efforts of #BigTenUnited and #WeAreUnited.

“There was a lot of division,” Reynolds told AP early Monday morning.

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Commentary: New Evidence Shows Key Fans Unhappy with Sports Leagues Kowtowing to Black Lives Matter

If anyone was hoping that the return of the long-awaited Major League season would lift our spirits and bring us together, they had to be disappointed to learn that we are more divided than ever over the National Anthem kneeling debate. And although President Trump has not chosen to join the burgeoning #BoycottMLB movement on Twitter, the president has joined a growing number of disheartened baseball fans who are unhappy that their favorite teams are taking the knee. Even before the start of the season, President Trump tweeted that he was “looking forward to live sports, but any time I witness a player kneeling during the National Anthem, a sign of great disrespect for our Country and our Flag, the game is over for me!”

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Minnesota’s Betty McCollum Touts ‘Decade’ of Work to Change Washington Redskins Name

Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN-04) praised FedEx and Nike for their efforts to pressure the Washington Redskins into changing the team’s “harmful” name and mascot.

“I have been working on this for almost a decade because I believe all people, including Native Americans, should be treated with dignity and respect – and not dehumanized as mascots,” McCollum said in a statement.

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Commentary: How Nike Transformed the University Of Oregon

by George Leef   While money is not the root of all evil, it is undeniably responsible for the transformation of the University of Oregon (UO). It changed from a typical state flagship where athletics were a nice diversion for some students and alums into a sports powerhouse where the quest for glory in football and basketball dominates the school. The person directly responsible for that is Phil Knight, the founder of the athletic shoe and apparel giant Nike.  At a time when the university’s president was desperately looking for outside funding for the school, Knight, an Oregon alum and huge athletics booster, was on hand to help with funds for projects he liked. Is it a bad thing for an alum to give money? In his recent book University of Nike, author Joshua Hunt shows how Oregon became so hooked on money from Knight that it has allowed athletics to badly distort its priorities. The university’s success on the gridiron and court was crucial to Nike’s business strategy of selling not just shoes, but an entire “dream” package for Americans who were caught up in football and basketball. Once the school started taking Nike money, it simply couldn’t stop.…

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More NFL National Anthem ‘Kneelers’ at Titans Opening Game, Kaepernick Tweets Praise

NFL

The Tennessee Titans opened their NFL season with an away game in Miami Sunday, where three members of the Dolphins protested the playing of the National Anthem. Two were ‘kneelers’ and one raised a fist. NFL ratings were down as the league kicked off another season three days earlier on Thursday. Though the controversial kneeling during the National Anthem took a night off on Thursday, apparently so did a lot of viewers. The season opener between Philadelphia and Atlanta drew the lowest number of viewers for an opening telecast since 2009. According to Deadline Hollywood viewership was down 8% from last year’s kickoff between the Denver Broncos and Carolina Panthers of September 7, 2017. The Eagles-Falcons game was not only down from last year, but also lower than 2016, 2015 and 2014 – in which each saw declines from the previous year. President Donald Trump chimed in about the predicted protests just hours before the Sunday kickoffs. “Wow, NFL first game ratings are way down over an already really bad last year comparison,” Trump tweeted. “Viewership declined 13%, the lowest in over a decade. If the players stood proudly for our Flag and Anthem, and it is all shown on…

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Ohio State’s Meyer Put on Leave, Inquiry Opened

Urban Meyer

Urban Meyer’s job appears to be in jeopardy. Ohio State placed Meyer, one of the most successful coaches in college football history, on paid administrative leave Wednesday while it investigates claims that his wife knew about allegations of domestic violence against an assistant coach years before the staff member was fired last week. Courtney Smith, the ex-wife of fired Buckeyes assistant Zach Smith, gave an interview to Stadium and provided text messages to former ESPN reporter Brett McMurphy between her and Shelley Meyer in 2015 about Zach Smith’s behavior. Courtney Smith also provided threatening texts she said came from her ex-husband, and text messages between her and other wives of Buckeyes assistant coaches, discussing Zach Smith. “Shelley said she was going to have to tell Urban,” Courtney Smith told Stadium. “I said: ‘That’s fine, you should tell Urban.’” Zach Smith, who has never been convicted of any crimes, was fired last week after an Ohio court granted a domestic violence protective order to Courtney Smith. A message left by the AP for Zach Smith’s attorney, Brad Koffel, requesting comment was not immediately returned. Ohio State Title IX Meyer is heading into his seventh season at Ohio State, where he is…

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Phillip Fulmer Reveals More Details About Top Assistant’s Sudden Departure

Tennessee athletic director Phillip Fulmer confirmed that the football program’s decision to part ways with former running backs coach Robert Gillespie wasn’t mutual, but both sides handled it professionally. Fulmer, who was speaking at the Big Orange TipOff Club in Knoxville via GoVols247 on Wednesday, revealed that Gillespie “didn’t like” being dismissed from the Vols’ coaching staff, but understood that it was a matter of “big boy business.”

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Report: Memorandum of Understanding Signed by Former Tennessee AD and Greg Schiano ‘A Non-Binding Document’

The memorandum of understanding signed by former Tennessee athletic director John Currie and would-be head coach Greg Schiano on Nov. 26 lacked the signatures of Chief Financial Officer David Miller and Chancellor Beverly Davenport, therefore, making it a non-binding document, according to the Knoxville News Sentinel. The University of Tennessee released the MOU to the newspaper…

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