by Jon Styf
The Tennessee Titans franchise is currently valued at $3.5 billion, ranking 27th in the NFL just ahead of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Buffalo Bills, according to Forbes.
But, if a new $2.1 billion stadium proposed to be built mainly with taxpayer funding is approved, the franchise’s value is expected to increase by $300 million.
The stadium deal financing includes $760 million in revenue bonds from Nashville, $500 million bonded by the state of Tennessee and $840 million from the team and NFL. The tax fund set to pay off the $760 million in city bonds is projected to take in $2.9 billion in public funds during the 30-year lease at a new stadium, set to open in 2026.
Throughout the process of Metro Nashville council approvals, the Titans have refused to divulge the team’s finances. In fact, it’s written into the non-binding term sheet approved by the council on Tuesday that the team will not have to reveal its finances.
“Tough night for the loudest voices in the room,” Nashville Chief Communications Officer TJ Ducklo tweeted after the term sheet passed.
Tough night for the loudest voices in the room.
— TJ Ducklo (@TDucklo) December 21, 2022
During a committee meeting this week, Titans CEO Burke Nihill also would not reveal how much the team was making on the current stadium naming rights deal with Nissan or how much it projected to make in a naming rights deal for the new stadium.
“It’s probably less than half of the debt service that we’ll be taking on for the loan, which is also confidential.”
Forbes, however, said that the Adams family purchased the franchise for $25,000 in 1959 and now it has $481 million in annual revenue.
The Dallas Cowboys are the highest-valued NFL team, at $8 billion, while the Cincinnati Bengals and Detroit Lions are at the bottom of the valuations at around $3 billion.
Sportico also produces annual NFL team valuations and it had the Titans ranked 23rd in value at $3.29 billion, up 23% from the year before.
During the Monday committee meeting, Nihill mentioned that the only time teams find out their real value is when they are sold, but that the team was doing everything it can to build a new stadium so that the Adams family didn’t have to sell the team.
Nihill didn’t explain why a new stadium would mean the family would not sell the franchise
– – –
Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter 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. Styf is a reporter for The Center Square.Â
So does the state get any benefit of the added worth or only the owners? These public black holes have been proven to be losers for state and local taxpayers.
A proposed (guaranteed?) stadium worth as much as the Titan franchise. What a win for the Titan ownership and what a BIG loss for Tennessee and Nashville taxpayers. Government bodies should be prohibited from negotiating such deals. First of all, they are not negotiators but enablers. Secondly, as Randy stated, they always shaft the taxpayers.
Why doesn’t the city demand financial details from the Titans with the understanding that nothing moves forward until that information is provided? Like I said, these folks are not interested in negotiating.
BTW why doesn’t the city get the money for the stadium naming rights? After all the stadium belongs to the taxpayers not one of the tenants.
Corporate welfare.
New stadium, same old shaft for tax payers.