Tag: Tennessee Titans

Commentary: Fool Nashville Taxpayers Twice on Titans Stadium, Shame on Us

The Center Square

Mayor John Cooper wants to saddle Nashvillians with an estimated $1 billion in taxes to pay for a new stadium for the Tennessee Titans, blaming a poorly negotiated contract and the shoddy craftsmanship of Nissan Stadium. But here’s the kicker: the mayor and city officials appear to be entertaining the same stadium designer who helped with the construction of the existing subpar stadium for this new boondoggle.

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Nashville Committee Receives Overview of Legal Obligations for Tennessee Titans Stadium Repairs

The Center Square

Metro Nashville’s East Bank Stadium Committee heard an overview of its obligations for stadium repairs, including the legal department’s definition of the key “first-class condition” term at its most recent meeting.

The terminology is key as the committee evaluates the city’s options related to the current Nissan Stadium and the Titans’ proposal for a new $2.2 billion stadium, which could include as much as $1.5 billion in public funding.

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

The Center Square
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 Titans’ Lease Document Defines ‘Modern, First-Class’ Facility

The Center Square

A lease agreement between the Tennessee Titans and the limited liability Cumberland Stadium LP, calls for the Titans to be provided “a modern, first class, open air, stadium designed primarily for football, with a grass playing surface, to be located on the Stadium Site,” according to a copy of the lease acquired by The Center Square.

Cumberland Stadium is an operator that works for the Metro Nashville Sports Authority at the stadium.

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Nashville Could Commission $200K Study on Titans’ Stadium Lease Obligations

The Center Square

Nashville will consider spending $200,000 on a “stadium study” to evaluate the Tennessee Titans’ claim that the city would owe $1.839 billion under the terms of the team’s current lease if Nissan Stadium in Nashville was renovated instead of having a new estimated $2.2 billion stadium built.

The line item called “study of Nissan Stadium obligations” appeared on a revised city budget from Metro Nashville Budget and Finance Chair Burkley Allen. The amendments will be discussed at Tuesday’s council meeting.

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State Senate Committee Removes Public Funding for Titans Stadium from Tennessee Budget

Aaron Gulbransen

The Finance Committee of the Tennessee State Senate voted on Wednesday to remove public funding for the proposed $2 billion domed stadium for the NFL’s Tennessee Titans from the 2022-2023 budget for the state of Tennessee.

State Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) proposed two amendments to the budget that (1) removed authorization for the state of Tennessee to issue a $500 million bond to be used for the construction of the proposed stadium and (2) removed $55 million in taxpayer funding to service the interest payments annually of that bond debt.

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Governor Bill Lee’s Financial Proposal for a New Titans Stadium Includes Very Few Details

Aaron Gulbransen

Governor Bill Lee’s office made a presentation to the Tennessee House Finance, Ways, and Means Committee on his $500 billion bond proposal for a new Titans stadium that included several generalizations with very few details.

Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Finance and Administration Butch Eley, who functions as Lee’s chief financial officer, made the presentation on Tuesday.

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Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s Office Leaves the Door Open for Taxpayer Funding of New Titans Stadium

Aaron Gulbransen

Nashville Mayor John Cooper’s office left the door open on the issue of utilizing taxpayer funding for a new Titans stadium to replace Metro Nashville-owned Nissan Stadium in a comment issued to The Tennessee Star.

“The Mayor’s Office continues to work closely with Titans leadership to find a responsible stadium solution. The Titans are important to Nashville and we know that being here is important to the Titans. Planning is still very much underway, and we do not have new details to share at this time.”

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The Tennessee Titans Want a New Stadium, But How the Team Plans to Pay for It Is Unclear

Aaron Gulbransen

The Tennessee Titans want a new stadium, switching gears from modernizing Nissan Stadium to making plans to build a new one in the lot next door. It is currently unclear how the team plans to raise the money to pay for it.

the Titans’ president, Burke Nihill, talked about the team’s goals for a new stadium at a March 10, 2022 Metro Nashville Sports Authority Finance Committee meeting. The Titans are reportedly working with Metro Nashville officials on the design and costs for a new stadium which would be located in the parking lots outside the current Nissan Stadium.

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Former Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen Admitted in 1997 That Direct Economic Impact Benefits Couldn’t Justify Taxpayer Funding for a Football Stadium

Aaron Gulbransen

Former Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen admitted in 1997 that direct economic impact benefits couldn’t justify taxpayer funding for a football stadium.

The then-Mayor Bredesen said in June of 1997, “I can’t justify building a football stadium on direct economic impact. The professors who make a living pooh-poohing that are right. But there are a lot of intangible benefits that make it more than easy to do.”

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Former Titans Coach Jeff Fisher Named Leader of Michigan Panthers in USFL

Cooper Moran

Former Tennessee Titans head coach Jeff Fisher will have the opportunity to control a new football franchise, as he was named the coach and general manager of the Michigan Panthers in the United States Football League (USFL).

Fisher coached in the NFL for more than two decades for multiple teams. He made six playoff appearances, losing Super Bowl 34 as the leader of the Titans. Most recently, Fisher served as an advisor to Eddie George at Tennessee State for the 2021 season.

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

Admin

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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Taxpayers Have No Idea How Much Possible Nissan Stadium Renovation Could Cost

Jason M. Reynolds

While the Tennessee Titans and Nashville Mayor John Cooper are talking about renovating Nissan Stadium and extending the team’s lease, a price tag for taxpayers has not been disclosed.

The franchise and the city announced their discussions last week, The Tennessee Star reported. The negotiations have been going on for some time, but the team said it was making the process public, citing a story by The Tennessean. Something should be known in about six months.

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Tennessee Titans and Nashville Mayor John Cooper Reportedly Discuss Nissan Stadium Upgrades

Chris Butler

Tennessee Titans officials and members of the Metro Nashville Government reportedly want to upgrade Nissan Stadium. This, according to Thursday’s Tennessean, which reported that Titans’ officials will soon announce formal discussions with Nashville Mayor John Cooper and members of his administration. As the paper reported, they will discuss extending the city’s lease with its NFL franchise. This, “while launching a gigantic project that will – in the words of the team and Cooper himself – ‘secure the Titans’ future’ in Nashville.”

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

The Associated Press

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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Records Reportedly Show Nashville Mayor John Cooper Killed Plan to Let Tennessee Titans’ Fans into Nissan Stadium

Chris Butler

  A Nashville sportswriter this week posted documents on his website that he said proves Metro Nashville Health officials were ready last month to have fans at Nissan Stadium at the start of the season. But Mayor John Cooper said no, according to those records. Paul Kuharsky, who has covered the NFL for more than 20 years, this week on his website posted emails that Metro Nashville officials sent to one another. Kuharsky said he obtained these emails from the group Nashville for a Rational COVID Policy. Officials with that organization did not return The Tennessee Star’s request for comment Friday. Tennessee Titans spokeswoman Kate Guerra said Sunday she had no information about the matter and suggested we contact the mayor’s office. No one in either the mayor’s office or the Metro Health Department returned our request for comment. Kuharsky did not return our request for comment Sunday. In his story, Kuharsky quoted a July 30 email from Metro Health Department Director Michael Caldwell to Cooper’s Chief of Staff Bill Phillips and Metro coronavirus Task Force Chair Alex Jahangir. Jahangir said in the e-mail exchange that they had discussed a proposal that was “consistent, if not more restrictive, than most…

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Carol Swain Says Tennessee Titans’ Ryan Tannehill ‘Ill-Informed’ About Race in America

Chris Butler

Former Nashville mayoral candidate Carol Swain said Tennessee Titans starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill doesn’t need anyone to debate him about America’s supposed racism — instead, as far as this topic goes, he needs to get educated.

Swain told The Tennessee Star Saturday that Tannehill “is ill-informed” about history and topics of race.

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Gov. Lee Announces ‘Strong Mask Movement’ to Make Wearing Face Masks ‘Fun’

Anthony Gockowski

Gov. Bill Lee announced a new “TN Strong Mask Movement” Thursday with the goal of making face masks more “fun.”

According to a press release from the governor’s office, the Economic Recovery Group developed the new program along with more than 30 “flagship brands” across the state, including Amazon, Bridgestone, Bristol Motor Speedway, Graceland, Jack Daniel’s, several professional sports teams and universities, and many others.

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Columnist: Major League Soccer Could Have Played in Nissan Stadium Instead

Chris Butler
Nissan Stadium

If members of the Nashville Metro Council wanted to save taxpayers some money they would have arranged for the city’s Major League Soccer team to play in Nissan Stadium, according to a new column. This, instead, of building a pricey new stadium. Nissan Stadium, of course, is where the Tennessee Titans play for the National Football League. Eric Boehm published his column for Reason before Metro Council members voted 31-8 this week for a $275 million MLS stadium project at the Nashville Fairgrounds. He said his idea, though, makes more sense. “Taxpayers are already on the hook for $300 million in upgrades to Nissan Stadium, home of the National Football League’s Tennessee Titans. That stadium is within walking distance of downtown and could easily be adapted to host soccer games,” Boehm wrote. “In fact, Nissan Stadium has regularly hosted the U.S. men’s and women’s national soccer teams. Teams from the English Premier League, widely regarded as the top soccer league in the world, have played there. It’s also one of the stadiums proposed as a site for the 2026 World Cup. Why exactly does the city need a new soccer-specific stadium?” No one at MLS returned The Tennessee Star’s request for comment on the matter. MLS…

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Phil Bredesen Used Accounting Sleight of Hand to Lure NFL’s Houston Oilers at the Expense of Nashville’s Middle Class

John Bryant
Phil Bredesen

Former Gov. Phil Bredesen, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee, wants voters to believe that he is a pragmatic problem-solver with a track record of getting things done. But a closer look at that track record reveals that Bredesen “gets things done” through the use of accounting sleight of hand that shifts taxes paid by one group to benefits received by another. A case in point is the accounting sleight of hand Bredesen used to lure the NFL’s Houston Oilers to Nashville in the 1990s. A white paper entitled ““Horse Trading” and Consensus Building: Nashville, Tennessee and the Relocation of the Houston Oilers” lays out the case that then Nashville Mayor Bredesen basically misled voters and used an exorbitant tax increase to put a notch on his belt for luring the NFL’s Oilers to Nashville back in 1996. That may be all well and good for some, but a deep dive raises serious questions as  to whether or not it was a prudent investment of taxpayer dollars received by what some might call misleading tactics. In a special referendum on May 7, 1996, voters in Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County voted to approve partial funding of the proposed stadium. The vote, which…

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Rep. Diane Black: ‘My Four Seats Will Stay Empty Until the Titans Stand for the Anthem’

Admin

Gubernatorial candidate and House Budget Chair Representative Diane Black (TN-06) made news Tuesday on the Hugh Hewitt show when she declared her four season tickets will go unused unless and until the Tennessee Titans stand to honor the flag during the National Anthem. In response to Hewitt’s question regarding her position of the so-called ‘NFL kneelers,’ Rep Black answered, “I have had [season tickets] since the Titans came to town. I actually did not miss a single game when they were in Memphis and we were building a stadium for them. But my four tickets are in the drawer, and they will stay in the drawer. My seats will stay empty until we have an appreciation of our flag, our men and women who fight for this country, and for what this flag stands for.” And then she turned her ire to NFL Commissioner Roger Goddell, saying, “And so I am disgusted with the whole NFL. I applaud Jerry Jones for what he’s doing, and I think all the owners should do that. And I think Goodell’s job should be pulled.” Hewitt pressed Black, asserting his distaste for boycotts, and asking, “Let the players say whatever they want. I just think you have…

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Titans’ Delanie Walker to Fans: Stay Home

Jason M. Reynolds

The Tennessee Titans’ tight end Delanie Walker may believe money grows on trees, for he apparently does not think ticket-buying fans pay his salary. The NFL player smack-talked his team’s fan base earlier this week when he said those who are upset about high-salaried players kneeling for the national anthem should stay home, Fox News Insider quoted from other media reports. Or perhaps the athlete thinks people pay to hear his political opinions rather than watching him compete in a sporting event. “OK. Bye,” the tight end was reported saying about Titans’ fans. Walker has a two-year, $13.3 million contract. Coach Mike Mularkey told the media that he thought it was a team-wide decision to remain in the locker room Sunday, Sept. 24. The Titans media office declined to comment to The Tennessee Star on Walker’s remarks and referred to their Sept. 24 statement: “As a team, we wanted to be unified in our actions today. The players jointly decided this was the best course of action. Our commitment to the military and our community is resolute and the absence of our team for the national anthem shouldn’t be misconstrued as unpatriotic.” Jessie James Decker, the country singer and wife of…

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Titans Use Big Second Half to Beat Jaguars, 37 to 16

Admin

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — As Tennessee Titans outside linebacker Derrick Morgan celebrated a sack with teammates, all Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Blake Bortles could do was trudge toward the sideline following another wasted possession. That’s something fans in Jacksonville have seen a lot of in recent seasons. Using a powerful running game and opportunistic defense, the Titans overpowered…

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The NFL Season Kicks Off on Thursday: Here’s a Preview

Admin

  Football season has finally arrived, and this year promises to be a great one! That means the next five months will be packed with the sizzle and suspense that comes only with the National Football League and will culminate with Super Bowl LII, which will be played on Sunday, February 4, 2018 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minnesota. Another cold weather Super Bowl this year, but at least it will be indoors this time. Here’s a quick round-up of what’s coming up on the gridiron… MARK YOUR CALENDARS for Thursday night (NBC, 8:30 PM ET) is the first game of NFL Kickoff 2017 Weekend. The opener features the Super Bowl champion NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS hosting the KANSAS CITY CHIEFS. Last year, 146 games (57.0 percent) were decided by one score (eight points or fewer), the most of any season in NFL history. And there were six new playoff teams in 2016: Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit, Miami, the New York Giants and Oakland. Since the 12-team playoff format was adopted in 1990, at least four teams have qualified for the playoffs in every season that were not in the postseason the year before. The 2017 season promises more of the same. 2017 comes packed with changes, quests and…

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Huge Crowd Cheers Tennessee Titans at ‘Friday Night Lights’ Practice in Williamson County’s Centennial High School Stadium

Tennessee Star Staff
Tennessee Star

FRANKLIN, Tennessee — A capacity crowd of more than six thousand Middle Tennesseans showed up to watch the Tennessee Titans’ ‘Friday Night Lights’ practice held last night at Centennial High School in Williamson County. Cars streamed into the high school’s parking lot when the gates opened at 5 p. m. for the free event. The atmosphere was more like a festival than a pre-season training camp practice, as vendors like Famous Dave’s Barbecue and Blue Monkey Shaved Ice offered their culinary delights to hungry fans of all ages. Williamson County Sheriff’s Department provided security, as did a private security service which screened all fans with security wands prior to their entry into the stadium area. Titans staff were omnipresent, offering assistance to media and regular fans alike. At 6:45 p.m., the Centennial High School football team formed an honor guard as the Titans walked on the field, direct from their team buses. All the Titans then spent half an hour for the fans who crowded the age of the field. At 7:15 p.m., every single Titans player and coach, along with the thousands of fans in attendance, stood as the National Anthem was played. The local public address announcer pointed…

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Scary Fireworks Mishap Singes Titan’s Nissan Stadium, Everyone’s Okay

Tina LaFleur

  There were some tense moments toward the end of the Independence Day fireworks display at Nissan Stadium Tuesday, as at least one shell fell, landing in the upper decks before exploding, TitansInsider.com reports. “It took place toward the end of the show,” Lansden Hill told TitansInsider.com. “The shells are supposed to go off in the air, but this one came back down and didn’t go off until it landed in the upper deck. Hill is the owner of Pyro Shows, which has been doing the fireworks show in Nashville for thirty years. “It was just one of those things that will occasionally happen,” Hill said. “That’s why the fire code requires that we keep the crowd a certain area away from it. We know out of every 1,000 shells not all of them are going to work right.” TitansInsider.com reported: The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp confirmed that the damage had taken place to the stadium and that the extent of that damage was still be assessed. Personnel from the NCVC was on hand at the site around 3 p.m. Wednesday to begin assessing the damage. The firework shell hit on the west side of the upper deck of…

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