Titans Pair with MNPS on Major Investment to Benefit High School Sports

There are benefits to sharing a city with an NFL franchise. There are even more benefits to sharing a city with an NFL franchise in pursuit of a new stadium. But are the benefits real, or simply a PR deal geared towards facilitating a new stadium for the NFL franchise? One that also benefits local officials.

This week Nashville’s Mayor Cooper announced via  a press release,  “Every Metro Nashville Public High School (MNPS) athletic program will receive a new sports field, an initiative made possible through an innovative partnership with the Tennessee Titans and The Foundation for Athletics in Nashville Schools, Inc. (The Fans Inc), a non-profit organization dedicated to endow athletic programming at MNPS schools.”

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Term Sheet Sheds Light on Details of New $2.1B Tennessee Titans Stadium Deal

LP Field in Nashville, Tennessee

Members of the Metro Nashville City Council will be asked to approve a term sheet and legislation to enact a 1% hotel-motel tax starting Feb. 1 with its initial consideration of both to begin at the board’s Nov. 1 meeting.

The term sheet outlines plans for the projected $2.1 billion new stadium for the Titans, including the order of financing and how a fund that includes the hotel tax and sales tax at the stadium and outside the stadium can be used. The stadium is expected to be ready for the 2026 NFL preseason. The lease will be for the term of the bonds — about 30 years — with three five-year renewal options.

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Former AllianceBernstein COO Jim Gingrich Calls for More Transparency in New Titans Stadium Negotiations

In an open letter written and delivered to the entire Nashville Metro Council on July 5, former AllianceBernstein COO Jim Gingrich expressed his concern about negotiations over a new Titans stadium and called for more transparency for the process.

“The time has come for the Council to assert its leadership, bring transparency to the negotiation, and prioritize taxpayers and Titans fans,” Gingrich said.

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Titans CEO Says Nashville Would Owe Nearly $2 Billion Toward Nissan Stadium Renovations Under Current Lease

Tennessee Titans Chief Executive Officer Burke Nihill estimated that Nashville 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 stadium built.

The estimate is based upon maintenance and a lease stipulation saying the city must pay for capital projects to keep the stadium in “first-class condition to keep pace with comparable facilities.”

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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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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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