How a new year-round Tennessee Titans stadium will benefit Nashville | Opinion

• Nashville and Tennessee are now at another pivotal fork in the road when it omes to Nissan Stadium.
• Our support has less to do with football and more to do with creating new opportunities for Nashville and the entire state.
• Kevin P. Lavender is the chairman of the board and writing on behalf of the board of directors of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp.

Whenever Nashville has been faced with an important decision that would drastically shape the city for years to come, our city has a track record for getting it right.

Nashvillians voted by a 60% margin to become a big-league city and build a stadium during the "NFL Yes!" campaign in 1996; we undertook Bridgestone Arena even when there was no team as a tenant; and the city moved forward with Music City Center during the Great Recession.

Nashville and Tennessee are now at another pivotal fork in the road when it omes to Nissan Stadium. The cost of renovation doesn’t work, and the upsides of an enclosed facility are too great to overlook.

A stadium with a roof could generate the most positive impact, and we are excited to play our part. As the board of directors of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, we know that’s not a surprising position to take.

But we are a community board who represent diverse industries - from higher education to entrepreneurs to the arts to retail and restaurants to architecture/design to music and entertainment.

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A new stadium will increase the benefits to the city

Coming from different sectors, we view the bigger picture beyond sports and tourism: sales tax generation, entertainment offerings and global recognition.

Our support has less to do with football and more to do with creating new opportunities for Nashville and the entire state.

When we look at the success of our downtown stadium, we think about diverse activities: sold-out concerts by the Rolling Stones and Garth Brooks; Goodguys Car Show and Monster Jam motorsports; Tennessee State University football games; CMA Fest; Music City Grand Prix; St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon; international soccer; and the upcoming WWE SummerSlam.

In addition, countless community service projects such as the state’s largest single-day vaccination clinic and fundraisers for some of Nashville’s most impactful non-profits take place there.

Add a roof, and there’s more: multiple Super Bowls, the Final Four, college football playoffs and FIFA World Cup. No more weather delays and more wintertime events. This would be a facility that could be used 365 days a year to create visitor spending and economic activity.

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Titans owners and the state are contributing

We are encouraged that the financing is going to be designed to protect taxpayers and that new revenue streams that don’t currently exist will be used, while new activity surrounding the stadium will generate even more sales tax revenue to support state and city services.

The owners of the Tennessee Titans plan to put significant skin in the game. We are grateful the state is considering supporting the project. And even more significantly, the hospitality industry is stepping up to do its part.

As was recently announced, the city’s hotel occupancy tax, which is imposed by hotels and paid by visitors, can be increased up to 1% to help fund the stadium.

We’ve taxed the industry before to fund major investments, most notably Music City Center, and they are on board with another tax increase because of the return on investment. We are encouraged key stakeholders have come together like this.

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Bridgestone Arena and Music City Center are past successes to look at

The benefits are clear: millions of dollars in economic activity, job creation, and new revenue Nashville can dedicate to vital priorities. Just look at what happened to other projects the city had courage to undertake.

Bridgestone Arena, home of the Nashville Predators, ranks first in the world for concert sales by Pollstar and hosts the CMA Awards, SEC Basketball Tournaments and major concert tours. Annual economic impact was $676 million in 2019.

Music City Center is another success whose viability was questioned. The convention center has generated a total direct economic impact of $2.75 billion since it opened.

Music City has been named a top destination by travel outlets for the past 10 years. As we look to what the next 10 years and beyond hold, we know our city can prosper by providing great schools, infrastructure and essential services, while also building an enclosed stadium. We can do both.

Kevin P. Lavender of Fifth Third Bank is the chairman of the board and writing on behalf of the board of directors of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. co-signed by: Maneet Chauhan (Morph Hospitality Group), Dr. Robert Fisher, Marcus Whitney (Health:Further), Ellen Pryor (Frist Art Museum), Patrick Chaffin (Ryman Hospitality Properties), John Esposito (Warner Music Group), Eddie George (Tennessee State University), Jim Gingrich (Elk Mountain Partners), Kevin Green (Chartwell Hospitality), Ed Hardy (Hardy Media & Entertainment), Ken Levitan (Vector Management), Kimberly Lewis (Emerson Grace), Pat Martin (Martin Investment Group) and Brian Tibbs (Moody Nolan). Ex-officio members include Charles Robert Bone (Bone McAllester Norton), Sherry Franklin (Renaissance Nashville), and Sarah Trahern (CMA). One board member and one ex-officio member abstained.