The proposed new Titans stadium would have 60,000 seats. Is that enough for a Super Bowl?
NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans and Nashville's mayor have touted a proposed deal to build a new $2.1 billion enclosed stadium as an opportunity for the city to host more major events, including a Super Bowl. Early designs of the potential project show a modernized stadium with fewer seats than Nissan Stadium has now — a detail that perplexed fans and residents wary of civic stadium spending alike.
Negotiations between the city and the team are ongoing and Metro's Council will ultimately decide whether or not the deal progresses. The council has yet to vote on a non-binding set of early deal terms released in October.
The 1.7 million-square-foot stadium design on the table would feature around 60,000 seats, about 9,000 less than Nissan Stadium and the smallest seating capacity in a National Football League stadium overall. The new stadium would also have around 5,000 fewer parking spaces.
The proposal as it stands calls for the largest public spend on an NFL stadium to date, according to an analysis by the Sycamore Institute.
Tennessee Titans President and CEO Burke Nihill has said the smaller seating capacity is intentional, and the NFL is generally supportive of the proposed design.
NFL officials have said appropriate seating capacity varies by location and fan base. The Titans don't sell out the current 69,000-seat stadium for most of their games, Nihill told council members during a November meeting.
"We didn't start with an arbitrary number," Nihill said. "We started with, what is the right experience for fans? And then (considered) a diverse range of products, and 60,000 is the right number."
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Seating capacity and Super Bowl prospects
The Titans hired design firm MANICA, whose portfolio includes Las Vegas' new 65,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, to flesh out preliminary design concepts. The smaller scale of the proposed stadium is meant to "feel more civic (and) less ostentatious, as NFL stadiums often are," architect David Manica told Metro Council members in early November.
It's a departure from older stadium design strategies, which sought to pack in seats to meet capacity goals. The new school of thought focuses more on "fan experiences," according to the Titans and NFL officials.
"The term 'nose-bleed seat' is not a positive term," Nihill said.
The proposed design would increase the rake of stadium seating, pulling the upper deck about 30 feet lower and closer to the field in an effort to improve sight lines. For non-football events like concerts, the construction of a stage beyond the end zone and a permanent second stage built into the seating bowl could allow a higher concert capacity than Nissan Stadium.
Nihill said a new stadium would feature premium experiences in suites, private boxes, and an elevated club. But these would come alongside "more social experiences for millennials who want a game-long tailgate and an affordable entry point into the building."
Renderings of the building show large screens overlooking outdoor terraces and green space.
NFL officials have stepped away from the idea of a stringent minimum capacity for a facility to be considered to host a Super Bowl, saying instead that a city's stadium is one part of a larger equation. Nearby hotels, venues, and fan experiences also factor in. Super Bowl 54 was hosted in Miami's 62,417-seat Hard Rock Stadium in 2020.
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Downsizing has become a national trend when it comes to building stadiums. In Major League Baseball, the Atlanta Braves and Texas Rangers opened ballparks in 2017 and 2020 that shrunk maximum capacity by 17% and 16%. In basketball, the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors dropped capacity by 7% and 8% in 2018 and 2019. And the Titans aren’t alone among NFL teams in their plans to downsize. The Buffalo News has reported the Bills’ proposed new stadium would decrease capacity from 71,608 to around 60,000 seats as well.
When Nashville hosted the 84th NFL Draft in 2019, the 600,000-person event stretched from Nissan Stadium to Lower Broadway. The NFL said in 2019 that Nashville offered "iconic locations" that allowed the league to "expand the draft in unique ways."
How could surrounding land play in?
The proposed deal would place a new stadium on 15 acres of a 113-acre plot of Metro-owned land that makes up about a third of a "new neighborhood" Mayor John Cooper's administration has dubbed the East Bank. Two Metro-owned parcels bracketing the stadium would become a 20-acre "Stadium Village," exact plans for which have yet to be released.
A recently adopted vision plan for the East Bank area contemplates public park space stretching from a new stadium to the Cumberland River. This vision isn't a fully developed or funded design, but rather a rubric of civic priorities for the Metro-owned land, which is currently mostly blanketed by Nissan Stadium parking lots.
CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp. Butch Spyridon, a vocal supporter of building a new stadium, said Wednesday that he hopes the envisioned "green space promenade" would be designed in a way that "could accommodate a Super Bowl" or Titans watch parties in addition to local community use.
The cost of developing the Metro land surrounding the proposed new stadium is a lingering question for Metro Council members. The deal's $2.1 billion estimate includes the cost of constructing a new building, including site preparation and infrastructure for the stadium and adjoining "Stadium Village," and the cost to demolish Nissan Stadium.
But Metro would be responsible for developing Stadium Village through separate contracts with private developers. The area would accommodate parking for players and other team needs, according to the draft terms. Metro would also be responsible for any infrastructure and development on Metro-owned land on the East Bank outside of the footprint of the stadium and Stadium Village.
It's not clear how much — if any — of the stadium funding sources could be used to develop or maintain East Bank green space.
Council members on Nov. 15 gave the city approval to start the search for a private development partner.
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Less parking would mean 'paradigm shift' for fans
The new agreement would require Metro to provide at least 2,000 parking spaces for stadium use, compared to the 7,500 spaces required in the city's current agreement with the Titans.
Metro officials said remaining existing parking lots would be sufficient to meet this need, and no additional parking lots or structures would be immediately necessary. Metro would foot the bill for parking projects under the proposed deal.
Nihill said this reduction in spaces would require a "paradigm shift" for fans who might be used to arriving in their own vehicle and parking in a stadium lot. More than 7,000 cars coming in and leaving the stadium at the same time is currently not a great experience, and implementing a shuttle service similar to that offered in Las Vegas might be a future consideration, he said.
"We could actually improve the experience for everyone by being forced to rethink how people get to and from the game," Nihill said.
That 2,000-space agreement does not include an additional estimated 1,500 spaces needed for stadium staff and the team, something Metro may build into the "Stadium Village." It's not clear what that parking could look like or how much it could cost.
Nihill said that conversation should be "comprehensive" and a private developer hired by the city could help think through those logistics to ensure "harmony" between the stadium, its parking and the surrounding neighborhood.
Council member Courtney Johnston said parking is one part of the proposed terms that bothers her.
"The parking necessary to operate the building ... needs to be a part of that building and a part of the budget initially," she said.
Nick Suss contributed.