by Jon Styf
An amendment to the bill to build a new $2.2 billion Tennessee Titans stadium has been the subject of pushback this week heading into the scheduled second vote on the project from the Metro Nashville Council on Tuesday.
The amendment would add an increasing tax on non-NFL ticketed events at the new stadium and send what mayor’s office staff estimated would be $470 million to Nashville’s general fund over the 30-year deal.
Previously, the agreement had the team charging a $3 ticket tax on non-NFL tickets at the stadium plus a $3 “team rent” per ticket.
The amendment calls for that $3 rent to become a 3% fee on tickets in place the first year that would rise 1% each year with a 10% cap between the rent and $3 ticket tax.
“Over the past 24 hours, there’s been a public meltdown about CM Taylor’s amendment to the Titans stadium deal,” Nashville council member Freddie O’Connell wrote. “His amendment is a great deal for Nashville by diverting a portion of the proceeds of ticket sales as “rent” back to Metro. It could return hundreds of millions of $.”
The pushback, which started at the last week’s meeting from mayor’s office staff, including letters sent Wednesday to council members from Southeastern Conference Commissioner Greg Sankey and a second letter from local music promoters, sent from the Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp.
“And so it begins,” Council member Ginny Welsch wrote while posting Sankey’s letter. “The lobbying telling us it’s better to put the interests of the city behind all else. If looking out for ourselves is a disincentive for you to come, then don’t. I’m tired of the threats of apocalypse if we don’t think first about lining other people’s pocket.”
The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. later sent a note that stated Live Nation was “accidentally included” on the letter.
The amendment passed 19-18 and the letters ask council members to repeal that amendment at Tuesday’s meeting. The Nashville Convention and Visitors Corp. is funded through Davidson County hotel and motel tax through a contract with the city. It previously sent a letter from Garth Brooks asking council members to approve the term sheet for a covered stadium.
The current stadium deal, second for a second vote on Tuesday and potential third vote at a special meeting April 25, includes a tax fund estimated to collect more than $3.1 billion over 30 years to pay $1.4 billion to pay off $760 million in Metropolitan Sports Authority along with funding future stadium and infrastructure costs.
“We should also emphasize the new deal adds ENORMOUS burden on the general fund by building a new neighborhood from the ground up,” council member Bob Mendes said. “The admin won’t even estimate the cost. We do know the existing capital improvements budget has more than $700M in non-stadium East Bank projects.”
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Jon Styf is an award-winning editor and reporter of The Center Square 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.
Photo “Bob Mendes” by Bob Mendes for Nashville Metro Council At-Large. Background Photo “Nissan Stadium” by Walker Kinsler. CC BY-SA 4.0.
