NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The NFL is taking the 2030 Super Bowl to Nashville and the Tennessee Titans' new Nissan Stadium after team owners voted Tuesday to hold the league's championship game in the Music City for the first time.
Once the Titans broke ground on the $2.1 billion enclosed stadium, a Super Bowl being played in Nashville appeared to be only a matter of time. Commissioner Roger Goodell said in November that Nashville lacked only the stage after setting a new standard for the league with record attendance at the 2019 draft.
“That for us changed the future of the draft, arguably changed the future of the Titans and the community,” Goodell said in Orlando at the league's spring meetings. "And I think this is the next great step in a remarkable football journey and a great community in Nashville. We can’t wait to be there.”
The Titans are on schedule to finish the new stadium directly across from the current Nissan Stadium in February, completing the three-year construction. Critics worried the planned capacity wasn't big enough to host a Super Bowl, though league officials were updated throughout the process.
Awarding the 2030 Super Bowl to Nashville gives the Titans three full seasons to work out any kinks.
Controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk said the Titans are thrilled Nashville’s first Super Bowl is coming and thanked Goodell, her fellow NFL owners and the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp for their partnership.
“We cannot wait for our community to experience an event of this magnitude and for the world to see the energy, hospitality, and culture that make our city so special on a global stage,” she said. “We look forward to bringing an unforgettable Super Bowl experience to Nashville together."
Nashville impressed the NFL when the executives who work on the league’s big events saw the Music City touch in 2019.
Bands played between draft picks and headliners such as Tim McGraw helped cap each day’s events. Fans poured in for the party in the Lower Broad honky-tonk district with other events at the Titans’ current stadium a short walk across a pedestrian bridge.
Deana Ivey, president and CEO of the Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp, thanked the NFL for the confidence placed in Nashville. She also made clear Music City will bring the party atmosphere first seen in that 2019 draft to hosting its first Super Bowl mentioning McGraw on stage.
“He’s singing to the entire street of all the football fans were singing ‘Live Like You Were Dying’ with him, and it was the most incredible, authentically Nashville moment, and I can’t wait to see some of those organic things happen for the Super Bowl,” Ivey said.
Only New Orleans and Las Vegas among NFL venues have more hotel rooms within a one-mile radius of the stadium, with the Nashville market area projected to have 658 hotels with more than 80,000 hotel rooms by 2030. Nashville currently has more than 61,000 hotel rooms available.
The new stadium is being built with $760 million in bonds issued by Nashville’s sports authority, with an additional $500 million in state bonds. The combined $1.2 billion in public funding was considered the largest public commitment in funding for an NFL stadium when approved in 2022.
Burke Nihill, the Titans’ president and CEO, said that the commitment from city, state and community leaders helped make Tuesday’s announcement possible. Nihill also said this stadium is being built to feel like Nashville rather than trying to impress folks with size or technology, and yes, there is a big stage in one end zone.
“My expectation is that when people come through that building for the Super Bowl in 2030, they feel something different in that sense of Southern hospitality,” Nihill said.
The announcement adds to the NFL’s Super Bowl lineup of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, hosting in 2027 followed by Atlanta in 2028 and Las Vegas in 2029.
Nashville isn’t content with lining up just a Super Bowl for the new Nissan Stadium. Former Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam, also controlling owner of the NHL’s Nashville Predators, is chairman of the Music City Major Events group assembled in 2023 to bring other high-profile events to the stadium.
The NFL also announced Tuesday that Minnesota will host the 2028 draft, a decade after hosting its most recent Super Bowl in 2018. Pittsburgh drew a record 805,000 fans over three days in April for the draft. Washington will host the 2027 NFL draft.
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AP Pro Football Writer Rob Maaddi in Orlando, Florida, contributed to this report.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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