I’ve become convinced that the Titans intend to operate a live sportsbook gambling business at the new football stadium. I also think the Mayor’s Office knows this. The only conclusion I can reach is that they’ve decided to keep this part of the deal out of the public eye.

When the proposed football stadium comes up for a final vote on April 25, 2023, I’ll vote “NO.”

At the Council meeting on April 4, 2023, CM Angie Henderson moved to hold a public hearing about the proposed $2+ billion dollar football stadium. The motion lost by one vote. I hope the Council reconsiders this and holds a public hearing at a full Council meeting.

On April 3, 2023, the Mayor’s Office will share what it is calling the finance plan for the football stadium. The Sports Authority was briefed on it a few days ago on March 28, 2023. I’m concerned that they are still intentionally hiding the ball on how much captured tax money will be controlled by the Titans through the course of the 30 year lease.

Over the weekend, a transit advocate took me aside to tell me that the funding plan for the proposed football stadium will eliminate a funding source for transit. I think they are right about that.

Here are my previous posts about the proposed new football stadium:

Since the non-binding term sheet for a new $2.1 billion football stadium was approved by the Council on December 20, 2022, we have all been waiting for the full, final documents to be submitted to the Council. That hasn’t happened yet.

In a previous post, I described how the Mayor’s Office has provided a one-page financial projection showing year-by-year tax revenues that would be captured for the new $2.1 billion stadium.

The webpage for the Council’s East Bank Stadium Committee is here. All of my posts about the proposed new $2.1 billion football stadium are here.

The Term Sheet for the proposed $2.1 billion new football stadium is not ready for Council approval.

The Mayor’s Office has provided a one-page financial projection showing year-by-year tax revenues that will be captured for the $2.1 billion new stadium. They refuse to provide any year-by-year projections about how that tax money will be spent.

The proposed non-binding Term Sheet for a new $2.1 billion football stadium tries to avoid calling a new charge to stadium users a tax. The Term Sheet uses the word “rent” instead. Let’s explore why the Mayor and the team are tossing this fake.

Now that the proposed non-binding term sheet has been out for a few weeks, it has become clear that the total stadium project cost is not known at this time. The term sheet describes a deal to build a stadium for $2.1 billion, and also stockpile “hundreds of millions” of tax dollars for future stadium improvements, build a “Stadium Village” with an unknown cost, and build “Campus Infrastructure” with an unknown cost.

The Metro Council received a copy of the proposed non-binding term sheet for a new football stadium on October 20. Here are some thoughts after a first pass through the document.

Many of us continue to look for more context for how to think about the upcoming stadium proposal from the Mayor’s Office and the Tennessee Titans. I tracked down some information about the value of the Las Vegas Raiders before and after their new stadium deal in Las Vegas. In the Forbes annual ranking of NFL team values, the Raiders went from #31 in 2015 ($1.4 billion) to #9 in 2022 ($5.1 billion). How did the Raiders’ new stadium play into that?

The Mayor is holding a press briefing today to discuss development on the East Bank. He’s likely not going to mention a football stadium. If he does, I think he will claim that East Bank development and a new football stadium are two entirely different, separate things. That’s silly. The two are closely linked. Their planning and finances will overlap deeply.

There is lots of talk this week about the cost of building the infrastructure for a new East Bank neighborhood. The talk is being driven by last Friday’s release of the Mayor’s proposal annual Capital Improvements Budget, or CIB.

The football stadium discussion so far has regularly omitted details about the fact that Metro’s local option sales tax will be pledged to support Sports Authority revenue bonds to renovate or rebuild the football stadium. I have been asked if I am sure Metro sales tax dollars will be pledged to support stadium revenue bonds. Yes, I’m sure. State law passed in 2021 is clear on this.

I read the story in today's Tennessean about the football stadium discussions. These stadium discussions are important. I hope the administration can find a way to speak more precisely about what they are negotiating. I don't have much time today. I'll just quickly hit on two statements attributed to the Mayor.