ORLANDO, Fla. – In May of 1996, the city of Nashville voted "Yes."
In a historic referendum, the city's voters approved a referendum by a 59 percent to 41 percent margin to use tax dollars to help build a stadium so Houston Oilers owner Bud Adams could move his NFL team to Tennessee.
That team became the Tennessee Titans, and in 1999, they moved into a new East Bank stadium.
Fast-forward 30 years to what happened here on Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings, when NFL owners approved Nashville by a 32-0 vote as the host for Super Bowl LXIV in 2030.
The event will take place in a new stadium, in a city which has grown by leaps and bounds.
Here on Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke about the league's history with the Nashville dating back to the highly successful NFL Draft in 2019. But Music City's efforts to make an NFL splash, and land a Super Bowl, in reality dates back even further. And today, those with the the league, and in Nashville, are celebrating an incredible accomplishment.
"Our history goes back to the draft in 2019, which was a remarkable event for us, changed the future of the draft, and it arguably changed the future of the Titans and the community," Goodell said from the Conrad at Evermore Resort, site of the owners meetings. "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.
"To (Titans controlling owner) Amy Adams Strunk, (Titans President and CEO) Burke Nihill, everybody in the Titans organization. … The (Nashville) Convention and Visitors Bureau (and President and CEO Deana Ivey), which has been a great partner going all the way back to the draft, this is hard work. You caught the bus, and you deserved to catch the bus.
"It's going to be an absolutely spectacular event, and we can't wait to be in Nashville in 2030."
Amy Adams Strunk was standing to Goodell's left when he made the announcement on Tuesday, alongside Nihill, Ivey and Kenneth Adams IV from the Titans ownership group. Strunk's father, the late Bud Adams, started negotiations with then-Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen back in 1996 before the city's residents ultimately voted "Yes for Nashville."
On Wednesday morning in Nashville, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and Nashville Mayor Freddie O'Connell will be among those scheduled to take part in a press conference at Nissan Stadium, where the countdown to the 2030 Super Bowl will officially kick off.
A community celebration is planned for Wednesday night on Broadway.
"Nashville is ready for this moment," Ivey said. "We have proven we can host world class events, from the NFL Draft to CMA Fest to our annual July 4th celebration … We are ready to welcome fans, teams, and families from around the globe to Music City. It is a historic day in Nashville, and we can't wait to welcome everyone to Super Bowl 64 in 2030."
After initially turning in an Expression of Interest form to the league, the city of Nashville and the Titans more recently made a formal proposal to the league to host the Super Bowl, after doing their due diligence in recent months and years.
Leading up to Super Bowl LX, Nihill and Ivey were among those from Tennessee who traveled to San Francisco, studying how the Bay Area Host Committee coordinated the events leading up to the game.
Nashville will be different from previous hosts, in so many ways.
"It's going to be amazing," Nihill said. "Before the 2019 NFL Draft, we asked people to use their imaginations to think about how it could be done differently than it had ever been done before and I think we're thinking with that same lens. … I expect it will be one of the most fun, dynamic Super Bowls ever put on."
Here in Orlando, Nihill and Ivey talked about the ways Nashville can pull off a spectacular Super Bowl.
The city's walkability will be a part of it.
In the week leading up to the February 2030 game, there will be league events and festivities tied to the game all over Nashville.
The NFL Experience, NFL Honors, Radio Row, Media Party are expected to be held in the downtown area, along with parties leading up to the game.
Ivey said the city sent two or three recommendations for each event, and all of them are located downtown except for one venue, The Grand Ole Opry. The Music City Center, Bridgestone Arena, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, the Ryman Auditorium, and Pinnacle Nashville are among those in consideration.
All of the honky tonks on Broadway will be in play for parties, and events.
The Titans practice facility, and Vanderbilt University, could be in consideration to host the Super Bowl teams during the practice week. As for which hotels the two Super Bowl teams will stay in, the city has given the NFL four options, two for each team.
The NFL will send officials to Nashville on a regular basis in the coming months to gather additional information, and make decisions.
There will be music, all week.
"The music will be off the charts," Ivey said. "We'll have music everywhere, all genres of music. When people get there, they'll know they're in Music City."
The city will also be ready to house fans from all over the world.
Per the Nashville Convention and Visitors Bureau, by 2030 the greater Nashville market (MSA) will have a projected 658 hotels operating with 80,000 plus hotel rooms. Currently, the Nashville market has 531 hotels in operation with over 61,000 hotel rooms. Under development are 127 hotels with 18,653 rooms scheduled to open in the greater Nashville market by 2030
Also, Nissan Stadium ranks as the third NFL venue, behind New Orleans and Las Vegas, with the most hotel rooms within a one-mile radius with more than 13,000 rooms across 61 hotels.
New Nissan Stadium is scheduled to be completed in February 2027, and the current stadium will be demolished, expected to be "flat" within six to seven months. By February 2030, Ivey said she's hopeful the new Tennessee Performing Arts Center might be completed on the East Bank, at least on the outside, along with a hotel near the new stadium, which could potentially house NFL officials. Ivey said the city has asked for a "blank canvas" surrounding the stadium where tailgates, tents and events could be held, with further construction to be held in the months and years to follow the game.
Between now and then, there's a lot of work to be done.
The city of Nashville had 11 months to prepare after learning it had been awarded the 2019 NFL Draft.
The countdown is now on to get ready for February 2030, and beyond.
"This city does creativity so well, this city dreams big," Nihill said." So, in terms of what a Super Bowl looks like in Nashville, and what it different about it, we're about to start having that kind of fun.
"But this is also about doing a job so well that the NFL, by the time they are picking up their suitcases and headed to the airport after (Super Bowl LXIV), they cannot wait to come back. And that requires quite a bit of creativity and grit and collaboration to pull off an event like that and that is certainly the goal."
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