SAN FRANCISCO – NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has dropped some pretty big hints that a Super Bowl could be in Nashville's future.
Leading up to Super Bowl LX, Titans President and Chief Executive Officer Burke Nihill and Nashville Convention & Visitors Corp CEO Deana Ivey are among those from Tennessee in San Francisco, studying how the Bay Area Host Committee is coordinating the events leading up to this year's game.
It's an annual fact-finding trip the group takes in order to be as prepared as possible when Nashville gets its opportunity to present a formal bid package to the league, whenever that may be. The hope, Nihill said, is to have that opportunity in the not-so-distant future.
"I remember sitting on a rooftop in Nashville the night the 2019 NFL Draft was closing out, thinking: 'This is a Super Bowl city," Nihill said. "And, we just have to prove that to the league, and it will take some time. The draft is a really big deal to the league, but the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events in the world. You don't want to go chase that bus, and catch it, and then not be ready to do what we did with the draft, which was make it one of the all-time best versions of the event.
"We have been dreaming and learning, and when you come to the Super Bowl every year, you are doing so with your eyes open and thinking: "This is how we could do this in Nashville, and do it even better."
Goodell, during the Steel Topping Out ceremony at new Nissan Stadium in November, raved about the franchise's new stadium, scheduled to open in 2027, and the city of Nashville.
And, in so many words, Goodell gave a strong hint about the potential of the Super Bowl being played in Nashville one day, referring to the success of the 2019 draft in the city.
It left many in Music City thinking the question at this point was not if, but when?
"I think all of us at (the 2019 NFL Draft) had the wake-up call and went: 'This is a Super Bowl-ready city, and the only thing that is missing is the stage," Goodell said. "Now, you are building a great stage. We have a process, but I have every expectation you are going to see that type of thing in the future."
The city of Nashville, the state of Tennessee, and the Titans, want to be ready.
Nihill and Ivey on Wednesday were at the Moscone Center West, where the Media Center, and Radio Row, are located. The NFL Experience is in a different building on the Moscone Center campus, which is also where the Pro Bowl Games was held. In addition to the Super Bowl game itself, plenty of other events are also held during Super Bowl week, from Super Bowl Opening Night to NFL Honors. There's an NFL House in each Super Bowl city, and parties and events are being held all over town this week.
The NFL headquarters is in the Marriott Marquis in downtown San Francisco. The New England Patriots are staying in Santa Clara, while the Seattle Seahawks are staying in San Jose. Sunday's game will be played Levi's Stadium, in Santa Clara. Media from all over the world are in hotels across the Bay area, along with football fans.
Nashville's footprint, of course, would look much different, just like recent hosts New Orleans, Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles were all different.
Dates for the next two Super Bowls are already on the schedule:
LXI, 2027: SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, California
LXII, 2028: Mercedez-Benz Stadium, Atlanta
At some point, the NFL is expected to get even more serious about the years, and cities, coming up.
"When you look at past stadium rhythms," Nihill noted, "in terms of when a stadium opens and when the NFL feels comfortable bringing their biggest event to a new stadium, for us that is probably in the early 2030s."
Nihill and Ivey are already imagining where Radio Row, the NFL Experience, Super Bowl Opening Night and other events might be in Nashville when the time comes. The Music City Center, located in the heart of downtown Nashville, features over 350,000 square feet of exhibit space, ballrooms and other meeting rooms.
In time, Nashville will be ready to make its Super Bowl pitch.
In the meantime, the fact-finding mission is producing some ideas.
"We hope the NFL turns its attention to Nashville in one of these future available years," Nihill said. "This year we're probably thinking even more specifically about how a Super Bowl would come to life in Nashville. There are all sorts of events around the game that require a lot of space, that require a lot of coordination, and Nashville, it seems like, will set up perfectly for all of these things beyond the game on Sunday.
"But we want to be sure when we ultimately throw our hat in the ring on a formal basis, it is something that blows them away and they see what we see, which is, a Nashville Super Bowl will be one of, it not the best, Super Bowl that's ever been presented."
