Gov. Bill Lee calls for state funds to be used for Titans' Nissan Stadium upgrades
Natalie Allison
Momentum continues to build for long-anticipated updates to the Tennessee Titans' Nissan Stadium, improvements both state and Nashville city leaders have now committed to help make a reality.
This week, Gov. Bill Lee elevated the initiative as one of his legislative priorities for the year, calling for the General Assembly to fund a bill that would divert roughly $2 million a year in state sales tax revenue to be used for upgrades to the 22-year-old stadium.
The legislation, which had stalled in the House this year due to funding concerns, would allow the Nashville Sports Authority to collect the state’s share of sales tax for tickets, food, merchandise and other items sold at the Titans facility — which it owns — in order to pay for upgrades.
If the Titans' and city's plans come to fruition to develop the 130 acres around the stadium into a bustling area with residential, retail and dining options, the state expects to forego as much as $10 million in annual sales tax revenue from the stadium complex.
“This proposed investment speaks to the significant role the Titans play in the Nashville community and our state’s economic engine," Lee spokesperson Casey Black said in a statement to The Tennessean.
While the Titans have been in talks with state and local leaders for years on how to fund needed upgrades to the facility, the governor listing the project with his updated budget priorities this week means it will likely receive funding approval from the legislature.
According to a study commissioned by Metro government and completed in 2017, Nissan Stadium is in need of $293 million worth of upgrades, many of which are basic. The facility opened in 1999.
Second legislative attempt for Titans funding receives boost from governor
Former Sen. Steve Dickerson, a Nashville Republican who lost his reelection bid in November, last year pushed for a similar version of the bill, though it failed to gain traction as the legislature abruptly left for recess and made budget cuts last spring due to the pandemic.
"I was happy to take over the bill for Dickerson," said Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson, R-Franklin, who is the bill's current sponsor. "I think it's important. I knew the (Lee) administration was very active in their negotiations. They’ve been very involved in negotiating this with the Titans.
Rep. Gary Hicks, a Republican from Rogersville, is the House sponsor again. He did not respond to a request for comment.
The legislation requires the state to first collect approximately $3.5 million in sales tax from the stadium each year to go toward bonded debt for infrastructure improvements Tennessee made near the stadium at the time it was constructed in the late 1990s. Those debt payments will be completed in 2029.
After the debt payments are made each year until then, Nashville's sports authority will get to keep most of the state sales tax from transactions at the stadium, after local education tax is withheld, Johnson said.
For transactions made on the 130 acres surrounding the stadium, the city will get to keep 50% of state sales taxes for stadium upgrades.
In a statement provided to The Tennessean by the team's publicist Kate Guerra, the Titans said the bill moving through the legislature is one of multiple "important pieces of the plan" to create a first-class stadium and surrounding campus.
"It would place Nissan Stadium on the same footing as the state’s other professional sports venues that have similar arrangements, allowing for sales tax revenue generated only by visitors to the stadium and the stadium campus to be used to fund building improvements, maintenance and needed repair," according to the Titans statement.
The team called the legislation a "great collaboration between several key stakeholders."
Nashville’s lease agreement with the team specifies that the city must pay for upkeep at the stadium, as it must do for Bridgestone Arena. Much of the infrastructure in both venues has a 20-year lifespan.
A similar sales tax arrangement is already in place at Bridgestone Arena to pay for maintenance upgrades, while Major League Soccer in Nashville is already authorized to operate under such an arrangement for a future stadium at the city's fairgrounds.
Lee has also called for the legislature to allocate $13.5 million to the sports authority in Knox County, where a minor league baseball stadium is in the works.
Reach Natalie Allison at nallison@tennessean.com. Follow her on Twitter at @natalie_allison.
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