The taxpayers in Tennessee are being handed the bill for more than half the cost of the new Titans stadium in Nashville. They will also reportedly have even less control over this project than they did the last stadium, according to Axios.
The deal to build a new domed stadium was announced this week by Nashville’s Democrat Mayor John Cooper and will become the largest building project in Nashville’s history.
Exterior view of Nissan Stadium before a preseason game between the Tennessee Titans and the Arizona Cardinals at Nissan Stadium on August 27, 2022, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
According to a report by Axios Nashville, the stadium is projected to cost an astounding $2.2 billion to build.
However, so far, the team is only expected to pony up $800 million, leaving the taxpayers in the lurch for the rest of the price tag.
Axios added, “Government funding sources are already known: $500 million in bonds from the state, a 1% tax on all hotel room rentals in Davidson County, sales taxes collected within the new facility, and sales taxes collected in the surrounding 130-acre campus.”
The Titans currently play at Nissan Stadium, which is only 23 years old. Indeed, the stadium was supposed to last at least 20 more years. City voters also approved the financing of Nissan Stadium. Unfortunately, that won’t happen for this new project.
A wide-angle generic view of the Nissan Stadium as seen during practice for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on August 6, 2022, on the streets of Nashville in Nashville, Tennessee. (Brian Spurlock/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Voters will therefore have even less influence over the new stadium than they had over the earlier construction.
Nissan Stadium is still projected to cost the city $1.8 billion over the next 17 years.
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