The Big Lie!

[thefan]

That the Titans are pulling tremendous revenues into the Greater Nashville area; hype, not reality. Most NFL fans do not travel, need to be at work Monday, most visiting fans, a financial swap. NFL players permanently retiring to the area, about 10%. Nashville may be above the average, but at exit they remove their assets. The profits go to Texas. Most of the entertainment dollars spent on the Titans were already in the area, so local entertainment has to compete with corporate subsidized welfare to survive; totally unfair! Bottom line: the Titans are sucking money out of the Greater Nashville economy. If NFL fans want NFL entertainment in Nashville then they should pay the whole bill themselves and quit transferring costs to the backs of local taxpayers, most of whom can not afford the exorbitant prices to actually attend a game. By the way, Nashville streets need a lot of neglected repair! Yep, like Hitler said, tell a lie enough and people will believe it. Thank you Goebbels, you taught them well!

[vujoe]

Boy are you off base. Go downtown when the Titans are in town and tell me what you see.

[midnitelamp5]

are you aware of a 34% increase in property tax? this corporate welfare is disgraceful, no matter how many drunks are lured downtown.

[Johnmn555]

There have been academic economic studies that pretty well debunk the notion that publicly subsidized stadiums and pro sports provide economic benefits. The best one was by a prof. at Smith College. Basically, people have a certain amount of money to spend on entertainment and dining. If they don't spent it on pro football tickets and dining in that neighborhood, they spend it on other entertainment and dining in the area.

The main argument supporting economic benefits is the notion that having pro sports gives a city a "big league" image that helps attract other businesses.

[thefan]

Boy are you off base. Go downtown when the Titans are in town and tell me what you see.

What you see on game days are middle Tennessee locals down on lower broad. That money spent was already in the area; probably earned in the Greater Nashville vicinity! Refer to "swap" out comment!

[historybill]

Again... and I've said this before on this board....

The way the first convention center and the arena and the stadium and the new convention center were financed in the first place was by carving out large chunks of downtown Nashville as so called "redevelopment districts" -- an urban renewal-era phrase for a special tax zone. This was explained in great detail in the mid to late 1990s, when we did the arena and then the stadium. I don't know off the top of my head how many square blocks of downtown are included in a "redevelopment district" today, but a huge chunk of the sales taxes that would normally be collected in this tax zone does NOT go to the general fund and therefore does NOT contribute to police, public schools, parks, etc... it pays off the bonds on the convention center/arena/ stadium.

So huge amounts of the money being spent downtown before Titans games DOES NOT help the city's coffers.

Are there really Vanderbilt fans that don't know this?

[VUaskew]

what about the NFL draft and the Preds in the NHL finals? Were a million people going to be wandering the streets of downtown on a random weekend otherwise?

What about all the drones dressed in blue for the SEC BB tournament?

maybe the average game day does not have the impact, but what about the special events I just mentioned? How about we get a super bowl with our domed stadium? I think a lot of the benefits probably pay off down the road with the city getting all the exposure.

Is that a good thing? I'll let y'all decide if you're ready for that many more bachelorette parties on Lower Broad!

[thefan]

what about the NFL draft and the Preds in the NHL finals? Were a million people going to be wandering the streets of downtown on a random weekend otherwise?

What about all the drones dressed in blue for the SEC BB tournament?

maybe the average game day does not have the impact, but what about the special events I just mentioned? How about we get a super bowl with our domed stadium? I think a lot of the benefits probably pay off down the road with the city getting all the exposure.

Is that a good thing? I'll let y'all decide if you're ready for that many more bachelorette parties on Lower Broad!

Don't believe a million tourists attended the draft, many were locals, agree it brought outside dollars, but such doesn't justify corporate welfare. Predators, similar, vacuuming money out of Nashville. Regarding hockey players leaving with assets, same type exit. No idea where Predators' ownership has residence. Bottom line: the Preds and the Titans are substantial benefactors of government corporate welfare which burdens the taxpayer, who just may not be interested in the NFL, NHL, minor league baseball, or soccer. Corporate welfare also forces local businesses and residents to subsidize their competition for a finite amount of local dollars. Corporate welfare is similar to Vanderbilt's athletic competition masquerading as "real"students; just ain't kosher! The Nashville socialists must be proud!