Soccer in Nashville

[tragenvol]

DIRTY LAUNDRY!   Grab your popcorn.

[PaulChinetti]

Smiley sticks to his guns I’ll give him that. 
 

 

[nashvylle]

Fair Board states to start demolition immediately 

[grilled_cheese]

I'd rather bulldoze the new fairground buildings and lose the MLS franchise than any of the sock selling crowd get anything new or what they want.   

[e-dub]

Same.

[MLBrumby]

Fifteen hours since the last post in this thread... WHAT?!? 

From the online Tennessean today: Fair Board Commissioner tells Mayor Stooper to begin demolishing old FG buildings as good faith gesture to NSC & MLS.  https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/02/01/fair-board-commissioner-immediately-start-demo-mls-stadium/4632444002/

I and others here commented that "If Cooper is smart he'd claim victory and let things get going immediately."  Looks like he's not too smart. 

[dxfret]

The mayor needs to stop his stalling and get this done.  Soccer is important for the future of the city.

[titanhog]

I was reading this Tennessean article this morning about Cooper's views on the stadium from Councilman to now.  Thing is...he made a lot of points that make sense...and I agree with them to a point...that the stadium should be downtown instead of the fairgrounds...and that the city was headed towards a financial meltdown.  BUT...there comes a time when you have to accept the will of the council and their legal vote...especially considering that Ingram has bent over backwards to help ease the city's financial burdens on this project.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/31/john-cooper-stance-nashville-mls-stadium-council/4156985002/

[Nashvillain]

7 hours ago, titanhog said:

I was reading this Tennessean article this morning about Cooper's views on the stadium from Councilman to now.  Thing is...he made a lot of points that make sense...and I agree with them to a point...that the stadium should be downtown instead of the fairgrounds...and that the city was headed towards a financial meltdown.  BUT...there comes a time when you have to accept the will of the council and their legal vote...especially considering that Ingram has bent over backwards to help ease the city's financial burdens on this project.

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/01/31/john-cooper-stance-nashville-mls-stadium-council/4156985002/

Why should the city incur any financial burdens to facilitate professional soccer? 

[PaulChinetti]

Regardless of what you think about debt and how it's taken on. The city should finish this because the deal was made. The Council and Mayor spoke. Now the head of the Fair board has spoken. If none of that matters, then why should anyone do anything in the city? 

 

Not to mention at all, that Cooper has flexed his mayorial muscle and gotten more concessions from Ingram/the Team. If he doesn't sign the papers for demo now, it's obvious that all along his plan was just too torpedo the deal. 

[nashvylle]

1 hour ago, Nashvillain said:

Why should the city incur any financial burdens to facilitate professional soccer? 

Bc the city said they would.... 

[Hushpuppy321]

12 hours ago, PaulChinetti said:

Regardless of what you think about debt and how it's taken on. The city should finish this because the deal was made. The Council and Mayor spoke. Now the head of the Fair board has spoken. If none of that matters, then why should anyone do anything in the city? 

 

Not to mention at all, that Cooper has flexed his mayorial muscle and gotten more concessions from Ingram/the Team. If he doesn't sign the papers for demo now, it's obvious that all along his plan was just too torpedo the deal. 

Is it a real possibility that Nashville could actually lose the MLS Expansion Team?  I read that Tennessean article and it seems like a lot going on between City and Team franchise as well as a lawsuit by a third party trying to stop stadium construction.

How will this affect Nashvilles team from beginning play this year?  Asking because I’m in Charlotte and had long been envious of Nashville’s team.  Now that I’m reading this thread it looks like a lot of trouble is brewing.  I hope Charlotte doesn’t have these problems.

Edited February 3, 2020 by Hushpuppy321

[downtownresident]

3 minutes ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Is it a real possibility that Nashville could actually lose the MLS Expansion Team?  I read that Tennessean article and it seems like a lot going on between City and Team franchise as well as a lawsuit by a third party trying to stop stadium construction.

How will this affect Nashvilles team from beginning play this year?

They’re going to be playing at Nissan stadium this year. Ingrams already paid the expansion fee, so he’s got the team. He will likely end up suing the city if Cooper continues to obstruct the progress. 

[Hushpuppy321]

3 minutes ago, downtownresident said:

They’re going to be playing at Nissan stadium this year. Ingrams already paid the expansion fee, so he’s got the team. He will likely end up suing the city if Cooper continues to obstruct the progress. 

Dang - thanks for the insight.  I just don’t understand if Ingram / Nashville Team is willing to pay for the stadium why the problems?

Edited February 3, 2020 by Hushpuppy321

[markhollin]

John Ingram and Mayor Cooper continued to spar over the weekend:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/sports/nashville-sc/article/21113552/cooper-ingram-spar-some-more-over-fairgrounds-plan

[titanhog]

Here's the question.  Could Ingram have built a stadium all by himself if he had wanted to?  Does he have the resources to do that?

[UTgrad09]

14 minutes ago, titanhog said:

Here's the question.  Could Ingram have built a stadium all by himself if he had wanted to?  Does he have the resources to do that?

I would say the case is more of "would he" rather than "could he." I think this is also where the difference between a bank loan and a revenue bond come in to play (someone with more experience on the financial side of things might be able to shed some light onto that). It's not like John Ingram has $500+ million in liquid laying around.

[rolly]

Guys, Raleigh is going to steal the MLS team.  And grabbing that sweet mega Oracle campus too!  

[nashvylle]

53 minutes ago, UTgrad09 said:

I would say the case is more of "would he" rather than "could he." I think this is also where the difference between a bank loan and a revenue bond come in to play (someone with more experience on the financial side of things might be able to shed some light onto that). It's not like John Ingram has $500+ million in liquid laying around.

Bank loans aren't 30 years... so you are correct in that billionaires don't have just $500MM laying around in a bank deposit, but $13MM per year in debt service over 30 years is much more manageable than over 5-7 years. 

[PaulChinetti]

1 hour ago, Hushpuppy321 said:

Dang - thanks for the insight.  I just don’t understand if Ingram / Nashville Team is willing to pay for the stadium why the problems?

Because Fairgrounds.

[titanhog]

42 minutes ago, PaulChinetti said:

Because Fairgrounds.

Yeah...there's a curse on that land.  

[Bos2Nash]

On 1/31/2020 at 3:58 PM, Luvemtall said:

I  know you all will think I'm completely crazy, but there's 1400 acres available at the Nashville super speedway site . Complete with a nascar approved racetrack, and a 4 lane interstate interchange. Mr.Ingram and NSC , can make a deal to operate both venues, build some hotels and restaurants and rake in the benefits. This place is just sitting there ready to go. Right on the Wilson/ Rutherford county lines. Two of the fastest growing counties in the MSA . Think about it, most major cities have there sporting venues outside of the core. Heck , there's even room for an amusement park/ state fair. 

from an urban standpoint, stadiums should be located within the urban center LSL of cities. “All roads lead to Rome” and I use that with the notion that roads lead to the big cities and lots of money is spent on urban centers. Infrastructure costs outside the city are incredibly hard to justify and don’t really serve the larger population. Also, as others have stated, fans of soccer tend to be more of the urban population which is why owners prefer them in the urban setting. 

On 1/31/2020 at 5:20 PM, Melrose said:

SMI already was told that they needed to stay in their footprint:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2019/04/16/nascar-nashville-fairgrounds-speedway-upgrades-funding/3450805002/

SMI supposedly  did make that change to their proposal after that point.   But now SMI has gone back around to Mayor Cooper to try to blow up an approved deal yet again.   This is really cynical politics, why is Cooper so desperate  to do the bidding of SMI to advance a  hypothetical racetrack project that has no funding?  

Mayor Cooper is definitely fighting a losing battle, but whether you call it cynical on SMI’s part or cynical of Barry/Briley/Ingram, the speedway is existing and has existed prior to the stadium deal being discussed. The fact that the speedway was never really considered is shameful on all parties. A parking garage between these two venues is pitiful quite honestly. They had a design that called for a boulevard-esque design between them, what happened there? I’m sure Cooper is covering his ass by saying they can relocate the buildings located on 8C, but really that is time and money and I’m sure Ingram is pushing back for those reasons plus the trust factor  

One curious question from Ingram’s letter... they haven’t asked for additional monies from the city and Cooper has agreed that the city’s financial commitment hasn’t changed. But who pays for the infrastructure costs above the $50 million in GO bonds? If Ingram is saying they aren’t asking for more money, are they covering the costs above $50 million??

[downtownresident]

2 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

from an urban standpoint, stadiums should be located within the urban center LSL of cities. “All roads lead to Rome” and I use that with the notion that roads lead to the big cities and lots of money is spent on urban centers. Infrastructure costs outside the city are incredibly hard to justify and don’t really serve the larger population. Also, as others have stated, fans of soccer tend to be more of the urban population which is why owners prefer them in the urban setting. 

Mayor Cooper is definitely fighting a losing battle, but whether you call it cynical on SMI’s part or cynical of Barry/Briley/Ingram, the speedway is existing and has existed prior to the stadium deal being discussed. The fact that the speedway was never really considered is shameful on all parties. A parking garage between these two venues is pitiful quite honestly. They had a design that called for a boulevard-esque design between them, what happened there? I’m sure Cooper is covering his ass by saying they can relocate the buildings located on 8C, but really that is time and money and I’m sure Ingram is pushing back for those reasons plus the trust factor  

One curious question from Ingram’s letter... they haven’t asked for additional monies from the city and Cooper has agreed that the city’s financial commitment hasn’t changed. But who pays for the infrastructure costs above the $50 million in GO bonds? If Ingram is saying they aren’t asking for more money, are they covering the costs above $50 million??

Ingram has offered an additional 19 million from the team  to go toward infrastructure costs, so that would equal out to the 69 million total pledged toward infrastructure. As for costs above that, I’m not sure who would be responsible. 

[satalac]

1 hour ago, rolly said:

Guys, Raleigh is going to steal the MLS team.  And grabbing that sweet mega Oracle campus too!  

[CaptainJilliams]

1 minute ago, satalac said:

They certainly will if the Cooper administration continues to push forward the idea they are "anti-business"/"anti-growth"/"anti-change".