Nashville ready for the party
The NFL draft is headed to Music City.
The league’s team owners awarded the 2019 draft to Nashville during their annual spring meetings Wednesday, clearly impressed with the city’s turnout for events such as the NHL’s 2017 Stanley Cup Final and last month’s party to unveil redesigned uniforms for the Tennessee Titans.
“You’re now on the clock,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell quipped to the Nashville contingent, led by Titans controlling owner Amy Adams Strunk.
The draft was held in New York City from 1965 to 2014, but the league has been moving it to different cities in recent years, looking to bolster its profile even higher. Chicago was the site in 2015 and 2016, Philadelphia hosted in 2017, and this year’s draft was held at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, home of the Dallas Cowboys.
“It has become one of the most anticipated events of the year,” Goodell said. “It’s one of the events we’re continually focused on — how we can be more effective, larger, and frankly, an opportunity for our fans to engage in football during the offseason. We had a great experience in Dallas this year. They did a wonderful job.”
Now it’s Tennessee’s time to shine — or at least it will be April 25-27, 2019.
“It’s a big day for Nashville,” Strunk said. “Being entrusted with one of the league’s premier gatherings is an honor and a responsibility that we take seriously.”
Nashville was chosen over several other bids, including a combined push from Cleveland and Canton, Ohio, home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The northeast Ohio group remains hopeful to land the 2020 draft, which would coincide with the league’s centennial.
“The Hall of Fame in partnership with the Cleveland Browns, the Cleveland Sports Commission and Visit Canton stand ready to host the NFL draft in 2020 should we be selected,” Hall of Fame president and CEO David Baker said in a release. “In the meantime, the Hall and the entire Canton region remains focused on preparing for the once-in-every-other-lifetime opportunity in 2020 to celebrate the NFL’s centennial in Canton, the birthplace of the league.”
Nashville’s bid was boosted by tens of thousands of people turning out last year for a party that shut down a big section of downtown as the Predators took on the Pittsburgh Penguins for the Stanley Cup. Also, some 20,000 spectators turned out on a cold night in
April to see the Titans’ new uniforms and attend a free concert by country act Florida Georgia Line.
The city has hosted the 2003 NHL entry draft, the 2014 Women’s Final Four and the 2016 NHL All-Star Game.
Said Strunk: “As we all know, Nashville has a well-deserved reputation as a city that loves the big stage, loves the big party and, more importantly, knows how to throw a big party.” The Super Bowl is headed
back to New Orleans for the 11th time, and it will make its fourth stop in Arizona.
NFL owners voted unanimously on both sites Wednesday in Atlanta, which will host Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3, 2019, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium.
The title game for the 2022 season will be played Feb. 5, 2023, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, and the title game for the 2023 season is Feb. 4, 2024, at the Superdome in New Orleans.
This will be eighth time the Super Bowl is held at the 43-year-old Superdome, which has hosted it more than any other stadium and most recently in 2013. University of
Phoenix Stadium, which features a retractable roof and is home to both the Arizona Cardinals and college football’s Fiesta Bowl, held the big game in 2008 and 2015. Arizona’s first Super Bowl was also in the Phoenix area, in 1996 at Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe.
Major renovations are planned for both the Superdome and University of Phoenix Stadium.
After this season’s game in Atlanta, the next three Super Bowls will be held at Miami’s Hard Rock Stadium, Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, and the new Hollywood Park stadium in Los Angeles.
Super Bowls are set, too