In the wake of Gaylord Entertainment withdrawing its offer
to contribute $5M toward the construction of a downtown Nashville
arena, the city Metro Council voted to finance $22.4M in general
obligation bonds for the final build-out of the facility,
according to the Nashville BANNER. The money, intended to be
repaid over 20 years with arena revenues and a ticket surcharge
of 5% of face value (not to exceed $1), will go toward concession
areas and an attached parking garage. The Council also gave
preliminary approval to use the money to purchase a "state-of-
the-art" $5.5M video scoreboard for the arena, which is scheduled
to open in December (Rob Moritz, Nashville BANNER, 8/21). A vote
on a $2M up-front appropriation for the arena from the city's
tax-funded reserve account was rescheduled until next month (Mark
Ippolito, Nashville TENNESSEAN, 8/20).
PSL SALES STAGNANT: PSL sales for Nashville's NFL football
stadium, designed to eventually house the Oilers, are "far from
sold out," according to Trebor Banstetter of the Nashville
BANNER. He notes "only" about 80% of PSL's have been sold,
leaving a shortfall of about 12,000 in the proposed 64,000-seat
facility. One option being considered increase sales would
involve selling the remaining tickets as "game-only" seats.
However, local officials are wary of angering PSL holders who
paid for such rights. Nashville Sports Council Exec Dir Jenny
Hannon said she is not concerned, adding, "Remember, we sold
45,000 PSL's in six weeks, and now we have two years. There's
not going to be a problem selling the tickets" (Nashville BANNER,
8/21).
