Visitors to LP Field “will see replays in higher definition, hear referees’ calls more clearly and have an easier time getting to the stadium’s top levels after the Metro Council approved financing Tuesday for up to $28 million of improvements” to the Titans' home, according to Michael Cass of the Nashville TENNESSEAN. The council voted 33-3 “for a bond issue to benefit the city-owned facility,” with ticket tax revenues “expected to pay off the debt.” The council also agreed “to raise the LP Field ticket tax, which applies to most events there, from the current level of $2 to $3, starting Aug. 1, 2013.” The Titans have said that $2 per ticket “should be enough to cover the debt service on the planned projects, with [the] additional dollar paying for future improvements, such as new seats.” Titans Exec VP/Administration & Facilities Don MacLachlan said that the planned improvements “will be completed before the Titans start the 2012 season.” They include “much larger, high-definition video boards in both end zones; high-definition, LED ribbon boards; a new sound system that will distribute sound more evenly; a fan hospitality area; a new control room; and elevators to the upper parts of the venue.” He said that the Titans, who “have been criticized for not bringing more concerts and other types of events to the facility, are now ‘working feverishly’ to do that.” City Council member Phil Claiborne “criticized the organization for not doing more to ease the city’s burden,” but MacLachlan noted that the Titans “pay all of LP Field’s operating costs, which he said run between $4 million and $4.5 million a year” (Nashville TENNESSEAN, 12/7).
