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More Accolades for Nashville


Guest 5th & Main Urbanite

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I am all for private entities (ie sports franchises) building their own arenas. Give the credit to Bredesen for taking the gamble to use public funds and really give a shot to the Lower Broad area. Hindsight is sooooo easy, especially when you use the free market as your lens. No private entity wanted to invest down there, because there was nothing to invest. Bredesen believed otherwise and did a decent enough job to get others to believe it too. The outcomes have been tremendous because look at the Lower Broad area now?? Bridgestone, MCC are two massive pubic investments that are paying off in spades.

Sometimes it takes a public entity getting involved to trigger something. While I criticize METRO for some steps, I would applaud them for the investments in Bridgestone and MCC. 

Furthermore, what are the current revenue streams for METRO coming out of Bridgestone and what would they be if it was a private funded and owned arena??

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28 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

I am all for private entities (ie sports franchises) building their own arenas. Give the credit to Bredesen for taking the gamble to use public funds and really give a shot to the Lower Broad area. Hindsight is sooooo easy, especially when you use the free market as your lens. No private entity wanted to invest down there, because there was nothing to invest. Bredesen believed otherwise and did a decent enough job to get others to believe it too. The outcomes have been tremendous because look at the Lower Broad area now?? Bridgestone, MCC are two massive pubic investments that are paying off in spades.

Sometimes it takes a public entity getting involved to trigger something. While I criticize METRO for some steps, I would applaud them for the investments in Bridgestone and MCC. 

Furthermore, what are the current revenue streams for METRO coming out of Bridgestone and what would they be if it was a private funded and owned arena??

I think Metro's funds are the sales tax revenue and the much, much higher property tax revenue from downtown sites after Bridgestone was built. 

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I love what Nashville has done with the draft.  But to be fair, getting the NFL Draft likely wasn't nearly as big a deal in those other cities as it was in Nashville, so they weren't about to shutdown half of downtown and let the NFL take it over for a whole weekend.  

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10 minutes ago, BnaBreaker said:

I love what Nashville has done with the draft.  But to be fair, getting the NFL Draft likely wasn't nearly as big a deal in those other cities as it was in Nashville, so they weren't about to shutdown half of downtown and let the NFL take it over for a whole weekend.  

They will next time!!

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3 hours ago, BnaBreaker said:

I love what Nashville has done with the draft.  But to be fair, getting the NFL Draft likely wasn't nearly as big a deal in those other cities as it was in Nashville, so they weren't about to shutdown half of downtown and let the NFL take it over for a whole weekend.  

Then those cities shouldn't bid for the draft.  Just keep it in cities like Nashville...Green Bay...Pittsburgh...etc.

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20 minutes ago, titanhog said:

Then those cities shouldn't bid for the draft.  Just keep it in cities like Nashville...Green Bay...Pittsburgh...etc.

I mean, they all still want it obviously.  Nashville has definitely thrown the best nfl draft party to date, but I don't think the NFL is about to make 'must be willing to devote half your city to us for a weekend' a prerequisite.  

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On 4/27/2019 at 6:24 AM, Vrtigo said:

But what about the cherry trees?!

/sarcasm

People got really mad about glorified landscaping they didn't event know existed until they heard about ten trees being moved.

On 4/26/2019 at 4:05 PM, nashvylle said:

I heard on ESPN that the drafts in Chicago and Philly were great, but the setup was simply "build a NFL environment on a park", but in Nashville, the fun environment is already here, just build a stage... 

That's what I hope Nashville realizes and builds/renovates the stadium so we can host Super Bowls, NCAA Men's Final Fours, College Football Playoffs, World Cup... 

 

You know after that the NFL is dying to host a Super Bowl here. It is all about the stadium. Will be interesting to see what happens in the coming years. 

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5 hours ago, markhollin said:

what record did it break?  I hear only 70K showed up

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5 minutes ago, Jarno said:

what record did it break?  I hear only 70K showed up

If you are referring to my numbers, I stand by them fully.  I estimate there were about 220,000 cumulative for the draft downtown on the 3 days...which would be a record.  I know that Philly claimed to have 250,000 a recently, but those numbers were also wildly inflated.

I posted this on another thread, but am doing so again here to justify the numbers:

Some may be wondering where I come up with my estimates on the crowd sizes for the NFL Draft.  It's just math:

- Each block on lower Broadway is 400 ft. long by 100 ft. wide. There were 5 blocks cordoned off for the live event.

- 50 people, each taking up about 2' in width, could stretch across the width of each block.

- 266 people, each taking up 1.5' in depth, could stretch along the length.

- 266 x 50 = 13,300 per block.

- 13,300 per block x 5 blocks = 66,500 (and this is provided they are all packed in like sardines--and we know that the crowd was less dense towards the back than it was getting closer to the river).

- So, let's say there were 60,000 on the street.  

- Of the 30 or so honkeytonks on Broadway (some smaller, some larger), let's say there was an average of 300 folks inside each, making for around 9,000.  

- And then, let's say, there were another 11,000 people on various side streets and other areas downtown taking in the Draft in other ways.

- So, when things were at their zenith each day, that would make for a total of about 80,000 downtown. 

- My slightly revised numbers would now be  these:

1) Thursday night, around 75,000 (kept down a bit by the rain)

2) Friday night, around 80,000

3) Saturday night, around 65,000 (people starting to depart because lower levels of draft picks, as well as the Marathon taking up lots of space as well).

4) Grand total for the 3 days:  220,000.

Of course, there might've been another 20,000 at any given moment that were in other areas of the city taking in meals, hanging out in their hotels/Air BnB's, and what not...so that could perhaps (being generous) take it up to 280,000 cumulative grand total for the 3 days.  Nowhere NEAR the 500,000 and 600,000 totals being bandied about.

And the same sort of inflated numbers  drive me crazy for other events as well.  When you hear numbers like 250,000 for the 4th of July downtown, that's just nuts.  MAYBE it is 80,000 (Ascend Amph. holds 7,000, Riverfront Park from Ascend northwards to Ft. Nashboro around 25,000, Broadway around 30,000, various other side streets and bridges around 18,000 for a total of  80,000.

...And don't get me started on the New Year's Eve at Bicentennial Mall.  Last year they were saying over 100,000, which is patently false. Just do the math again.  Starwood Amphitheater had a capacity of 17,100.  It took up approximately 220,000 sq. ft.  The Mall at Bicentennial that is open to the north of the stage area  all the way up to the Carillon Bells is slightly less at around 215,000 sq. ft.  So, even it it were more packed via standing room, it could still only hold around 35,000.  And neither of the past two year's events were full all the way to the Carillons.   

Now, don't get me wrong, these are ALL fantastic events that create a lot of great energy and good will in and for Nashville.  But let's get real about these numbers.  Same goes for every other city that inflates their crowd sizes at public events.  

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28 minutes ago, markhollin said:

 I know that Philly claimed to have 250,000 a recently, but those numbers were also wildly inflated.

Same goes for every other city that inflates their crowd sizes at public events.  

These two points stand out to me the most. When every city's numbers are inflated, then every city is playing (or not playing) by the same rules. 

If we had inclement weather, or if the crowds were obviously sparse, no way would inflated numbers be stated or believed. 

The NFL is very happy with the turnout and is bragging like crazy. That is what makes this a success in my mind. 

Edited by nashvylle
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I am also skeptical about 600+ thousand over the three day and Mark makes logical sense on a lot of the numbers.   I can agree with 350 to to 450k (not that makes it any more correct).  

The difference I see comes partly from the honkeytonks (300 is low.  The fire marshals could have had a field day if they wanted).  Also, how do the intersections fit in on the block estimates? The lines were certainly way more that 50 abreast.  I can clearly see the lines of well over 100 abreast at some intersections.

At any rate, it is a record for the draft and a record for Nashville. 

 

 

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