Could Nashville host the Olympics?

[jmtunafish]

I am not suggesting for a minute that I think Nashville should host the Olympics; that would be a financial boondoggle.  But, theoretically, could Nashville pull it off?  I think Nashville has an impressive array of athletic facilities, arenas, and stadiums for a city its size, thanks in large part to all the universities in the area.  Obviously, Nashville's public transportation network is woefully lacking, and our airport doesn't have nearly enough international flights.  But otherwise, I think Nashville could pull it off.  I've looked up the arenas I'm familiar with plus the facilities at Vanderbilt, MTSU, Belmont, Lipscomb, TSU, and Cumberland.  I'm sure I'm missing some.

Outdoor arenas:

Nissan Stadium - 70,000

Vanderbilt Stadium - 40,000

Floyd Stadium - 32,000

First Tennessee Park - 10,000

Greer Stadium - 10,000

Hale Stadium - 10,000

Nokes-Lasater Field - 5,000

Hawkins Field - 3,700

Dugan Field - 1,500

E.S. Rose Park - 750

Whitten Soccer Complex - 500

 

Indoor arenas:

Bridgestone Arena - 20,000

Memorial Gym - 14,000

Murphy Center - 10,000

Gentry Complex - 10,000

Municipal Auditorium - 9,000

Allen Arena - 5,000

Curb Event Center - 5,000

Dallas Floyd Rec Center - 2,000

Tennessee State Fairgrounds Arena - 1,700

Centennial Sportsplex

[fieldmarshaldj]

^Perhaps, not that I would ever want it here. I think it's long past time the (Summer) Olympics build a permanent venue in Athens rather than this logistical nightmarish rotation every 4 years. If this fiasco in Rio de Janeiro isn't enough evidence it's time to keep it in one locale, where it all began, nothing will.

[Nashtitans]

No. Nashville has to many things lacking required to host the Olympics. Nashville can't even host the Super Bowl yet (Nissan Stadium needs to some major renovation or to be demolished and start from scratch to build a stadium of Super Bowl caliber, plus all the hotels and amenities needed in the city)

[BnaBreaker]

I don't think Nashville would be capable, from a logistics standpoint, of hosting an event so large as The Olympics, and I'm not sure I'd want it to anyway.  But hosting The Olympics might be our only realistic shot at getting a real mass transit system. Ha...

[smeagolsfree]

You beat me to the punch. NoMass Transit, or should we say no viable mass transit.

 

[UTgrad09]

I would agree with some of the other posts that our mass transit infrastructure pretty much makes it a dream.

However, I will admit that this is something I've thought about, and even posted about in the past. In fact, I posted about this very topic almost exactly a year ago:

Despite all the proposals, I think we would still need several thousand more hotel rooms in the core, and yes, light rail would be nice as well. However, since the Olympics has a very limited time window, I think there could be some creative solutions as a stop gap. I'd have the city buses run their normal routes, but hire a large fleet of charter buses to run specific routes (venues, hotels, tourist attractions) to handle the massive excess traffic. Hell, you could probably create an app specifically for the event that could help people of all languages utilize the buses.

I think you're right about the venues....that's actually where I think we make the strongest argument. Multiple venues of varying sizes....already built, so not as much need for massive (waste) spending on venues that will only be used once! If the IOC ever thinks about returning to the model of not exploiting the cities (and countries) that host the games, then I think that part of the equation would be in good shape. Of course modifications would need to be made, and there probably would be some required new venues....but it wouldn't be in the billions of dollars that we see with the Olympics these days...

Also, in reference to my post last year, I would like to see an Olympic Village constructed on the scrapyard site. Imagine 5,000 or so units constructed on that site that would later be phased in as residential housing (not all at once so to not shock the market). It would be like an East Bank Gulch!

[tragenvol]

"No Mass Transit" never stopped Mayor Fulton from dreaming in 1987.

[smeagolsfree]

With the announcement of the improvements at BNA this morning, it would be a little more plausible. We might be able to pull the Olympics off in 25 years from now, but no sooner.

[grilled_cheese]

Here are a couple relevant threads:

 

 

 

IMO, do not want.

[Hey_Hey]

I bet we could do a better job than Rio.  Of course, that isn't say much.......

[Pyramid Scheme]

Greece has Mt. Olympus, we have Rocky Top: we can nourish our athletes with our convenient "corn from a jar".

[fieldmarshaldj]

2 hours ago, Hey_Hey said:

I bet we could do a better job than Rio.  Of course, that isn't say much.......

Nashville Olympics ! We ain't got the Zika !

(or dead bodies and turds floating down the Cumberland)

[smeagolsfree]

11 hours ago, fieldmarshaldj said:

Nashville Olympics ! We ain't got the Zika !

(or dead bodies and turds floating down the Cumberland)

At the rate Zika is spreading we will .

[jmtunafish]

On 7/31/2016 at 0:26 AM, UTgrad09 said:

I would agree with some of the other posts that our mass transit infrastructure pretty much makes it a dream.

However, I will admit that this is something I've thought about, and even posted about in the past. In fact, I posted about this very topic almost exactly a year ago:

Despite all the proposals, I think we would still need several thousand more hotel rooms in the core, and yes, light rail would be nice as well. However, since the Olympics has a very limited time window, I think there could be some creative solutions as a stop gap. I'd have the city buses run their normal routes, but hire a large fleet of charter buses to run specific routes (venues, hotels, tourist attractions) to handle the massive excess traffic. Hell, you could probably create an app specifically for the event that could help people of all languages utilize the buses.

I think you're right about the venues....that's actually where I think we make the strongest argument. Multiple venues of varying sizes....already built, so not as much need for massive (waste) spending on venues that will only be used once! If the IOC ever thinks about returning to the model of not exploiting the cities (and countries) that host the games, then I think that part of the equation would be in good shape. Of course modifications would need to be made, and there probably would be some required new venues....but it wouldn't be in the billions of dollars that we see with the Olympics these days...

Also, in reference to my post last year, I would like to see an Olympic Village constructed on the scrapyard site. Imagine 5,000 or so units constructed on that site that would later be phased in as residential housing (not all at once so to not shock the market). It would be like an East Bank Gulch!

I'm sorry I didn't see the thread you created about this last year.  It seems we have some similar thoughts.  Again, I'm not suggesting that Nashville should host the Olympics, but whether it could.  Obviously Nashville would need more hotel rooms.  I believe the IOC told Rio to have 40,000 rooms available, and I don't think Nashville has quite that many (yet).

Nashville would have an advantage over many other cities in that Nashville already has most of the athletic facilities needed.  It really wouldn't take that much money to get most of them ready for an event such as the Olympics, and there would certainly be enough corporations out there to foot the bill, local and national.  I remember for the Atlanta Olympics, McDonald's paid to have Georgia Tech's basketball small arena (about the size of Municipal Auditorium) renovated, and from 1996 to 2005 it was named the McDonald's Center as part of the deal.

At any rate, I really think the only things standing in the way would be Nashville's [lack of] public transportation and the lack of direct international flights into BNA.  However, those are things that will probably be alleviated in the next 20 or so years.  And I really like the idea of putting the athletes' village at the current PSC Metals site.  Some former Olympics villages, like Montreal's, have become pretty swank over the years.

I was living in Atlanta at the time of the 1996 Olympics, and they really did a wonder for the city.  It prompted the state of Georgia to spruce up interstates, from landscaping to nicer rest areas and welcome centers.  The city added a beautiful new international terminal to its airport.  Georgia State and Georgia Tech both got really nice dorms--the former athletes' village.  The Braves got a new stadium, and, of course, downtown got a showplace of a park that's still wildly popular today and is now the focus of a rejuvenated tourist industry (Georgia Aquarium, college football hall of fame, Coca-Cola museum, new hotels).

[xtianpoop]

Heck, I'm sure the people in Polk County would love to breathe new life back into the Ocoee.

Realistically, I think Nashville could handle the boardings if not easily absorb more hotels, and the amenities are well established. It's sad to say, too, that in this fantasy, it may be the way Nashville gets a transit upgrade. Look at how well Salt Lake is handling their new transit lease on life.

The pitch would honestly come down to using the state as a whole to host with Nashville being the hub of activity. 

 

[MLBrumby]

The announcement of Atlanta as the host of the '96 games set off an unprecedented building boom. It would do the same in any city in America.

[volsfanwill]

Put basketball in memphis, rowing in Chattanooga, whitewater at ocoee again,  swimming in knoxville,   find venues for some events in franklin and murfreesboro.  maybe something in the tri cities area.   jackson can fall into a sink hole. 

[bmkTN]

Ha yeah I'm from Jackson. As long as I got family out first, it could fall into a sinkhole for all I care. My wife and I are both from there and we always dread visiting.