Titans Set Ambitious Timetable for New Stadium

CEO believes it is possible to have a replacement for Nissan Stadium built in time for the 2026 NFL season.

Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports

The Tennessee Titans want a new stadium, and they want it quickly.

Franchise CEO Burke Nihill told the Nashville Metro Sports Authority on Thursday that design and cost analysis work has started with the goal that a new venue could be in place for the start of the 2026 NFL season. The idea is that the stadium also would be available for the 2026 World Cup, provided Nashville is selected to host a game or multiple games in that tournament.

“We’re trying to move wisely but with a sense of urgency,” Nihill said, via The Associated Press. “There’s a path forward that, if we have alignment by the fall, we could have a new stadium open (by 2026). It’s aggressive, but we believe it’s in play.”

He added that it will take a year or more before construction and financing plans can be finalized.

The new facility would be built on what are currently parking lots between Nissan Stadium and Interstate 24. Nihill said current estimates are that construction would take 31 months, which means ground would have to be broken by early in 2024.

Nissan Stadium has been the Titans’ home since 1999, their third season after the franchise relocated from Houston and the first after it was renamed and rebranded. The team was founded as the Houston Oilers in 1960 as a founding member of the American Football League.

The Titans and Nashville agreed to a 30-year lease.

Discussions about a new venue arose from plans to renovate Nissan Stadium. Current estimates are that those upgrades would cost $600 million or more, and the thinking is that a new stadium would be more cost effective.

“This is a very basic building in the eyes of the NFL,” Nihill said. “This is one of the bottom 20 percent of buildings in the NFL built before (Sept. 11, 2001). Security enhancements adopted by the NFL haven’t been added.”