Nashville SC Stadium Update

Last night, Nashville SC held their third meeting to update the Wedgewood Houston neighborhood on stadium progress. 

I have failed to attend one of these without leaving feeling excited. 

Metro Council member Colby Sledge began the meeting, who quickly turned it over to Shanael Phillips, Community Management Director of the project. She reported that the 39% of the workforce hours so far have been covered by underrepresented minority and female workers. The goal had been at least 22%. Additionally, 37% of the business subcontracts have been awarded to female or minority owned businesses, with a goal of 30%. 

Carol Greenlea, Inclusion Manager, explained the multiple ways the group is reaching out to a diverse community to discuss how to recruit people to work on the project and join the workforce. She again emphasized that the group has shown full dedication toward being as inclusive as possible now and when the stadium is complete.

Mieah Turner, Construction Manager, noted that the group is still on pace to complete the stadium by May 2022. Turner noted that the work was now moving toward the south end of the fairground because the next phase was the concrete pours. The pours will begin at 2 AM on the mornings when such work will be carried out. Each pour will take about 40 different trucks. The team will communicate when those pours will take place and will monitor how it affects the neighborhood.

Trevor Delong, Construction Superintendent, noted that all excavation was complete and that deep foundation work will be completed this week, while the concrete pours are beginning. All piping, utility and water line work will be complete this month.  Steelwork will begin in January and run through September. The Upper seating mold will begin in March. By this time next year, the entire building will be enclosed. 

Ian Ayre, Nashville Soccer Club CEO, stressed again that this is the largest soccer specific stadium in the United States and will be used for a number of purposes besides soccer. He introduced a scan code that allows one to watch the stadium live any time of the day to see what work is being done at the stadium (or you can look at one of the two camera angles directly on the Nashville SC website).

During the Q & A session, Colby Sledge discussed the fact that Metro Council is currently working on different infrastructure changes that will take place around the Fairgrounds in terms of walkability and parking. Some of the projects are covered financially by the team, but there is additional work being carried out by the city. This work should ramp up over the next few months and will include a number of new sidewalks.

Earlier in the day, Nashville SC reported that they had sold 16 of the 25 private suites at the new stadium and all 18 of the private loge boxes on the first two days when they were available.

I have to admit; I’m so excited that I’ve bugging my ticket manager to see if there is anyway I could purchase my new stadium tickets early.

Author: John Sloopgrew up in Asheville, NC, and after forays to Georgia and Iowa, found his way to Nashville over 25 years ago. On a trip to Portland, Oregon, 15 years ago, he watched the (then) USL Portland Timbers youth squad play one afternoon and fell completely and totally in love with soccer, to the detriment of his love of all other sports. In addition to thinking, writing, watching, and talking about soccer, Sloop teaches media and rhetoric at Vanderbilt. He is currently serving as the Chair of the Board of the Belcourt Theater and is part of the team that runs Tenx9 Nashville, a monthly story telling event.