The Tennessee Titans have had a tough PR week upon firing beloved head coach Mike Vrabel, so they opted to give fans a glimpse at New Nissan Stadium, which admittedly has the makings of something special.
It had better be good, right? I feel like under most other circumstances, dropping this video would be a home run with the fine people of Nashville. However, when you’re coming off a losing season, and just booted an elite head coach to the curb, you could get more mixed results by reminding fans of a venue that won’t open until 2027 and requires $1.26 billion of public funding.
Well, maybe that’d be a bigger point of contention if there were an individual income tax in Tennessee. I have a feeling more people are irked at owner Amy Adams Strunk and how she handled Vrabel’s exit.
In any event, New Nissan Stadium looks lit on its own merits. It’s no secret the current home of the Titans is in need of an upgrade, and by golly are they gonna get it in several years’ time.
Spacious concourses, massive video screens, open floor plans with high-end-looking bars and restaurant-style seating areas, and even performance spaces within the stadium to accommodate Nashville’s trademark music scene are just some of the notable features.
New Nissan Stadium will feature 60,000 seats. Although that’s smaller than the current Nissan Stadium’s 69,143 max capacity, it should create a packed atmosphere with impassioned fans who’ll be ready to go wild and make life tough for opponents on the road.
You can see that there will be a closed roof on this revamped stadium to accommodate year-round events. Unfortunately, that means turf will continue to be the Titans’ home playing surface. Let’s not get too deep on that topic. Well-covered territory, that. It’s just annoying at this point.
For this whole vision of a thriving new future and sold-out Titans games in the coming years, Tennessee will need to find a viable successor to Vrabel, and hope that rising second-year quarterback Will Levis is, indeed, the man who the franchise can be built around.
The Derrick Henry era is officially over, the roster outside of Levis and a few other pieces is in rough shape, and the rest of the AFC South division posted winning records this season.
I’d try to land the biggest possible fish on the coaching market and present them with a Godfather offer since Vrabel is such a tough act to follow. Apparently the Titans aren’t really about that life.
By the time New Nissan Stadium opens to the public or perhaps even before then, the Titans may very well be searching for another new head coach.
