5 fascinating answers from a private tour of new Nissan Stadium one year into construction of Tennessee Titans new Nashville home

I had a chance this week to take a private tour of new Nissan Stadium, one full year into the construction of the Titans future home. It's already a marvel to look at, and I learned a lot of things about it that I think you'll find interesting.

Was this supposed to be a private tour? No. But nobody else in media that was invited signed up for the last tour, which I had to take due to a scheduling conflict. So shoutout to everybody else for hooking me up with a special 1-on-1 experience!

I asked 5 big picture questions that I think most folks are wondering about this mega project, and the answers I got were detailed and revealed a lot that I doubt the average person knows yet. I sure didn't! So let's take a quick look at the building by the numbers, and then dive into the 5 most interesting answers I got on my private tour:

By The Numbers

• Appx. 60,000 seats
• 132 suites
• 2,100,000 square feet
• 235ft tall (85ft taller than existing stadium)
• 19,000 tons of structural steel
• 850 workers laboring each day through first year of construction, eventually increasing to 1700
• 920,000 man hours so far
• Total budget: $2.2 billion
• Opening: February 2027

Will it be finished on time, will it be under budget, and if not…why?

This was one of the first things my tour lead, Kevin McGrath of CAA ICON, proudly shared with me: everything is 100% on time and within the budget. I asked how common that was with a mega project like this. “Rare. Very rare”.

Kevin told me he was most recently involved with Universal Studio’s “Epic Universe” theme park, a $6 billion mega project that opens to the public this spring. By comparison in terms of both money, raw materials, and acreage, new Nissan Stadium feels perfectly manageable for somebody with his experience.

The primary group overseeing construction has been involved in around half of the past 30 major American stadium builds, and a representative boasted that they’ve never once missed an opening day.

So what’s the biggest culprit when we see these kinds of builds fall behind schedule or blow out the budget? "Poor planning" was the answer I universally received. Sure, material shortages and unforeseen economic shifts can become big problems. But too often, it’s designers who can’t seem to put down their pencils. They continue to make changes beyond deadlines and sometimes operate as if there’s a blank check funding the project.

The on-site officials I spoke will all had very complimentary things to say about the designers, architects and engineers involved with new Nissan Stadium. Communication has been a priority, and everybody has stayed on the same page. That’s the biggest reason why things have gone so incredibly smooth so far.

How much taller is it going to get?

If you’ve driven past new Nissan Stadium from the interstate lately, you’ve probably been impressed with how much of the structure has already taken shape. Concrete construction is nearly complete, with one upper portion of the east endzone left to pour. But that only covers half the height of the building. Once concrete is done, the structure will be 108ft tall. Then steel work begins.

The steel frame will continue to rise throughout the year. Eventually towering over the existing stadium next door. The walls of the building will eventually be over 200 feet tall. So far, 285 tons of structural steel has been installed. When they’re finished, they’ll have put in over 19,000 tons of it.

How does an enormous roof made entirely of cables and plastic sheets bow UPWARDS against gravity?

The roof on this place is going to be astonishing. Once the steel framing of the walls reaches its peak height, installation work will begin on the circular-shaped, high-tech ETFE translucent roof.

Now let me give that to you in plain English: the roof is going to be a super fancy see-through plastic tarp supported by a lattice of metal cables.

It’s seriously some space-age stuff. This is the same general type of roofing you’ve probably seen at SoFi Stadium in LA. And it’s actually the exact same roof they have atop Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, except Nashville’s will be perfectly round instead of an oval.

When officials walked me through the roofing, they explained that the center of the roof will rise about 30 feet above the maximum height of the exterior walls. It’s going to be convex, not concave. But how in the world does that work? The lattice structure is made up on metal cables, which aren’t rigid on their own.

It was explained to me like a giant, super-strong sheet of chicken wire that’s been bowed out towards the sky. While the individual wires aren’t rigid themselves, the engineering of the lattice will use gravity to support the whole roof in the same way an arch supports itself.

That’s probably more detail than you asked for, and it still might not make total sense, but I found it really interesting. One thing’s for sure: it’s going to be really cool to look at when it’s finished. Roof construction begins in March of 2026, one year from now.

How are they going to demolish the old stadium, when will it be gone, and what are they gonna do with all the stuff?

The first thing officials brought up when I mentioned demolition plans is that it’s going to be “a demolition, not an implosion. No explosives.”

It sure would be easier to just blow the thing up. In fact, officials told me a group of local explosives experts had reached out offering to help. They were kindly turned down.

Why? Well, because new Nissan Stadium and old Nissan Stadium are less than 100 feet from one another. If you’ve been on the east side of old Nissan Stadium in the past year, you’ve probably seen just how close they are. This was a matter of necessity, as the designers only had so much room to work with on the new footprint.

So when they start taking down the old place, it will all be handled mechanically and very, very carefully. Once the Titans play their last game of the season that winter (in early February 2027, Titans officials in the room winked and nodded), that will be the last thing we ever do there. Demolition will begin immediately, right around the time construction on the new place is finished.

A completely separate company who specializes in demolition is heading up that project, and detailed planning is already underway. When will Nissan Stadium as we currently know it be completely leveled? The plan is within 8 months, by the holidays in 2027.

The thing officials were most excited to share on the demolition front is just how much of the old building will be recycled. 95% of it will be repurposed in some way, so very little will end up in a landfill. Concrete will be crushed and used to gravel the site once they’re done. The plastic seats will be sent to recycling plants. Small electronics, kitchen equipment, boilers, HVAC units, lights, and more will be donated.

Maybe you’re like me and your mind went immediately to the giant video boards. What do you do with those things?

turns out, spare video board parts are extremely difficult to come by. Were you ever annoyed by the handful of LED panels that were always out on game day? Those things are hard to replace! Display technology is constantly evolving, and once your hardware is a couple years old, they stop manufacturing it. So those boards will be taken apart and sold as spares to other stadiums around the world with the same tech in their buildings. It'll probably turn a pretty penny too.

It opens months before football starts, so… what are we gonna do in there first?

Assuming everything stays on schedule, new Nissan Stadium will open in February of 2027. With an entire offseason between the finish date and the beginning of the 2028 season, some pretty big decisions have to be made regarding event planning.

Perhaps the most important… what’s the first thing we’ll do in there? Well for starters, officials said we’ll have to have some kind of grand opening celebration. Maybe tours of the facility, or an open house of key common areas. And before that, they’ll likely have smaller “test” events just to make sure everything works. Flushing toilets, running elevators and escalators, getting food service equipment up and humming. Stuff you want checked and fully functional once the general public arrives.

After the pageantry, it’s on to concerts and major events through the spring and summer. I asked if they’re going to get Taylor Swift to come open this place up. “Yea, right? We’d love that” Titans officials said through a chuckle. That first major event is a big decision that’s already on their minds. “I sometimes feel like we should already be having meetings about it, like, c’mon guys! We have to pick the perfect event!”

That ultimate decision will come in due time. But rest assured, it will be a special and intentional choice.

What’s the coolest thing about the stadium?

When we reached the end of the tour, I asked my guides to tell me the coolest part about this stadium in their own opinions. What’s the thing that they can’t wait for people to see? What’s the thing that they don’t think the public really realizes about this place?

I got two answers: The Terrace, and sightlines.

If you’ve been to old Nissan Stadium, you know that any trip into the concourses is practically a spelunking mission. You can kiss the action of the event goodbye for as long as you’re getting food, buying merch, cooling off, or using the bathroom.

In New Nissan Stadium, there aren’t many places you’ll be able to find that aren’t still connected to the action. Concourses and public spaces on all levels are a part of a giant open floor plan, so you’ll be able to see into the bowl even when you aren’t at your seat. The officials I spoke with seemed to think this will be a pretty unique feel.

And then there’s the Terrace. This will be the biggest public gathering place, located multiple stories above the ground below. It’s an outdoor space, separated from the inside by a massive glass facade. The plan for the Terrace is to be the community heartbeat of new Nissan Stadium. Layout plans are currently in the works, but I was assured that a thoughtful and modern layout of eateries, bars, games, seating and more will be found up there. They want it to feel almost like a big community tailgate, and it’s one of the areas they’ll pre-open during big events to allow for folks to enjoy the space before and after whatever it is you came to see.