Nissan Stadium

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Lore & Background

Nissan Stadium stands as a monument to Nashville's footballing ambition. During the 1995 NFL preseason, the Houston Oilers faced the Washington Redskins at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. At the game, Oilers owner Bud Adams met Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen and began discussing the possibility of moving the team to Middle Tennessee due to Adams' discontent with the team's lease at the Astrodome and unwillingness of the City of Houston to build a new football-only stadium. Later that year, Adams and Bredesen announced the team's intent to move to Nashville. The city and team decided to locate a stadium on the eastern bank of the Cumberland River across from downtown Nashville, in what had been a declining industrial/warehousing area. In a special referendum on May 7, 1996, voters in Metropolitan Nashville/Davidson County voted to approve partial funding of the proposed stadium. The vote, which allocated $144 million of public money to the project, passed with a 59 percent majority. The pro-stadium organization, known as "NFL Yes!", outspent the anti-stadium group by a ratio of 16:1 during the campaign. The funds would initially be raised through an increase in the Metro water tax. Much of the remaining construction costs were funded through the sale of personal seat licenses. Some money from the State of Tennessee was allocated to the project, on the condition that the Tennessee State University football team move its home games there, and with the request that the incoming NFL team be named Tennessee instead of Nashville. The stadium's construction was delayed when the construction site was hit by a tornado that struck downtown Nashville on April 16, 1998, and destroyed several cranes, but the stadium opened in time for the first scheduled event.

In Their Own Story

The air was thick with anticipation as 69,143 voices rose in unison—a low, swelling hum that turned into a roar. A young fan, knuckles white around a Titans flag, felt the vibration through the concrete, a pulse that matched his own. The Tennessee Titans were about to take the field for their first regular-season game at the stadium on September 12, 1999. As the teams emerged from the tunnel, the sound hit like a wave—a wall of noise that seemed to lift the players, their cleats barely touching the turf. For 90 minutes, the stadium breathed: a collective gasp at a sliding tackle, a thunderous groan at a missed field goal, a volcanic eruption when the net rippled. The Titans defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 36–35. When the final whistle blew, the crowd didn't just cheer—they sang, wept, and hugged strangers, bound by the shared knowledge that they had witnessed something sacred. On January 8, 2000, one of the most memorable and debated plays in NFL history took place at then-Adelphia Coliseum. The "Music City Miracle" (as it has come to be known) was a last-minute trick play on a kickoff return that resulted in a touchdown and catapulted the Titans past the Buffalo Bills to the Divisional Playoffs. It also ensured that the Titans would go undefeated in the first season in the team's new home. The victory was seen in front of a franchise-record crowd.

Reader's Guide

Nissan Stadium, originally known as Adelphia Coliseum (1999–2002), then The Coliseum (2002–2006), and LP Field (2006–2015), opened in 1999 and quickly became a fortress for the Tennessee Titans. The stadium features three levels of seating. The lower bowl encompasses the field and the club and upper levels form the stadium's dual towers, rising above the lower bowl along each sideline. The stadium's luxury suites are located within the towers. Three levels of suites are located in the stadium's eastern tower, one between the lower and club levels, and two between the club and upper levels. The western tower has two levels of suites between the club and upper levels. The press box is located between the lower and club levels in the western tower. Nissan Stadium's dual video boards are behind the lower bowl in each end zone. On the stadium's eastern side is the Titans Pro Shop, a retail store that sells team merchandise. As of the 2023 season, the playing surface of the stadium is Matrix Helix Turf with an organic infill. Prior to 2023, the playing surface was Tifsport Bermuda Sod, a natural grass. The climate of Nashville and the wear of hosting a game nearly every weekend often required the field to be resodded in the area between the hashes in November, and the stadium had amongst the highest lower body injuries of any in the NFL during the 2018–2021 seasons. With Tennessee State being tenants, Nissan Stadium is the largest stadium in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly Division I-AA). In 2027, the stadium will be replaced with an indoor venue (also named Nissan Stadium), currently under construction on an adjacent lot. The final Titans regular season home game at the stadium will be played on January 3, 2027 against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Did You Know?

• The stadium's first regular-season game was a 36–35 win over the Cincinnati Bengals on September 12, 1999.
• On May 3, 2010, the stadium's playing surface was filled with 6 feet (1.8 m) of water due to heavy rains and flooding from the Cumberland River.
• The stadium hosted the 2022 NHL Stadium Series between the Nashville Predators and the Tampa Bay Lightning.
• The record crowd for a soccer game played in Tennessee is 56,232, set on July 29, 2017, when Manchester City and Tottenham played an exhibition match at Nissan Stadium.
• The stadium's construction was delayed when the site was hit by a tornado on April 16, 1998, destroying several cranes.